Sutcliffe, the Wonderful Dinosaur Dad!

More evidence that budgies are tiny dinosaurs.  Furthermore, birds and dinosaurs are better dad's than most mammals.

From "Science" Magazine's 2008 Scientific Highlights:

Dutiful Dinosaur Dads

In more than 90% of living bird species, males play a role in the parental care of their offspring.  By comparison, males contribute to parental care in fewer than 5% of mammalian species...Varicchio et al present compelling evidence that in three species of dinosouars...males were the individuals responsible for caring for eggs and young.

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.