Parrots in the Land of Oz! (Thanks M!)

You have GOT to check out this website, http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/parrotsinoz/ about a PBS show, "Parrots in the Land of Oz". It has great video clips from the show. For example, it explains that the lovely violet "Elizabeth Taylor spots" which I so admire are seen by a special photoreceptor. Apparently, budgies are able to see ultraviolet. If you check it out, you will also learn more about wild budgies and other parrot behavior. You can even buy the show, which sadly we missed Sun PM when it was on television. (So of course, we just ordered it as a DVD-its backordered).
Thanks M for this wonderful link! I know the flock will enjoy seeing the video once it arrives.

Magoo Chin Feathers Grow Back

As you can see from this picture, the fuzzy white down that grew back in a couple of days after the accident has fallen out from Magoo's chin. Now, s/he has new growth of body feathers-short and hard, rounded on the end, and green. It's rather cute, and also, a bit hideous at the same time. Magoo still has the remnant of goo on his/her forehead, as you can see. Trying to remove this didn't seem necessary, and we expect it to just fall off during molting. S/he also still has the white downy "temporary" feathers on the chest. Magoo seems respectful of Boo, and deferential, but is willing to fight Sutcliffe for perches and greens. Boo gladly will push Sutcliffe away from any desired perch or treat. Those two babies are not respectful enough of their dear old dad who has treated them so well!

Happy Boo's-Day! Tuesday, Jan 29th, 2008-Boo and her Nemesis

Have spent the last seven days productively? Or completely squandered them?
Either way, another week has passed and it is once again Boo's-Day! (trumpet flourish!)
Boo is pictured here with her nemesis, Mia. Yes, HER. Boo is decidedly a female. It was clear yesterday, when we noted HER cere turning a bit brown and krinkled. That is a classic hallmark of a female budgie. Other feminine traits include gnawing on sticks (although all budgies enjoy this).
And, another interesting Boo-note: When in a cage with Magoo, and Sutcliffe, Boo is the top-perch bird. Perhaps this is just her femininity coming into play? Are females the top perch sitters as a general rule?

Magoo Doing Great!

Magoo is doing great! His neck is still missing a few feathers, and his forehead still has some residual goo on it, but otherwise he seems happy and sassy! Sutcliffe remains the dedicated father.

Feathers

A bona fide avian biologist would scoff at this amateurish blog today which is about different types of feathers we have observed.

• Baby white down: this is apparently fast growing, and must require less complexity to develop. It is the fluffy white down that first appears on a baby budgie, and also, the first to grow after an injury (Magoo sprouted this type in his denuded chest area first, but now is getting regular feathers, as pictured above, from her/his best angle!).
• Chest/head/body medium feathers: these are softer than the wing/tail feathers, shorter, and more round. They are the ones that seem to fall out when budgies fight.
• Wing and tail feathers: long, and in our birds, have stripes in a contrasting color. In the white birds Sutcliffe and Mia, the contrasting stripes are a subtle blue-ish, yellow, or gray. On the greenish birds, these are black. On the Lutino (Mary ann) no stripes are seen. These feathers are stiff, narrow, and could make some very nice quill pens. The tail feathers in particular are especially long and come to a lovely point. Several of the flight feathers also come to a long point in the back, and fold across the back of an unclipped budgie.

Since budgies are considered a member of the tribe of broad-tailed parrots (Platycercini), biologists clearly found the tail feathers impressive.

More about color variations and patterns in future blogs!

Happy Boos Day! January 22, 2008-Pecking Orders

Yes, another week has gone by, and once again is is BOOS-day!

To celebrate Boo's day, we'll talk about Boo's status in the pecking order, how it isn't predictable, and how it might be informative regarding budgie politics generally (warning: they are quite complex). I will list pecking orders from top bird to bottom bird and annote when and how Boo filled these various roles.

1st. Boo was top bird when s/he and Lola were alone together in a cage. In fact, Boo was so aggressive towards Lola, that I was afraid that the latter would never get to feed properly nor sleep comfortably.

