Our polygamous budgie (parakeet), Izy, is the proud, first-time dad of three featherless peepers and two promising looking eggs (see picture to your right). Though we're thrilled, I can't say we are surprised He is, by far, the horniest little thing I have ever seen, jumping and wiggling on top of his two girlfriends - Fluffy and Toti - any chance he gets! I have to confess though - he is adorably proud of his new status as "dad." Though we generally keep him in the smaller cage with Fluffy, Izy is fast to hop on over to Toti and the babies' cage every chance he gets. Our original plan was to keep all the birds in one cage. We have a several foot high cage that comfortably houses all of our feathery housemates. Tension quickly arouse however when Toti and Fluffy decided they wanted to give birth to Izy's children at the same time. Maybe it's something in the water? Our original, idealistic plan was that the hens (female parakeets) could both nest in the same box. B cleverly placed a divider inside an aluminum foil box, taped in shut and then cut two holes on each side of the divider. Never underestimate the determination of a female parakeet however. No sooner than B had placed the nest inside the cage than Toti decided that she would have no part in this sharing business with her arch rival, Fluffy. Toti was the first to hop inside the nest and immediately set to work on nibbling apart the divider. She thereafter violently attacked any body who dared poke a finger or beak inside (excluding Izy and our bisexual parakeet, Odi). After she ended up killing one of our favorite budgies, Charlie, we decided to get another cage to keep Fluffy alive and give her a fair chance at motherhood. Fluffy seems to adore her new cage, albeit it a lot smaller and now devotes the majority of her days fluffing herself up inside the built in nest.
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| Toti tucking her eggs and babies underneath |
Birds are the some of the sweetest little things I've ever had the chance to interact with, both in the wild and as pets. They are so fragile, yet somehow resilient and they can be incredibly affectionate. As I sit here blogging, our female cockatiel (Atoti) and albino (hermaphroditic?) budgie (Odiero, aka "Odi") are quietly grooming each other and sharing birdie kisses. Our other cockatiel ("Joey") is perched on my shoulder with his head down making chirpy begging noises so that I rub the back of his neck. If he had it his way, he'd have me massage him for hours while intermittently giving me grateful birdie kisses. To me, birds (especially hook-bills like parrots, parakeets, budgies, etc) look like they are constantly smile with the way their beaks turn up at the ends. It's as if they are constantly at peace.
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| Atoti (right) and Joey fast asleep |
Today I had a somewhat stressful day. Won't go into details here, but I'll admit that by the time I got home I just wanted to crash on my bed in a halfhearted attempt to escape from it all. I had this idea that I'd sleep till tomorrow and then hopefully, when I woke, I'd be my usual upbeat self. I had let our two cockatiels sit beside me as I dozed. The two sweeties fluffed up beside my face, tucked their beaks in their feathers and fell asleep with me, as if express that they too had had stressful days and could totally relate. I woke up an hour later with fluffed up birdie faces staring back at me. I felt refreshed and loved.
