Rocky's nest

I've been trying to get a picture of Rocky in his shoebox nest; this is as good as I've been able to get as he exits when we approach.You can see on the right that he first chews a severe macaw-sized entrance on the short end. He then spends much time enclosed in the box, continuing to chew.

Once again, if he were female, we would not allow this as we don't want to encourage egg-laying (or the potentially disastrous egg-binding.) We also would not allow this if it increased his aggression, which boxes do to some birds. For Rocky, it just keeps him busy.

Traveler

Thomas and I will be making an unexpected trip to Europe next month. He found out yesterday that he was invited to present his research at a conference in Amsterdam. I'll be going along and we'll extend our stay by a few days to do some sight-seeing. We've barely been to The Netherlands before -- only when we went to the location where Germany, Belgium, and Holland meet and you can stand in three countries at once. I'm not so sure that counts?

In any case, we are doing some last-minute planning. Brian decided to help us out, but he seems to want us to go to the Baltics instead.We are hoping to get some bird-watching in while we're there, even though it won't be prime season. Hopefully we'll have some great pictures to post!

Apple cohesiveness

Thomas and I both had a snow day from work today. I tried to take one yesterday as well, but got talked into coming in, though just for a few hours. The parrots really enjoyed having us around more, of course.

This morning, we'd handed out pieces of apple to everyone. Rocky, Beeps, and Stella peacefully ate on the same stand. Max doesn't like apple, so I gave her a spoon with some peanut butter on it so she wasn't harassing the other parrots.Basil and Calypso ate theirs on their cages. I need to get some pictures of Basil eating -- he's so dainty.

Unfortunately, this peaceful scene lasted less than a minute until they'd finished their apples and found havoc to wreak.

Stella and the neti pot

Stella has an obsession with the neti pot. When it's not in use, she likes to throw it on the ground and chase it around; when it is in use, she likes to fly to Thomas or me and get in the way.I just love this picture -- her left foot is on his head and her beak is wrapped around his finger. She wasn't applying any pressure so it didn't hurt at all. I have no idea what she was trying to accomplish!

Greys and food

As everyone knows, we starve our greys and apparently force them to scrounge around for food. Or at least that's what you'd think if you watched them! Yesterday, Thomas had sprouted some seeds, so he offered them to Stella:She just looked at them, but finally ate some once Thomas hand-fed them to her. She is the laziest grey ever! She stands in stark contrast to Max who wants to do everything herself. Stella prefers to be catered to!
We were having an african peanut stew, and Max would not stay away. You can see the steam -- I kept telling her it was too hot, but she persisted, taking the smallest bites from the edge of the bowl.