2nd. Boo is currently second on the totem pole, with Mia in third place. However, when it was only her/him and Mia in the cage, Boo was decidedly "Bottom Bird". He even rolled on his back in a pathetic way when Mia pecked her/him! This led the vet himself to say "what a submissive little bird!" The order is: Mary ann 1st, Boo second, Mia third. Boo and Mia bicker a lot.

3rd. With both Sutcliffe and Mary ann in the mix, along with Boo, as well as Lola, it was: Mary ann 1st, Sutcliffe second, Boo third (although seemed close: and sometimes Boo seemed tied with Sutcliffe for second), and Lola decidedly coming in last (as always).

Where will Magoo fit into this pecking order? And what might be a good way to research the pecking order with more combinations? I am thinking: try the following combinations:

-Boo with Magoo

-Boo, Magoo, and Sutcliffe

-Boo, Magoo, and Mia

-Mia and Magoo only

-Magoo and Mary ann only

-Magoo, Sutcliffe, and Mary ann

Magoo and Mia only

-Boo, Magoo, Sutcliffe, and Mary ann

-all five (this is the long range goal for the new big cage, in any case!)

All you math and engineering wizards can probably think of a very good way to organize and research this! A matrix for this is welcome.

New Habitats

The three cage still-life we previously had, has been migrated to a one cage, two tier habitat. The new cage was purchased via "Ebay". It arrived a bit banged up, but not worth contacting the seller about. In any case, the new cage is much more harmonious, working towards restoring feng shui to the budgie world. K for one is very pleased that 1) the netting used to keep seed and feathers from flying out of the cages fit the new cage (Thanks for the netting O and O!) and 2) there will be a lot less clean up overall with things consolidated in this manner. Everyone seems perfectly happy with their new home! The bottom tier contains Boo, Mary ann, and Mia. The top tier, Magoo and his dad, Sutcliffe. As soon as Magoo seems completely healed, we will merge the two into one (a handy feature of this new cage-we can remove the middle divider and make one big cage). Boo and Mia are hardly fighting at all, and Boo seems happy, and unharrassed, as he munches on the millet seed that O and O recently sent (Thanks!). Everyone else is also enjoying the millet seed. The homes are also decorated nicely with the new Christmas toys that M and family sent (Thanks also!). Of course, the one with the baby building blocks on it went into Magoo and Sutcliffe's cage.
Magoo continues to heal. However, he is exceedingly wild. Today while K was adjusting a perch in his cage, he flew out, and flew right into the window pane. Sigh. I hope his James Dean personality doesn't lead to a similiar "live fast, die young" fate.

Say Hello to Magoo!

The poll showed that Magoo is the winning name. Thanks to everyone who voted!
And as you can see, our baby bird is healing very nicely. You can see some white feathers on his/her chest: this is where feathers were pulled off and are regrowing. His/her muttonchops (my name for the feathery jowl area on a budgie) are growing back gradually. The chin remains a bit bare, and there are a couple of smudges remaining from the goo episode. However s/he is doing a good job rubbing sticks with his/her head and beak to clean these smudges. Otherwise our baby is doing great! MIlestones include her/his standing on both feet equally, eating with pleasure, biting us (the human guardians) and flying, once again, with reckless abandon. However, we will be keeping a close eye on this baby, and also, Magoo's compatriots.

Budgies Enjoy Adjacent Cages

Having had enough of three different cages to clean, and also, in order to move gradually towards one large cage (to be constructed this weekend?) we have moved Mia, Mary Ann, and Boo into one cage (Boo's), and moved the "hospital cage" up and adjacent so that they can fraternize cross-cages.

This video is taken right after the cages were placed adjacently. In the foreground cage and on the left (standing on top of nest box) is Magoo, the new baby. You can see s/he is doing really well. Mary ann and Sutcliffe are spending a lot of time making the "where are you CHIRP" to each other. Mia and Boo seem to want to fight. The baby is just dreadfully excited about the whole scenario. I have placed a cover on the cage area in between the two cages, to help them settle down. We'll let them fraternize a bit more this evening. I am thinking that perhaps, the new baby is well enough for all the budgies to go into one big cage. It will also be fun to observe their interactions as a flock.

