Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Happy Halloween!

Time for my annual Halloween picture post!



It can be viewed larger here.

Joey was fairly cooperative, as well as Petey. Zuri wasn't too bad either, in the sense that he got off on the pumpkin on his own. Piper, Shade and Pixel required me to place them on it, but once on, were fairly good (well Piper flew away a few times...)

Léa on the other hand didn't want anything to do with it. It took some time and some bribing - ironically, she was "ok" with it once I gave her a pumpkin seed to munch on.

Previous years -

2011

2010

2009

2008

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

SWS 2012 - The last order arrived!

I wasn't expecting it until tomorrow, but my Things for Wings order from this past Sidewalk Sale on Avian Avenue showed up at my door today!

The box was filled with Danita's wonderful creations and about half of them were from her new Sunflower Farm collection!

Danita had a certain percentage off everything in the store and she also had "Daily Deals", which really were hourly deals - and while I initially didn't plan on purchasing any of those, temptation got the best of me on a few occasions.

Let's start off with what I had meant to order.



After a little coaxing, I managed to convince Danita to add the custom toy I had her made for Léa on a few occasions already (Léa REALLY likes it) and it's been aptly named "Léa's toy".

I mentioned above the new Sunflower Farm collection - I had a hard time picking which ones I wanted, or rather the birds would want - I think it's my favorite collection yet!


2 x Sunflower Shred and Chew


Sunflower Woods


2 x Sunflower Rancher

These will be distributed to the small Pois, although I'm not entirely decided yet on who will get which toy.

Those were the toys I originally ordered. Below are the toys I snatched as "Daily Deals".


Slim Slab Stacks - Elm


Barky Whirlygig


Jumbo Willow Snugly

I can't say how fantastic the Jumbo Willow Snugly is. This, I believe, was my best deal of the entire sale (almost 50% off!) and...I don't know if I'll be able to give it up for destruction. It's too pretty! I can totally understand why Danita had a little tendency to hoard the jumbo snuglies!


Mulberry and Willow perches

Finally, some perches. I had purchased the chunky bark willow perch (longer one) prior to the sale (wanting to make sure I put my hand on one) and had Danita hold it back until I put in the SWS order. The mulberry perch (shorter one) I got through the Daily Deals. Quite happy with both of them!

In fact, I'm quite happy with the entire order! These should last me for a little bit hopefully!

303:365 - Picking a spot



He moved around quite a bit, from one hanging gym to another, during the whole photoshoot.

Monday, October 29, 2012

302:365 - Cheek rub



Apparently atoms are a good substitute for human hands!

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Preening Pete

Showing off the beautiful blue on his rump!







301:365 - Cheeky Léa



Love her pose!

Saturday, October 27, 2012

300:365 - Day 300!



A cute picture of Joey to celebrate day 300! Only 65 days to go!
It probably doesn't have much meaning, but I find it funny that by pure coincidence, Joey got both day 1 and day 300 - on both occasions the order was randomly generated!

Four Wet Pois

If one bird takes a bath, you can be sure a few more will follow. Today, it seems four of them felt that it was time to take a bath in their water bowls!

Wet Poi #1 - Shade



She was fairly wet (dried up a bit before I took the picture) but made quite a mess - I had to actually towel dry the wall behind her cage and she definitively needed the paper in her cage changed.


Wet Poi #2 - Léa



Definitively the one who made the biggest mess considering how little wet she ended up. The bottom of her cage was drenched and there were obvious pools of water that needed to be soaked up and yet, only her head got somewhat wet. It also is worth noting that she didn't think one bath was enough and ended up, later in the afternoon, taking a second one, resulting in her being just as little wet but at least this time the mess at the bottom of her cage wasn't quite as terrible.


Wet Poi #3 - Zuri



He was more wet than the aforementioned two birds, but not quite as wet as the fourth one. His cage also need a change of paper but the mess was mostly contained to that sheet of paper.


Wet Poi #4 - Pixel



She got the most wet out of all the birds who took a bath and yet, her cage was the most neat after it all. In fact, she spilled very little, her paper looked quite normal and didn't require a change! Very neat bather!

Simply Léa

Some alternates from a previous 365 photoshoot that I always intended to share but forgot about!



Petey can get tired too!



Yawning not only reserved for Pixel and Shade (although his are much more elusive and harder to catch)!

Friday, October 26, 2012

296:365 - The "real" day 296



What happens when you have a very busy week leaving you exhausted?
Apparently you can "skip" a day when posting daily pictures.

It dawned on me just now that I had skipped this picture, taken on October 22, when it was it's rightful turn. So here it is, the "real" day 296 picture.

299:365 - He made it difficult, but in a good way!



Lately, taking pictures for this project has been more of a chore than anything pleasant. It doesn't help that the birds aren't as cooperative as they have been in the past and often, I only take a few shots and being able to pick a good one is getting more and more difficult.

However, Petey's photoshoot yesterday went really well, which is very surprising as he's generally the most difficult to work with. He gave a few different poses, didn't move too much while I was taking the pictures which resulted in me having plenty to chose from and that became the hard part.

