Hello All, 

I guess because I was obsessive-compulsive as a kid, that that's why I so like the number eight.  It's a good, rounded, number.  At least that's my excuse right now.  I now am the proud parent of eight birds. I know, I know.  Now, don't be too shocked.  I have the room now, and the time.  I am now a certified birdlady.  There's a bird on my shoulder or in my lap at least half of the daylight hours in one 24-hr period. The biggest problem I have is wondering if all my T-shirts are gonna hold up!  However, I did manage to get 3 of those bird poop covers at the Bird Expo here in Pensacola this weekend. 

I stumbled upon someone at the Expo who was looking for a good home for a bird whom she took in for someone who could no longer keep it.  It's a Jenday-Sun Conure hybrid.  Looks like a Sun Conure to me, but at this point in time I don't know the difference between the two.  He's about 5 & named, "Jerry."  I don't think he was ever sexed, so we'll just assume Jerry is a male.  He's sweet; I got him yesterday & today he let me scratch his head for awhile.  He doesn't act like any of the others, though.  I don't know if this is because he's new or what, but he acts like a Jekyll-Hyde personality.  One minute he's lovey dovey, the next he nips at me.  I'll chalk that up to newness insecurities & reassess later. 

I got a lovely manzanita tree that's about 6 ft high to put in

the birdroom.  It's on a rolling stand & beautiful.  BoBo was the

first to try it out.  I went around it with pruners to clip off all the

jagged edges, & BoBo helped.  I think he was more effective at

this than me!  He's back to his old self; not acting jealous

anymore, although seems to get his feelings a little hurt if I

spend too much time with the other birds.  He'll come out & let

me love on him, or he'll play with his toys, for awhile, then he

wants back in the birdroom so he can talk to the rest of the flock.  I never thought I'd see BoBo being a 'part' of a flock, but he seems to be so.  He actually seems to look forward to going back to see everybody.  KiKo still wants nothing to do with him but he keeps trying.  Tonight he jumped off of my shoulder onto her cage while I was changing the paper in the bottom of her cage which she had shredded to a pulp. He walked around it like he was a king & she sat demurely inside & ignored him.  She's so obsessed with me that she can't seem to see past that.  I think she's more obssessive-compulsive even than what I was as a child, if that's possible.  One minute she's fine, and the next she's screaming her head off because she wants me.  She's very loving, but I can't hold her ALL of the time.  So she has to learn.  I put a pine cone in her cage 2 days ago & that's all the time it took for her to slick it clean. (I gotta get some more.)  She is playing with a ball I put in her cage now, but I don't know if it's exactly 'playing'.  It has a little jingle bell in it, & she throws it around like a pitcher throwing fast curveballs at the stadium. It's almost as though she's angry when she does it, or maybe, frustrated.  Does anybody have any suggestions to anything more I can possibly do to calm her down?  I so want her to relax; I hold her on the average twice a day for about an hour each time. Her & BoBo get most of my attention, BoBo because I want him to remain thinking he's #1 (because he is) and her because she NEEDS to THINK she's #1.

By the way, at the Expo there was an 8 wk old patti there.  I didn't get a chance to interact with it before it got sold for $400.00 to someone.  It was on a lady's shoulder yesterday & I thought it was her personal bird, but she sold it.  I don't know how people can sell animals; I couldn't.  I would worry about them way too much.  The lady who sold me Jerry for $100.00 almost cried as I left with him.  She said he was her favorite but she couldn't keep him. 

I'm supposed to meet Denise sometime in the near future to pick up the three birds I told her I'd take off her hands. One is a Nanday, one is a Senegal Parrot, & the other is a Blue Crowned Conure. The Nanday & Senegal are together & totally cagebound.  An old man had neglected them, then died, and the ASPCA found their way to Denise's Sanctuary.  They won't even come out of the cage with the door open all day, she says.  The Blue-Crown is 10 years old & had been with the same lady for the past six years.  She had a baby, though, and the bird supposedly bit the hubby  in acting-out behaviour, so the woman was afraid to have it around their child.  It lost almost half it's body weight when it came to the shelter.  They wasn't sure he was even gonna make it, but he finally started putting back on some weight.  When Denise told me she was going to have to take it to this function she went to this weekend, where they adopt the birds out to whomever comes, I told her I'd take it because I didn't want it to end up with someone who couldn't (or wouldn't) meet it's needs.  If that bird wound up with someone who ended up giving it away in the future, the whole cycle would be repeated.  And who knows whether the bird would even survive the stress. 

My birdroom is done except for a bit of caulking & putting up a couple of trim boards.  Dennis will do that Tues. night.  I painted the windowsills this evening & will clean the floor good tomorrow.  I'll probably have the birds in there by tomorrow afternoon.  They're gonna love it!

Cheers, Cindi.