Female Bonding-Happy Boo's Day! Tuesday February 19, 2008

Happy Boo's Day to You! Happy Boo's Day to Yoooooooo!

Yes, it's Boo's Day again. Here are Boo and Mary Ann, who are getting along well. In fact everyone seems to be getting along these days in the new, big cage. Its not easy to see in this photo, but Boo has a crinkley cere, which is brownish pink. He is decidedly a she, as discussed before. Why is it so hard for me to get my mind around this? Boo is still happy and having a blast being Boo. Yesterday, she had a good time nibbling my nose; I sniffed her back in return. It was a bonding experience.

Life in a Cage?

Does a caged budgie feel sad? Or yearn for "Freedom"? Of course, we have no way of knowing. These budgies were born and raised in captivity, so perhaps they don't, or perhaps, not as much as a wild budgie would. However, I often wonder if their instinct to fly, when frustrated, feels a bit badly. We can't let them be free; its too dangerous. Perhaps, metaphorically speaking, some of our own limitations exist to help us and even protect us, although we cannot see it in that way ourselves?

Birds Sleeping

As you can see, the budgies like to sleep in this posture at night. Its kind of cute, and also, at the same time, a bit odd!

Happy Boo's Day-Tuesday February 11, 2008

Can it be? Another perfectly good week has gone by, much of it squandered on activities other than blogging, and now its Boo's day again?

All five budgies are doing well in the new cage. The perch order is variable. Sometimes, Boo just needs a bit of space and climbs to the top of the rungs (as seen here). Could this be because she is now going through puberty, and needs more time alone? Is she a broody teenager? Or testing her limits? Climbing up to the very top of the rungs, and hanging with tail down, wings folded, head straight, is how all five sleep at night these days. However, the rest of the time, they all seem to enjoy many different perches and food bowls (perches are many, and food bowls are "n+1"). On lower rungs, the inhabitants vary; sometimes Sutcliffe and Mia, Mia and Magoo, or Sutcliffe and Mary ann. There are almost always two birds on the bottom perches, but never Boo. We have seen almost no fighting all week. So, the cage seems to be copacetic. All the eucalyptus (the last of which was used in this cage set up) has been eaten, shredded, or trampled with joy except for a few twigs which still give much pleasure to the budgies, who like to hop on them, and let them bounce up and down a bit.

We note that some of our regular readers are also missing, some for known reasons: R due to extensive travel and hard work, and C, due to flu. Good wishes for happy flying and rapid fleeing of flu!!

Happy Boo's Day-Tuesday February 5th!

Whether you were enormously productive, or, completely irresponsible over the last seven days, another week has rolled by, and once again, it is BOOS-DAY!

To conitinue in the spirit of MGs remark about the budgies looking as if they are snorkling (see Parrots in the Land of Oz Jan 30th entry) (Thanksf or comment, MG!) we thought we would address budgies and water, including, Boo-ish approaches to this subject.

As MG has noted, budgies do love water. I haven't yet observed our budgies bathing in water, even though pools have been made available to them in the past. However, when a spray bottle is used to spray into the cage, the budgies get very excited. Some, especially Boo, press their little under-bellies up against the edge of the cage in order to get their lower bodies completely drenched. Most of the budgies sit and jump in the spray bottle mist for a while, then retire to a less wet part of the cage. They also like licking water off of the wire of the cage and off of any greens that are there. Boo does not limit herself when it comes to water, however! Boo sits in the water until her feathers are completely damp, even to the point where she can't move very gracefully. Often, she will let herself get so wet, she'll fall off the perch. Now THAT is a love of water!