Eucalyptus Arrived!

Today eucalyptus arrived from C and B: Three types! We put one branch of each into the cage. As you can see, Sutcliffe explored nervously--Mary ann, who is out of view of the webcam, seemed to simply want to avoid it. This is not unusual for budgies: they usually react to new things with caution, and these are larger then the usual greens they get by several orders of magnitude. We are about to go on a four day trip. Hopefully, that will give the budgies a chance to mate, since, last time, their mating occurred, I believe, while we were out of town. However, we won't be able to document more eucalyptus events to see the complete reaction. It will be interesting to see if they eat it also, while we are gone. I am going to leave these same leaves in the cage.

Cooler Weather

The weather has gone from extremely hot, to autumnally cool. The budgies behavior does not seem to have changed, however. It is a gray, dreary day. People and buddgies all seem a bit cranky.

Rain, Rain, come Today!

It has been extremely hot (around 100 F yesterday, and 90 well into the night, though cooler, of course, with windchill lol). I worried a bit about the budgies, as noted in earlier posts, but realize they come from Australia, and so should be able to handle, if not enjoy, these hotter temperatures. But what will this do to breeding? In my reading, I found that the drought conditions suppress hormones and breeding. Budgies apparently follow thunderstorms, and flock to places where it has just rained, in order to enjoy the benefits of seed grasses growing. They also really like river eucalyptus, whose trunks and branches are especially favored for nesting holes. (Of note, my brother, who lives in California, sent me some Eucalyptus branches last year, which the budgies devoured when fresh, but was they dried, lost all interest). I am hoping that providing regular showers, and greens daily, will help breeding to take place. But, as I think about Boo's successful hatching, I realize all I did was make sure there was light for 12 hours a day by putting the lamp in the living room on a timer and just leaving them alone.