Jessie Checking Out New Play Area

This was a very good sign this morning. I had Jessie out on the playstand, which is just under the new play area, and he didn't fly away right away. He hung out for a few minutes and checked everything out. After a couple minutes he'd decided he'd had enough and flew away. He did better than Lucy did last night ... I couldn't even get her to step down onto the playstand before she flew away.

Lucy & Jessie's New Play Area

With being on holiday's this week, we finished buying the toys, nets, flooring, etc to start the birds play area and to put it all up. My husband started by securing a plastic chain link from the corner of the room to the other wall and then hung the net and secured it to the wall. The boing is hanging from a hook on the ceiling. It will evolve over time, but I think it's a great start anyways ... as they say ... Rome wasn't built in a day.

You can't see it in this picture, but we put down flooring in the room as well. We finally decided on vinyl flooring. We went to a local flooring store and got a good deal on a end of the roll piece and it even matches the decor. We haven't secured it down using tape or glue due to the hardwood flooring ... we want to protect that as best as possible. We may decide to get some two-sided tape to secure the exposed edge, but with the cages and table there the flooring isn't going anywhere. At the end of the day it will be easy to clean and protect the hardwood flooring. We spent a bit more than I wanted to, but it will last a lot longer than some of the other options we were looking at.

I already had Lucy out but even she's scared of everything. She just kept flying around the main floor and kept landing on Jessie's cage ... which he DOES NOT LIKE! It will take some time to desensitize them so they are not afraid of it. With some work I may have Lucy climbing around within a week or so ... but it may take a month or more to get Jessie more comfortable with everything. It is all worth it though because they will be able to enjoy it for years to come!

My Visit with Kylie!

Yesterday afternoon, Cory was kind enough to let me come over and spend a few hours with Kylie. I'm trying not to take it too fast with her and force her to do anything. I didn't try any step-ups at yesterday, but she let me give her head scratches 3 times yesterday and we practiced waving hi all afternoon. All in all it was a great visit and I can't wait to bring her home in October! I will visit several more times before I bring her home. I feel very fortunate to have found Cory and Kylie because I couldn't ask for a better situation for an adoption. Anyways, here are just a few of the pictures I took yesterday.

Lucy & Jessie at the Trailer

It was one of those perfect weekends for Lucy and Jessie at the trailer - it was a very warm weekend. They were outside on the deck from 8:00AM to 9:00PM last night ... with the exception of going out to get groceries for an hour or so. Just wanted to post a few pics of Lucy and Jessie enjoying their time outside on our deck at the trailer.

Lucy at the trailer

Lucy enjoying a carrot

Jessie at the trailer ... you can't tell, but he just finished giving himself a bath in his water and his head was all wet.

Jessie enjoying a carrot

Jessie, My Little Monkey

I had some work to catch up on when I got home tonight, but I had both birds out at the same time tonight - which is a first for me. Jessie was on the playstand in front of my on the floor and Lucy was more than happy to hang out on Jessie's cage - I guess its more interesting than her own cage ;o) Lucy really seems to be spreading her wings these days and takes so much joy in flying around the main floor. This afternoon, Lucy flew over to see me twice on the couch while Jessie was on the playstand. Neither Lucy or Jessie really showed any interest in each other, so maybe they truly will be able to get along on neutral territory.

Anyways, I was half working / half keeping my eye on the birds and as I watched I could tell that Jessie is definitely getting over his fear of the play stand.

Here Jessie is playing with a Java Wood toy

Another picture of Jessie chewing on the Java Wood Toy

Now this is when I could really tell that Jessie was getting over his fear. I caught Jessie part way through doing one of his flips around a perch - he does this in his cage ALL THE TIME!

And here he is half way through one of his flips and just starting to pull himself back up. I so wish I was videotaping this because after he finished he said 'It's a good boy Jessie' and started laughing. LOL

Foraging!

Experimenting with foraging. Wrapped pieces of wood, cashews and almonds in colored paper. Came home today and they were all chewed up and on the bottom of their cages.

Sprouted Beans!

Kind of hard to see with the picture resized, but Lucy and Jessie are having sprouted beans for dinner the next couple of nights! I gave them a little treat tonight and they ate it all up!

Playtime - August 8, 2010

Jessie finally showing some interest in the foot toys

Lucy finally showing some interest in the foot toys

Just posting, because Lucy's so pretty in this picture :)

Jessie - August 4, 2010

Jessie, my little phobic Senegal, is starting to make progress with the playstand. After cuddle time with mommy tonight, he willfully stepped up onto the playstand perch he is on in the picture. He's not at the point where he's comfortable enough to start climbing around, but he was showing interest in some of the little foot toys I have on the playstand. It came to end quickly when I tried to put another toy on the perch and that scared him off. He went for a fly around the room and didn't make the most graceful landing on the floor.

Introducing Kylie!

The last couple weeks have been very exciting! I would like to officially introduce everyone to the newest little member of our family. We are adopting a 2-year old female Meyers Parrot named Kylie from a reputable Aviary (CEC Exotics Aviary - http://www.cecavianservices.com/index.html) located in Toronto.

Cory, Kylie's current owner has quite a few larger parrots (Amazon's, Cockatoo's, Caiques, etc) and feels that Kylie would benefit from being in a home with parrots the same size as her and in a home where she could get more one on one time and time out of the cage. Due to Kylie being quite a bit smaller than a lot of Cory's birds, Kylie only gets time out on her own when the other birds aren't out. Kylie is a sweet little bird who Cory has trained to do flight recalls, waves, turnarounds, etc. I have a lot of respect for Cory by recognizing that her home may not be the best environment for Kylie. I cannot imagine how difficult a decision it is, but she truly wants what is best for all her birds.

Kylie was first brought to my attention by another member on this board in the beginning of June. I didn't contact Cory right away and spent several weeks visiting Cory's website and considering the possibility of re-homing a parrot. I contacted Cory in late June/early July and over the past month we have exchanged numerous emails, spoken on the phone and met in person. Last weekend my husband and I met Cory and Kylie for the first time. I didn't push myself on Kylie too much during that visit. She did step up for me and she got lots of treats :) I did try to get her to step up a second time and not knowing Kylie yet, I think I put my hand too close and she felt like she was being forced into stepping up as opposed to being given a choice, so she did give me a pretty good bite. I assured Cory that wasn't going to discourage me at all.

Kylie will be staying with Cory until approximately mid-October. As many of you may know, we have a trailer that we go to every weekend in the summer and Lucy and Jessie come with us. Being at the trailer does not allow me the space to properly quarantine Kylie, so in the very beginning I told Cory about my concern and she was more than happy to hold Kylie for us. Keeping Lucy and Jessie in good health is important to me and I will do what I can to minimize the risk to them. I will be visiting Kylie several times before she comes home with us. The next time I visit Kylie, Cory will have me doing some training sessions with Kylie in an effort to get to know her better and hopefully start building a bond with her. Cory will also be coming to Guelph to meet Lucy and Jessie and see where she will be living before she comes home.

I've attached a picture of Kylie for everyone to see.