Baby Close to Normal!

This morning, the baby was hopping from perch to perch without any problem, using both feet. When he was startled by me, he did stand on the right foot only, so he still favors it. However, the left is fully functional in a normal way. He was also flying around with apparent joy. He and Sutcliffe were generally having fun this morning flying, eating, and generally squawking to their neighbors. The baby is a little "wild one" again! Its good to see he's got his groove back (note, we realize, this baby could be female).
Lessons learned:
1. wing clipping IMHO is not cruel. it could be life saving as
2. there are many risks to a flying household budgie, and they get into those risks FAST!
3. Dilute vinegar solution is safe for budgies in small doses and effective at removing "goo".
4. Being young is good for your health. And I retract my remarks from yesterday: flying around as a baby budgie is not really foolish. He was just acting like a budgie when he got trapped in goo.

Happy Boos-day, Jan 15th 2008

Can you believe that Boo was conceived just about one year ago this week? It was a week we traveled to Miami, the Everglades, and Key West. We didn't have a webcam in those days, so can't know precisely the day of laying of the Boo egg, nor of hatching (the latter, we think, is around Valentines a year ago).
Boo is in a cage all by himself now. That is soon to change however! We got a big new cage, with a single divider in it. Because Sutcliffe and the baby will likely continue their convalescence in one part of that, Boo is destined to have to pair with Mary ann and Mia. (The latter two are currently sharing a tiny cage: there is usually a bit of a face off, with what seems to be glaring from opposite perches for those two). It will be interesting to see how Boo interacts with these two grouchy gals. I think "he" is as "she" which will mean, she has to find her place in that female pecking order! Assuming Mia is female, that is. Sigh. It is so complicated being a budgie. And a budgie guardian.

Doing Better

The baby seems a lot more perky. He still favors the left leg, and lists to the right, especially in the evening. Examination of his leg shows no obvious injury or deformity. He seems to have a normal range of motion, normal configuration of toes, feet, knees, legs. Its hard to see up into his feathers to see if his thigh might have an injury. Hopefully he will mend himself. However, he enjoys sitting in the food bowl, which must be a good way to rest his little drumsticks. He can fly. He and Sutcliffe have been moved to a "hospital flight cage" which is a long cage, where we have placed the perches extremely close to the floor so that if he falls off, he won't be hurt badly. The nest box is also in there, but chiefly, the baby and Sutcliffe use it as a lookout point (they stand on it) rather than go inside it.

Baby Getting Better

The baby is getting better. His chest almost has a full set of feathers again; only his mutton chop feathers (The fluffy feathers budgies have on the side of the cheeks) and a few patches under his chin remain a bit bald. His beak is working fine; he bit K last night with respectable malevolent intent it seemed. We were thrilled of course.

He does seem to be favoring the left leg: he doesn't stand on it as much as the right leg, and while budgie legs are always blue-ish, the left leg seems more blue-ish than the other. This seems to be new since yesterday. Nonetheless, all parts of that leg are moving normally in in a healthy configuration, it seems, even his toenails. He is eating, and Sutcliffe continues to feed him. He also took a crap on K, another glorious event.

As noted by yesterday's commentator (but also, a very special tator), C, the young have a tremendous capacity for recovery. Its a good thing, as they also tend to be somewhat foolish. (Wow, does that last remark mean that we human guardians are becoming old grouches?)

Poll Results Update

What Should We Name the New Baby?
Snickles 10% (2)
Magoo 19% (4)
Nick 5% (1)
Sydney0% (0)
Biddle 5% (1)
Strorks 10% (2)
Dino 10% (2)
Peet 5% (1)
Beady 0% (0)

(will not add to 100%)

It looks like "Magoo" is the winner--especially since Goo seems to be a part of the baby's early life experience!