I find he looks totally adorable on the picture above and thought it would look good in a compilation book, if I ever get around to it once I'm done with the project. I'll also be sharing more pictures of him from yesterday on the blog later on.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

298:365 - Squat triangle



And not a happy looking one either!

Itchy Joey = Silly Joey!

Can't help but smile and chuckle when I look at these!



Wednesday, October 24, 2012

297:365 - Fluffed up!



I love it when he gets all fluffy!

*accidentally skipped a day when I originally posted this...

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

295:365 - Playful Zuri



It looks like he's sticking his little belly out here!

Monday, October 22, 2012

Beyond messy beak!

When she saw the Boy remove the bowls which contained dinner from the Littles' cages, she immediately went back to hers and all you could see for long period of times was this.



Occasionally, she would surface for air - and the sight of her beak....it was beyond messy!



She had a very thick coating of tonight's mash mix (some Avian Organics Mayan Gourmet Mash and my homemade mash) all over her beak - top, bottom, sides, you name it!





I guess she enjoyed her dinner!
Her poor pedicure perch got the blunt of what she tried to wipe off - and her cage is no longer sparkling clean (although I did try and wipe all the mash I could see off the bars before it dried like cement!)

294:365 - Lovely Shade

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Léa's new cage is all set up!



Well, not really...

Since I wanted to give her a chance to settle in it before crowding her too much, I only added a few toys at first. In fact, since I took these pictures earlier this morning, I already added two toys that she used to have in her previous cage. As well, as she gets more and more comfortable, I might move things around and add more things as I figure out what configuration will work for her. But for now, I think it's a nice start.



Her new cage was made by Expandable Habitats (EH) out of type 304 non magnetic stainless steel. It's 42" wide by 30" deep and I'm not quite sure of the internal height. I chose one of their "small cage" models as I like the look with the shelf at the bottom best and I find having the bottom higher up makes it easier to clean. In any case, the height seems about the same as her previous cage and she gained space in the other two dimensions.



I made the choice of going with a stainless steel cage because Léa has started stripping the powder coating away from the bars of her old cage - this is a much safer alternative for her. It was quite funny seeing her trying to get around her new cage at first; the stainless steel is seemingly more slippery than her old bar cages were so she was a bit unsure of them at first. However, as she gets used to them I'm sure she'll enjoy sliding down the sides of her cage.

Client service at EH was also pretty great - on top of answering every little question I had along the way, once it became apparent that the production/finish/delivery of my cage was going to be delayed, Tricia offered to add in either some of their skewers or an additional stainless steel bowl and holder for free (I went with the bowl).

I'll probably give a more exhaustive review of my cage after I've used it for a little bit, but so far I'm quite pleased with it, and, most importantly, Léa does seem to enjoy it quite a bit. I didn't really have space to keep her old cage and this new cage side by side so she could get used to it at her own pace and, luckily, she didn't seem to frazzled about having to get used to the new cage "cold turkey".

Finally, here are a few pictures of the inside of her cage; please keep in mind that I've used my wide angle lens, which makes things look wider and distorted. While the cage is quite big, the wide angle lens makes it appear rather empty.


Left hand side; includes an Oliver's Garden platform perch on the door, a pedicure perch, her Grey feather toys Megaphone toy, an ocotillo perch from Things for Wings, a skywalk perch from Oliver's Garden, a few toys (homemade and from Things for Wings), her swing from Crystal's Bird Toys (which needs some replenishing) and her pellet bowl.


Right hand side; includes a grapevine perch from Thigns for Wings, that same pellet bowl, a snugly from Things for Wings, Ruby Blue from Oliver's Garden, a rock perch from Birds on the Rock, two of the EH stainless steel bowls, a rope perch and the Big Beak Bop toy from Crystal's Bird Toys.

293:365 - Handsome Zuri



Some days, I think it would be nice to have a start a second year of 365 parrot pictures when this one is over.

Then I remember how uninspired I can be when it comes to titles and the nice feeling goes away...

Saturday, October 20, 2012

292:365 - Happy Petey



He looks happy.
Shortly after I took this picture, he started dancing.

Friday, October 19, 2012

291:365 - Pink



Very clear view of that bright pink tongue!

A quick glance

I couldn't leave the cage in the many boxes it came with until this week-end. I had to put, at least the main frame of it, together to see how it looked. Curiosity got the best of me!

So here it is, with Nemo on it to give an idea of it's size.


View from the side


View from the front

I hadn't bothered to install the brackets at the top which will hold a piece of acrylic a few inches above the top of the cage, nor did I insert the tray and pieces of sheet metal that go around the base to block that big hole. I just wanted to have a general idea on how to bring the cage together before having to do so in the smaller confines of the birdroom.

I can't wait to have it up there and be able to place perches, bowls and toys in there for Léa - but before I can build it up again I have to take it apart...

290:365 - What's there?



Looking at something beyond the camera...

Thursday, October 18, 2012

289:365 - Piper in flight



The title says it all!

288:365 - Someone took a bath



He generally doesn't do so in the evening, but he broke his own "rules" on that particular one!

He can give quite stern looks...

...but he's really quite sweet!



Even the Boy, who Nemo has used as a chew toy on some occasions in the past, has had a good time with Nemo and has been met will full cooperation.