Sabrina’s New Toy Interest and Updates

Although Sabrina really became a part of my flock simply for Charles– to be his companion, and not to be my pet– I do find myself slowly coming to love her.  This is big for me, because in general I really am not a fan of female budgies.  They tend to be much nippier, more highly strung, more feisty, and more high maintenance– and boy does Sabrina fit the bill!  She’s nothing like the calm, docile sweetheart that my Charles is.  But she’s a cutie nonetheless.  And I adore how she really relishes her toys!  She is a mini destructo-bird and it does make me smile, no matter how much I suppress it.

Sabrina nibbling on some crunchy loofa

More loofa for Sabrina

This week I discovered a new toy interest for her: loofa!  I’d seen it on toys before, but never thought to try it for whatever reason.  Well, I had actually gotten this chunk as a free sample from one of my purchase from Things for Wings, so I wedged it onto a knobby part of one of the grapevine perches.  Sure enough, Sabrina came by and started to rip it up!  I was pretty pleased.  I purchased a few custom toys for her with adorable loofa parts that should be here next week.  I can’t wait to see how she likes them!

In other news, I’ve been having to travel a lot on weekends, but finally I think I’m done, at least for a short while.  It’s tough being gone from the flock, even for a few days.  This weekend they seem to have been extra kind, though, and it isn’t nearly as messy and chaotic here as it has been in the past.  I am also pleased to report that Sabrina finally has one flight feather coming in on each side!  She got a horrible, horrible clip as a baby and she just drops to the ground when she tries to fly.  I can’t wait for her flights to grow back in.  Not terribly much else is going on here.  I do believe I have a new cage for the budgies in the works, so that’s exciting, but it won’t be done for a few months.

Lola Outside on her Harness!

This past week, Lola and I made a sudden breakthrough with her harness training!!  We’ve been through months and months of harness training that seemed like one step forward, two steps back most of the time.  I wasn’t hopeful, and in fact had been losing hope more and more in recent weeks.  Then suddenly this week she let me put the harness over her head with no resistance… and the next day I actually got the whole thing on her!!

Lola enjoying the beautiful weather on her harness!

I am so, so excited!!  I really didn’t think we’d ever get there, after all of my failures and frustrations.  But we did, and the past two days in a row I’ve been taking her for walks around the neighborhood to enjoy the sun!!  She definitely doesn’t love being harnessed, but, she has been a lot better about it than she has in the past.  It also seems like once I get her outside and walking around, she is much more interested in what’s going on around her than chewing at the harness itself.  She also enjoys getting showered with treats and praise, of course.  She’s attracted quite a few neighbors and children especially!

Lola showing off her Aviator Harness

Although I had been taking her out in her travel cage frequently since the weather’s been nicer, I am so happy to have her harness trained.  I even have a flight line for it, so hopefully one day she will be brave enough to let go of her death grip on my hand and arm.  I am a really big fan of the Aviator Harness, and in my opinion it is the absolute safest harness on the market.  It is very, very secure (and doesn’t depend on velcro straps which to me doesn’t seem safe at all) and also the least bulky.  I think that the idea of diapers is a bit ridiculous, personally.  Parrots “go” so frequently for various biological reasons, and one of them is to keep their bodies as light as possible to promote flight.  To buy a flight suit or a harness with a diaper attached seems incredibly counter intuitive to me, and much more for the human’s convenience than the parrot’s enrichment.

Taking in the sights and sounds

Anyway, I couldn’t be more pleased about finally getting her into this thing– it sure took long enough!  I am hoping that we can continue to make trips outdoors all throughout the nice weather.  I am so excited!!

Flight Recall Training with Lola

Lately [from November of 2010] I’ve been doing a lot of flight recall training with Lola.  We’re still at the very basic stages, but she’s getting pretty good at it!!  Every time she successfully flies to me, I offer her an almond (or a piece of an almond).  We use the cue, “Come here!”  Here’s a video of one of her most recent successes.  On the first attempt, you’ll notice, she decides to pounce the camera instead.

[This entry has been imported, with some edits, from my previous blog.]