Some Pictures of Growing Baby! What a Fledgling!

Parents Love Their Growing Baby Bird

Sutcliffe and Mary ann remain attentive, loving parents. While its hard to see everything in focus on this video, clearly, the baby has grown a lot. Earlier, I thought his eyes are opened, but now I am not so sure. Its not clear what color he is going to be yet, but I am glad he looks less like a tiny frozen Thanksgiving turkey. Even if, now, he looks a bit like a cross between a hedgehog, and of course, Mr. Magoo.

Boos-day, December 18th, 2007

Happy Boos-day, all! Boo is doing great. He's still adorable and playful, and tame. He seems to particularly enjoy when we get home and give him greens. Mia is also fine. She/he remains neurotic, and often runs back on forth on the perch closest to Boo's cage, quite nervously. She also squawks loudly whenever a hand goes into her cage to deposit food. She actually falls off the perch in her terror. There are tame budgies; and then, there's Mia. Boo and Mia are polar opposites in terms of tameness.
In the summer Boo, and the other budgies gets fresh grasses and dandelion greens. However, in the winter, he (and the other flock members) typically get dill weed, almost daily. They rejected parsley. They love cilantro, but it is a bit pricey and so it is reserved as an occasional treat. I did freeze several stalks of wild grass with seeds, recently thawed. The result of this experiment was budgie elation all around.

Baby Budgie Spreads Her Wings

I hope you can see this video: it was taken before we removed the three unhatched eggs. The large bumps under the baby's neck are her crop: very full! I hope you can also appreciate the buddha stomach she has. She is trying to spread her wings, although her eyes are not yet open!

The Eggs Have been Removed

Yesterday we removed three eggs, cleaned the box, and held the baby (pics to follow). She's a giant baby! (note: will use he/she interchangeably). Her eyes remain closed. She has quite a few feathers and a large, full, buddha tummy. She flapped her wings. Mary ann and Sutcliffe were understandably concerned, but after replacing the box, they both went in and fed the baby, and today, all is well. The three eggs were as follows: two empty (unfertilized?). one: fertilized, but no viable offspring. However, this giant baby is going to take all of her parents attention, I am sure! Here you can see Mary ann is getting suspicious. She's a smart bird.

More Footage, Baby and Parents

The baby is growing in leaps and bounds. He still looks like a tiny thankgiving turkey. He is also STUFFED! Sometimes you can see yellow balls in his neck area: this is his crop, and it is very full.

Baby Spins!

Happy Boos-day, Dec 11th

Well, another week has rolled by, and once again, its BOOS-DAY! In order to celebrate, I thought we all might like to look at some pictures of Boo from his childhood (March 2007, when he was one month old). I believe the more mature (in box) picture is about age 3-4 weeks, and the younger one, about 2-3 weeks. However, the new baby(s) will help us better gauge that as we have a much better idea of the actual incubation period on this brood. Budgies grow fast (thank goodness, since the current baby doesn't look too strong yet). We thought Boo was just adorable, of course. But, when I proudly showed his picture to someone at work, she replied "he's got looks that only a mother could love". And let me tell you, SHE was no bargain herself. How dare she make any negative remarks about the brilliant Boo? And aren't these pictures CUTE? One, two, three---Awwwwwwww.
General Blogging Reminder: Please post comments, one and all, stranger, family, and Friends! We really enjoy them. We'll even read them outloud to the budgies. (well, maybe).

Baby Urges Siblings to Hatch!

PS: The bright spot slightly marring the view might be light coming in via the hole into the nest box.

All is Well, Still one Hatchling

There remains only one hatchling: he is growing in leaps and bounds! The hatchling has grown about 20% since his hatching Dec 6th. The other three eggs remain intact. Could it be that K saw one of the eggs rocking? Certainly, one of the eggs is more oblong than before. One question has been answered: Does Sutcliffe feed the baby, or, does he feed the mother, who then feeds the baby? At least at this stage, it is clearly the latter.

All well in Baby Budgie Land

We finally saw the third egg (fourth, really since one has hatched), which is reassuring. No more seem to have hatched. Sutcliffe is going full force now on feeding: he goes through about one to two teaspoons of cooked oatmeal a day, and about as much seed. He's an eating and feeding machine! Sutcliffe's beak is now a brilliant blue, both cere and lower beak. I wish I could post video for you all to see, but, I am glad to report, the baby is moving well. His rump seems to have a few pin feathers on it, or, that may simply be shadow. Its hard to get good focus. Most of the time, the baby and eggs are being sat upon by MA. However, from time to time he seems to squirm out and CHIRP! How could something or someone so tiny be so loud? He is no bigger than the tip of my thumb, probably more like the size of the tip of my pinkie.

