Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Mary Ann Exerts Her Will



These pictures are about Mary ann exerting her will. She has always liked picking up the silver food bowl and dropping it back into the holding ring which makes a "clink" sound. Lately, she has taken to tossing it completely out of the ring. We are no longer putting food in that bowl. I wonder if she is trying to find a nesting site? Once we removed that silver bowl, she began emptying another bowl (made from coconut shell and strongly adhered to its post). She does this latter action almost daily now that the silver bowl is gone. Curious behavior, Mary ann. I suggested we put a nest box back in, but practical as always, J said no, five budgies is more than enough.
I have read a number of budgie internet sights that malign female budgies. We have observed at least two (Mary ann and Boo) and probably more (Lola was probably female but so young, ditto for Mia, and re: Magoo, it is hard to say, s/he could go either way at this point). I must say in their defense that female budgies are delightful and each has her own personality. Both our females are more tame then the male(s), although Sutcliffe does pretty well, especially considering he came from the Pet Store "Budgie Bin". Females definitely chew on a lot more sticks. Mary ann can make short work of a clothespin in about a day or so! Perhaps this is part of the nest building instinct. Both Boo and Mary ann are more aggressive towards the other birds from time to time, but as long as they get their space, they do alright (although Boo can be a bit unreasonable about sharing cilantro and sometimes bites her dad's tail for no apparent reason).

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey, how about some links to those scandalous internet sites that malign female budgies? I am sure that Ted Nelson would provide them, whether or not he is the same person as Al Gore, if he were running this blog.

Maybe you could get the fictitious "Carl" who keeps commenting to set up the links for you.

Anonymous said...

Hello. This post is likeable, and your blog is very interesting, congratulations :-). I will add in my blogroll =). If possible gives a last there on my blog, it is about the Telefone VoIP, I hope you enjoy. The address is http://telefone-voip.blogspot.com. A hug.

Budgie Blogger said...

the mythical carl has spoken! I have been searching for the offending websites and now, of course, cannot locate them. however, I won't give up because it is important for a journalist to back up her statements with sources. thanks for the offer on links. i particularly liked the discussion, even disagreement, carl had with carl in the last post, where one thought ted nelson was a sociologist and the other carl said, no, he's a philosopher. i wonder if this ability to chat amongst him/herself makes carl a solipsist?

The Happy Couple

The Happy Couple
Sutcliffe and Maryann in early 2007