Birdbrains

I'm not using that phrase in a derogatory way. I actually mean the brains of our resident birds. I haven't posted about Elwood, Stanley, Calder and Norris lately. Sounds like a law firm, doesn't it? The feathered four have been getting into trouble recently and I'll share it with you.

First, if you've never lived with birds, they are messy, and noisy and a lot of fun. They like to scream and yell most when you're on the telephone or watching the news. They throw feathers and seeds all over the place and if they see the dogs responding, they throw even more at them. But when I uncover their cage in the morning, Stanley always says "tweet tweet", which I take to mean "good morning". It's the only time of the day that he makes that particular sound so it seems to be a greeting. My cockatiels could all say "hello" so I enjoy this little greeting.

Now for the trouble part. Remember this toy that Santa brought to the birds? For days they stayed as far from it as they could get, staring suspiciously at it.

Well, they got over that and have been industriously working on taking it apart. As they tear off a bit, they push it out of the cage for me to find.

OK, taking a toy apart isn't so bad, but there is a much worse event. One evening a couple weeks ago, I was putting the cover on their cage. In case you're wondering why I cover them, I want to discourage Elwood from laying more eggs. She laid 23 of them and I want to trick her into thinking that the days are getting shorter, not longer, so she won't think it's time to start laying again.

Anyway, as I put the cover on, I noticed something was wrong. It took me a minute to figure out what it was. Then I saw this. If you look closely, you'll see that Elwood has a black eye. I was surprised and upset. I do not condone domestic violence anytime anywhere by anyone and that includes the birds. One of the male birds had beaten up Elwood and given her a black eye. Rob and I both examined her and the eye wasn't injured but the area around it was badly bruised. We decided to watch her closely and get the spare cage ready in case it was needed. I also gave the boy birds a lecture on unacceptable behavior and the consequences.

Elwood is all healed up. The side of her face is no longer bruised and her eye is fully open. There has been no rough behavior or any sort of disagreement among the flock. Everyone seems to be cheerful and busy so I'm hoping this was a one time unfortunate accident.

But I'm watching!