Births and Hatchings

This morning, we heard a LOUD chirping, and we suspected that something had changed. We looked in the cage, and a broken egg shell had been discarded out of the nest box and onto the floor of the cage. On turning on the webcam, we could, at first, see only both parents. However, one, and then the other, left the nest box to investigate our activities, and we saw: the first hatchling! Magically, today is also J.s birthday. So, J and the first budgie have the same Birthday.
Sutcliffe seemed to be more annoying than helpful. He was feeding, but, not filling his crop, it seemed. We placed cooked oatmeal into the cage, which was very much eaten by Sutcliffe when he was feeding Boo and Mary ann.
The only minor concern is that we see only two remaining eggs. We don't, however, see any additional eggshells. Has the fourth egg been a casualty of nature? Time will tell.
Meanwhile: it is amazing that this embryonic, almost microscopic creature can make any noise at all, much less, loud cheeping noises. Also, it is quite amazing that this tiny creature could survive. It is not surprising that there is more than a 50% mortality rate for budgie hatchlings. I don't think I have ever seem a more vulnerable appearing creature.

Test Question: Do You Know What Day it Is?

Yes folks, another week has passed and the very special, not to be missed, BOOS-day is upon us!
Boo has had an excellent week. His feathers are shiny again, and he has stopped molting. I am not sure if he has re-gained the 2 ounces lost due to the stress of Mia moving in, but, he certainly is eating with regular gusto. He is playful and happy. Mia seems to be settling into her cage nicely too. We let them out for "playtime" a couple of times a week, and mostly, they just sit happily together on the houseplants (as shown, with Mia in the foreground).
The really big news on Boo this week is: his nose doesn't look too blue-ish anymore. In fact, it has a downright brownish tint. This suggests that HE might be a SHE. Budgies are notoriously hard to sex, especially, prior to puberty. And puberty often occurs right after the first molt. Boo was born last FEbruary, so it is possible he has just entered puberty. We will keep yo posted on the color of his cere (cere=the top of the beak which is brownish pink in female budgies, and blue in male budgies). The nose knows! Happy Boos-day!

Ten Days to Two Weeks

Based on internet sources and experience last winter with Boo, it seems that the incubation period for eggs is about a month or so. Since we know that the eggs were laid in the second week of November (around the 12-15th), we should be able to egg-spect (hahahaha) hatching in the next couple of weeks. Whether or not we will see this and document it, remains to be seen however. I wish we could get the video posting to work, and even more, I wish we could get live feed! Alas, we are stuck with still pictures for now. I suppose that I should not complain, since "Blogger" is free.

When You're an Egg, The View is Always the Same

Yesterday, Mary Ann looked a bit "peak-ed" to me. Sutcliffe stood next to the entrance hole of the nest box most of the day, and she was quite near the front. Notably, it was a bit colder. Today, however, the furnace has really kicked up, and when I put greens out (watercress and dill weed) both parents were very pleased! Mary ann otherwise has been sitting on the eggs constantly. The world, if you are one of her eggs, is largely yellow, warm, and soft. Doesn't sound too bad!

Tuesday is Boo's Day

I have decided that it would be fun to make every (or at least Most) Tuesday's a "Boo's Day". The reasons are several:
1. Most of the blog focuses on eggs, but, Boo is also very interesting.
2. Boo is my adored favorite. (is that wrong?)
3. You gotta love him, he's the baby! (We'll see what happens when the next brood comes along though, lol!)
He is now in his own cage, and happy again, with Mia in a new cage by herself. She caused him to lose weight (a whole 2 grams, and he only weighs 32 grams!). She also stressed him out so badly that he went into a massive molt. But this morning, one week or so after Mia's removal, he was singing to his hearts content. She was eating some dill weed that I put in her cage, contentedly it seemed, though did I imagine it, or was she also doing it a bit grumpily?

Stopping at Four in a Feathered Nest

It appears that Mary ann and Sutcliffe are stopping at four: we see no additional egg since our absence over the Thanksgiving holiday. The fourth egg seems to be a bit neglected. The first three have been "herded" into a central spot, and Mary ann sits on them almost the entire day. The fourth remains on the periphery, which is concerning. Yesterday I HAD to clean the cage (there have been two requests for poop pictures, but that was vetoed by J for this blog). In any case, during cleaning, Mary ann was very agitated and came out of the box. She has already lost weight. I hope Sutcliffe can keep up with feeding her and when they hatch, the young! It is likely only one, or even one, will surivive. But we will see!