Baby Injured: but Recovering (Warning-Sad, Upsetting)

I am sure many of you wondered this week what happened to Boos-day posting? What happened to regular blog updates at this important time in baby development?
The reason we have been a bit silent, is that on Tuesday, the baby had an accident and we've been focused on tending him, and neglecting blogging. He flew out of the box without our knowlege, and got stuck in a spider trap (which is essentially, a tray of goo that traps spiders). He was really glued to the trap! Fortunately, the trap is merely goo, no chemicals. His entire under-belly, chest, neck, beak, and feet, as well as parts of wings, were stuck and covered with goo. We had to cup our hands under him and physically pry him free. We could not easily remove the goo from him, so used a dilute vinegar solution and paper towel/Q-tips. Fortunately, all of his parts are intact, although he has some minor injuries and has lost feathers especially on the neck and tummy. His beak was really gooey, because he groomed himself and got more and more goo on him, but a dilute vinegar solution is very helpful for beak cleaning as well. Now, he is feeding himself, and Sutcliffe also feeds him. He spends a fair amount of time in the nest box, but does normal budgie behaviors which is a good sign. Mary ann was pecking him, so Mia has a new roomate.
Please send positive vibes, good karma, and prayers his way for a speedy recovery!

The Baby Can Now Stand on Perch

Yesterday, when we handled the baby, he was able to hold onto a finger with one foot, or another, but not with both, and could not stand. We placed him in the bottom of the cage, and Stucliffe, herded him and showed him the way back up towards the nest box, but we gave him his final shove back into it. When we go to get him out, he scurries out the front of the box! Today, he was much more skillful, and stood well on a finger. He also has become a good flyer, literally, overnight. This baby is really a prodigy! He is not too tame, though, at least not yet. Today, we put all three cages (1. the nuclear family of Sutcliffe, Mary Ann, baby, 2. Boo 3. Mia) in the same room. There was much flock-related excitement from all. Our ultimate goal: one communal cage (For heaven's sake, this multi-cage cleaning and feeding is making us bonkers). The baby, who was OUTSIDE the box on his own volition this morning, spent the rest of the day in the box after the arrival of Boo and Mia in their respective cages. Mary ann is being quite snarky to Sutcliffe. Its not clear if she is just reverting back to her old self, now that the baby is older, or if having the flock around stressed her out. As experience with Lola showed, Sutcliffe does have a wandering eye (hence, his nickname, "Slutcliffe").

Thanks to all who have voted, DON'T FORGET TO VOTE!!!! It seems that the problem with voting twice has been solved, and votes will only be noted once. Or, at least once per computer.

Note: If you check results, it looks like "Lovey" is winning, but, that is only because I don't know how to resolve the minor glitch that, every time you click "check results", a vote goes to Lovey, even though, Lovey no longer appears as a choice. Free widget poll, what can I say?

We were pleased to see Legal Aid's comment, re: letting the Baby Bird pick its own name. However, it isn't clear to us how to organize that. thoughts?

Baby Handling

We are handling the baby daily. Hopefully, s/he will become tame, but currently, not so much. The baby appears a bit more pale yellow than Boo. S/he is healthy in appearance. Mary ann is spending more and more time outside the nest box. She no longer takes giant "mother poos" as she did when the baby and eggs were being incubated and prior to her fledging. fThe baby pokes her head out quite a bit but has not yet emerged. S/he cannot yet stand on a finger perch; perch standing will be key to emerging from the nest box and subsequently, feeding.

Voting Re-set

We have reset the voting and hope that it works: the widget was downloaded from easy-poll.com. It only allows ten choices. If your favorite choice(s) was/were eliminated, email one of us directly, or send a remark to sutcliffe.boo@gmail.com!

Baby Is Boo-ish, Happy Boo's day and New Year

After a week away from the baby, we are amazed at how much he has grown! His coloring is clearly the same as Boo's (wild type). I suppose this shows that if you breed a yellow (Luteno, Mary ann) with a blue (Sutcliffe, white but in the blue family) you get green (Boo and baby).
We have several new suggestions for baby names, from B (Thanks!).
Rhino
Peet
Beady
Lovey (Mrs Thurston Howell III)
Antoinette (could be shortened to Antoine should the baby turn out to be a man)

C further suggests suggests
Biddle-Barrows (after the Mayflower Madame)
Strorks, after his 1st dog and the rhino in the just so stories
These will be added to the POLL and the poll will be posted de novo: so don't forget to vote!