Sunday, August 31, 2014

The sweet side of Petey


I was almost tempted to scratch his head here - almost.

Léa and the kitchen sink



Zuri's Dalek outtakes

Slowly going through some of the outtakes I got during the Dalek 365 week. Here are a few of Zuri's - pictures I liked that fell just short of being kept for Zuri's picture that week.


I like his determined walk away from the Dalek in the picture above, his wings slightly raised. Unfortunately, the Dalek was a little too out of focus to be Zuri's 365 picture that week.


His expression in the picture is priceless, and had it not been for the perch (which was used to get him close to the Dalek in the beginning), it probably would have been the picture this week.

242:365 - Preening Joey


Saturday's picture.

241:365 - Piper


Apparently I have a little catching up to do. This picture is actually Friday's picture. Have been busy lately and posting on the blog was one of the things that fell aside.

Friday, August 29, 2014

Thursday, August 28, 2014

239:365 - Petey


Late again, this is yesterday's picture.

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

238:365 - Dalek week ~ Petey

Can we be friends?

And that is the end of "Dalek week" - although I'm sure I'll get around to posting a few outtakes.

Monday, August 25, 2014

Sunday, August 24, 2014

236:365 - Dalek week ~ Shade

What exactly do you want me to do?

235:365 - Dalek week ~ Pixel

It doesn't look so scary!

Friday, August 22, 2014

234:365 - Dalek week ~ Piper

(Duck and) fly away!!

Piper was not a fan of the Dalek!

Thursday, August 21, 2014

233:365 - Dalek week ~ Joey


Joey was not concerned with the Dalek and took it on - I got a few pictures I really like, but had to post this one, as he had just toppled the Dalek over!

(And it appears that Blogger is playing with the contrast of my pictures.)

232:365 - Dalek week ~ Zuri


He wanted nothing to do with the Dalek and kept running towards me - I guess some would say it was a smart move!

(And yes, this is yesterday's 365 entry.)

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

231:365 - Yawn!


Someone bored? It sure looks like it!

Sunday, August 17, 2014

Joey against the Daleks

"If I stand on one of their heads, they can't see me..."

 Taken for a contest to win a Tardis toy from Crystal's Bird Toys - entries need to be Doctor Who related and can be submitted until 6 Eastern tonight.

This little photoshoot has also inspired me to feature a Dalek in the next series of pictures for the 365 project (starting Wednesday).

Preening time!




229:365 - Happy Joey


Looking a little silly too!

Saturday, August 16, 2014

Friday, August 15, 2014

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

225:365 - Piper's favourite kind of perch


Is a human perch! Here he was perched on the Boy's head, which is much better for me when it comes time to take pictures (as opposed to him being on me).


Tuesday, August 12, 2014

224:365 - Hi!


She was a little reluctant to go onto the kitchen sink at first, was surprised by a few of the moving pieces, but eventually proceeded to move around on it. She doesn't look too unhappy about it!

Monday, August 11, 2014

Sunday, August 10, 2014

A bittersweet order

I've had these toys since Thursday night, but was struggling with posting about them.

Why?

Because they are the last toys I'll ever get from Crystal's Bird Toys. Earlier in July, due to personal reasons, the toys portion from CBT closed. I actually very nearly missed the boat on ordering toys - not sure what took me so long to take the plunge.

Many of the flocks favourites were no longer available. But one was, one that I was the reason behind it coming to existence (it was a custom order once) and did I take ever advantage of the fact that it was still listed!

I swear, there are no repeats in the pictures!




Above are eight "Make it Snappy". THE favourite CBT toy of my flock. I have a feeling that I might subject them to a period of hoarding....

Because Léa destroys "Make it Snappy" in a day or so, I got her the larger model, "Oh Snap".


While browsing around what was left on the website, I found this toy, something I never tried before and figured I might as well get before they were all gone, as I'm sure quite a few of the birds would like them, "Tookie's Tango".


Although initially everything was going to close, a few days later, Crystal announced that she would still be selling specific parts, namely pine slats. I also got a few in my order and will most definitively be buying more in the future. In the past, Crystal had been generous enough to let me use her equipment so I could cut/drill my own wood, and while cutting was fun, I could do without the drilling.


It is sad to be losing a store which had great toys, and even more so because it was local and truly affordable. However, I was able to gain a friend and truly with the best to Crystal - and I will most definitively remain a customer with the new direction the store is taking!

Blackberry no more


It apparently was very juicy.

The "leave me alone" Cape posture


When Léa adopts this posture, it is best to let her calm down. At least, I know that and, after a I have repetead this a few times and after a few bites, I think the Boy has (finally) caught on as well...

He had done something that made her unhappy, and then, immediately requested she steps up. She got all puffy and would lean backwards, yet he kept insisting...and she nailed him. Mind you, he did not bleed as a result of this bite, but for that exact reason, I find those type of bites hurt the most of all; she puts so much pressure, you know something isn't right on the inside, but there is no place for anything to "move", for pressure to regularize, and that bite will hurt for days.


I made it sound like she bit him right away, but she didn't. She did "dance" a little, more so of a warning dance than anything, but he kept insisting, so then she bit him. When she gives this type of warning, I let her cool down; I actually rarely get caught by those bites, no, for me she reserves "pinching bites" sometimes for no reason, but more often because she thinks she deserves more attention (as a matter of fact, as I am typing this, I *just* got pinched - I think someone wants her head scratched instead, but I will not reward the behaviour and will scratch her head once she calms down and does something else).


In any case, to get back to the story behind these pictures, after having got caught, the Boy finally looked a me and said "I think we should let her calm down, let's ignore her for a while" - which we did and she was then in a much better disposition to step up.


Dirty foot!


Foot stained as a result of a lovely piece of carrot which was part of yesterday's dinner (it was nice and sweet so I'm sure Shade LOVED it) and somewhat of this morning's blackberry (which, to be honest, was mostly all over her beak earlier, more so than on her foot).

Outside time!

Earlier today we went outside with the birds. The plan was to go out bright and early to beat the heavy humid head, however, due to the timing it took to have everyone ready, we didn't go out quite as early as I would have liked, but we went out nevertheless.

And the heat had started to pick up by that time (nine o'clock). So our time outside was around 45 minutes, as I started to find it unbearable. Most of the birds still seemed to not mind it too much, but I think Léa was looking forward to going back in the cool house.

Of course, I took a few pictures, and, as usual when it comes to these type of pictures, I used my phone. There wasn't a cloud in sight and the sun was shining down rather harshly for it being early morning.

The set-up (there are two more cages on the table with the blue tarp) -


The birds -








The colours seem different as I have an Instagram filter applied to them - it helped some of the colours pop and not looked so washed out by the sun, although Blogger is making everything look more purple than it ought to be.

The neighbour's cat to whom I referred to in a previous post relating to the birds being outside didn't show as much interest in the birds today - the Boy did spot him on the other side of the fence, but it was busy eating another neighbour's grass and then just moved away.