Another Egg Laid: Four Eggs!

I hope this stops at some point! However, we know that Mary ann laid four eggs last brood, so it is not surprising that she laid four again. the survival rate for budgies hatched in aviaries is 50%: our first attempt, boo's clutch, had a lower success rate, with only one of four surviving. That could be the same with this group, or even worse, so we must prepare our gentle readers of the blog for the likelihood of at least some bad news at some point in this process. Biology is not a gentle field. That said, this is still very great news.

Three Eggs!

Very exciting! We can count three eggs as of yesterday. The parents are very much covering the view most of the time, with Mary Ann into close to full time brooding behavior, so we can't tell if another one has been laid or not today: so three for sure, so far. Sutcliffe continues to scuttle about, but today, for the first time, Mary ann booted him out of the box. Perhaps this signals the end of egg laying, perhaps not. Of course we will keep you posted! As R noted earlier, a lovely flourish of trumpets is warranted!

Ta dada DAAA (trumpet flourish!)!!!!

Budgie Breeding-A Euphemistic Yet Biological Update

I have received a few requests to not be vulgar on this blog, so, I am using Euphemisms from this point forward as much as possible. However, if anyone wants a euphemism to biology translational post, I'd be pleased to oblige upon request.

This morning, both parents were out of the nest box. Mary ann did her "toiletting" Her "butt" was triangulated in appearance. The tail region was large. Sutcliffe was feeling "romantic" and attempted/succeeded in mating activity.

This is of interest, because there are already two eggs. Therefore, not all eggs are fertilized, one would surmise from this, at the same time. Only two eggs were seen so far. Last time, she laid 4 eggs, three hatched, only one survived. I don't know if there are unfertilized eggs laid when there is a cock around, or if the other simply didn't make it at an earlier point in the brooding.

Mary ann and Sutcliffe have also begun rigorous housecleaning. Mary ann "toilets" once a day (always in the same spot: to me, that is interesting). However, Sutcliffe occasionally "goes" in the nest box. This is removed promptly, as are some feathers (others remain, not clear how these are chosen-perhaps soiled featehrs are removed?).

More Big News!

A second egg has been laid! We are quite sure that it was not present yesterday. While we are not quite sure of when the first was laid (though within the last week), we are quite sure of the date of this one: today. Therefore, we will be able to fairly accurately time how long it takes to hatch (assuming they will hatch in order...which may not be a fair assumption). Mary Ann continues to roll both of them (could not get video of that) and also, sits on both of them. This may be anthropomorphising, but it seems that Sutcliffe, who is spending a lot of time in the nest box, is getting on her nerves. He needs to let her brood on the eggs. Instead, he "scuttles about" and disturbs her. Surely he is trying to protect his little family in his own way.

BIG news!

An EGG!

We got the webcam hooked up today, and lo and behold, AN EGG. Naturally, we were very excited. I hope we did not disturb the parents too much in webcam set up. They seemed a bit agitated during the set up. Mary ann came out and I witnessed the GIANT budgie crap as well. So far, one egg. It seems to be nestled in a tiny collection of feathers (very cute). At one point, Mary Ann was rolling it about, and at others, both she and Sutcliffe covered it with their bodies. They spent a bit of time outside of the box after the "webcam set up disturbance". We will keep you posted. Of course. Keep your fingers crossed for 1. a healthy brooding and hatching of this egg and 2. laying, and health, of more eggs. And of course, 3. Health of the parents. and Finally 4. Successful blogging.

Increase in Nest Box Time!

Both Sutcliffe and Mary ann are spending much more time in the nest box: Mary ann certainly is "in" more than she is "out". Additionally, the "giant budgie poop" as mentioned in earlier posts is still occurring, daily. Our webcam is not functional (it figures) but, I did peer into the nest box. I saw no eggs, but I did see Stucliffe grooming Mary ann on the top of her head with what I believe to be great affection. He also fed her cilantro last night which I provided. She basically doesn't eat at all now, and he does all her feeding, even if she is out of the box.For interest sake, pictured here is an earlier shot of the M and S in teh nest box, looking out.

Helping our Feathered Friends!

Some poor feathered friends were injured in an oil spill. Thank goodness some humans are helping out! Check it out, http://intbirdrescue.blogspot.com/.

