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.