Wednesday, March 18, 2009

New Pet

We weren't in the market for a new pet but a few months ago when we popped in to see my sister in law she was saying that their poor bird "greedy" was a bit miserable. He is a hand reared Cockatiel and he used to talk and sit on their hands etc etc but with all the kids growing up and moving out and having lives of their own he had been somewhat lonely. Somehow we ended up offering to take him.


Here he is.............................

Now I don't actually agree with the concept of caged birds although over the years I have managed to have a few thrust upon me. I think they should just fly free and be who they are - birds. However this little guy was reared for the purposes of being part of the family so letting him go would be tantamount to wringing his little neck.

Having said that I also don't like the idea of a bird, hand reared or not, flapping about in the house - I am not an animal in the house person at all and never have been. So after convincing the kids they couldn't have him in their rooms I compromised and let him stay, for the time being, on the front verandah. Eventually we will build him an aviary that is big enough for him to have a fly around in the front garden just near where we sit to have breakfast or a drink in the late afternoon. That way he can kind of be in nature without geting eaten by something or attacked by something and we will still be close by to chat to him every day.

When we bought him home we noticed he would run his beak over and over the bars of his cage so much so he has worn a groove in his beak, so we talked to him all day Sunday, we put new toys in his cage and put the cage near the front door so everyone says hello as they go past and by yesterday afternoon (Tuesday) he had finally stopped running his beak over the bars! He is also now whistling to us if we walk past without saying hello which is great.

Today will be his first day here without anyone home so we will see if the boredom behaviour returns. And i think we will be changing his name not sure what to yet but he just doesn't look like a greedy - bird - is the popular choice today although Colin was suggested by some bright spark ( Colin Thiele!!?) This family of mine is very strange.

Okay the other new member of the household will be up tomorrow for you to see.

daisymum

1 comment:

Teena said...

Im with you, caged birds is cruel and meaningless. He such a cutie though. I hope the transition is smooth and he doesn't stress too much.

xoxoxo