A Change in Routine

Warning: some content of this post may be embarrassing to some people (but not birds).
Over the last week, Sutcliffe and Mary Ann have been spending even more time in the nest box. It is not possible to estimate the total time spent in the nest box, because we are not monitoring them constantly. However, more often than not, when we go to visit them in their love hideaway (Ie the basement), they are both in the nest box.
The "BIG" news: this morning, I spied a very large stool. It is the type that Mary Ann had when she last laid eggs: some may recall, that unlike most budgies, who poop pretty much throughout the day delivering tiny pellets of waste, the nesting budgie goes once a day, and delivers a large dollop.
The unfortunate matter of this is its right next to the food bowl. That could prove to be a bit of a messy issue. Otherwise though, an excellent, and yes, very exciting sign.
Yes, its a giant bird poop, and its VERY exciting!
For those of you who are really fans of biology, I will try to get a photo. I'll watch comments to see if the fans of the blog wish me to post a giant poop picture.

Introducing: MIA

In order to discourage Boo's constant chirping to his mother (who is on another floor, but still, seems distracted), we have gotten him a new companion. Her name is Mia. She is lovely, white with a yellowish face, and a bit of other delicate coloring.
We were going to adopt, but, the hassle factor was SO high: we had to first drive to fill out an application. Then, when our application is approved, meet the bird. Then, get a home visit from some Takoma Park Hippie. Then, drive out and get the bird. All this for a budgie? I mean, yes, adoption is the right thing to do. But they need to lower the bar a bit, at least, on this. I mean, its a BUDGIE. And budgies are $25 at Petsmart. Which is where we got Mia. Walk in, get a budgie, walk out. I feel a bit guilty, but, hey, mission accomplished.
So far, Boo seems to hate her. At least, they spend a fair amount of their time pushing each other off of perches. He also pecks at her. But, he seems a bit deferential, as well. She comes in from the Budgie Bin, where it was a "Bird eat Bird" world, and he has known nothing but pampering and adoration. We will see where this goes, and, if it helps Mary ann and Sutcliffe FINALLY get the lovin' they need from each other.
On a general blogging note: I wonder if I should get myself one of these t-shirts for myself? http://www.onehorseshy.com/highbrow/no_one_cares_about_your_blog/.

A Move in the Right Direction

Today when I went to feed Sutcliffe and Mary ann, both scuttled hastily into the nest box. A very good sign! This is the first time I have seen them in the nest box since Boo came home (about a month ago). I had quite a few thing to do in the vicinity of the couples cage (it being Saturday: they are near the laundry; also, I had to tidy the cage and the surrounding area). From time to time, they headed into the nest box either singly, or together. Sutcliffe was looking at it yesterday: today he is the one who was in it more. Boo continues to make loud "tweeEEEP tweeEEP" noises, and his mother seems to hear them, but, hopefully, this nesting behavior will continue and flourish.

From You Tube: this Bird has Rhythm!

Couldn't help sharing this with you: Budgies seem to love music, but never have I seen them dance like this! Check out his little bow (with the head) at the end!

The Birdman of Alcatraz-No Gilded Cage

Robert Stroud was the so-called “Birdman of Alctraz”. Although he was portrayed by Burt Lancaster in the Hollywood version of his story as a humane and sensitive individual, he clearly had a violent side, having murdered people both outside and inside prison during his life sentence, and was further the source of continuous threats to other inmates and guards. His original imprisonment was for killing a bartender who refused to pay (and allegedly beat) Kitty O’Brien, the Birdman’s romantic partner who was also a dance hall entertainer and prostitute. They lived together in Juneau, Alaska. He was named the “Birdman” because over the course of his 42 years of incarceration, he developed an interest in canaries. His interest sprang from his adoption of an injured sparrow he found in the prison yard one day. He was allowed to study and raise about 300 birds in his cell (not all at the same time) while imprisoned at Leavenworth. Reportedly, he let them fly free in his cell, which was disgustingly filthy. He studied canary habits, physiology, and developed medications for their ailments. He authored two published books on the subject and his observations were considered important to the scientific field of canary research. His books were profitable, but not to him; he never received any royalties, and when he complained, he was transferred to Alcatraz where he could not keep his birds. At Alcatraz, he had virtually no social human contact, and was in “solitary” for most of his imprisonment. He wrote two more books, these on the prison system, but he was no longer allowed to publish. He died at Alcatraz of unknown causes. The cell where he lived is in a part of the prison not open to the public.

Shoes for Boos

Until you have some shoes like this (from a German artistic website, what else?) you haven't really walked the bird walk! I think that my photographer and other artist human flock co-members (you know who you are!) should submit some of their brilliant to the Designklicks (http://designklicks.spiegel.de) website too!