Still the birdhaus

Birds will be birds, and Boomer, who is our oldest bird at 22, doesn't take kindly to Dede, the more recent conure interloper, trying to get above him on Davey's cage. While he expresses his displeasure, she appears nonplussed. 

After a few seconds of angry chatter, Boomer flew back to the top of his cage, which is taller than Davey's. Thus ends the territorial skirmish. 

Things are never dull at the birdhaus . . . . 

A man and his bird

A selfie of me and my cockatiel Boomer. He doesn't like to have his picture taken, I guess.

Still the birdhaus . . . .

I call this "Breakfast With Boomer":

My cockatiel Boomer and I are enjoying some rice cereal this morning.

Still the birdhaus . . . .

My cockatiel, Boomer, likes to hang out on top of my iMac to keep his feet warm. Aside from the poop down the back of my display, there's no downside to this activity.

Here he stretches and "hangs five".

Still the birdhaus . . . .

Stretching, not yawning. 

Curmudgeon. 

Whhhaaaa? 

Oh, yeah? Well let me tell you! 

Oh fer goodness sakes! 

This one's a bit long . . . . 

A bit bald under the wings due to picking behavior. 

Needin' a trim. 

You lookin' at me? 

There, all done. 

Alright! Enough already with the pictures!

New Camera!

We got a new camera---a Canon Rebel T3. It's a step up from our last one, and takes some pretty awesome pictures. Here are some test shots I took today:

Dede ruffles her feathers.

Boomer always looks a bit pissed.

A sunny day. 

This particular rose is called paradise.

Some visitors to one of our Day Lilies.

Definitely can get some good close ups with this camera!

Still the birdhaus . . . .

Just because every day is bird day here at the birdhaus:

DeDe the conure strikes a pose.

Boomer the cockatiel plays the jailbird in lockup.

Still the birdhaus!

I can't believe I have let so long go by without a bird post. Let me rectify this situation right now!

Boomer looking stately as he enjoys the sun.

Dede looking spiky from new feathers coming in.

These birds are really awesome, and are such a big part of our lives. But they will bite the hand that feeds them . . . .

Still the birdhaus

With all the posting about cats and ravens you might think we don't have our birds any more. Not true! Here's my guy Boomer getting sleepy while enjoying the sun of one of our extraordinarily warm January days:

Still the birdhaus . . . .

And good morning!

Emu on the Loose!

I was at work today, and before I went home I called my wife to tell her a strange tale I'd heard via email about an emu that had been seen wandering around nearby. She revealed she had encountered the large avian interloper, and even managed to catch some pictures of it, though she felt somewhat intimidated by the large fowl.

Here the large avian visitor checks out our inside birds, causing them to raise quite a ruckus.

When I got home from work I had an email (emu email?) from one of our neighbors saying a young girl had lost her pet emu, which had been seen wandering around the neighborhood. There was a number to call if you saw it, so I checked and found the bird had made it home unscathed. 

This is definitely still the birdhaus.

Still the birdhaus

Gimpy and Boomer rarely interact, but the other day they had a bit of a confab in front of Davy's cage. Boomer serenades Gimpy for a while. but these things rarely end well . . . .

Still the birdhaus . . . .

When I am outside our house and my bird, Boomer, is outside of his cage, he likes to keep an eye on me. 

He's definitely quite a guy!

Still the birdhaus . . . .

It's been a while since I've posted some bird pics, so here ya go:

That's Davey, in classic jailbird pose . . . .

Gimpy curious and cute . . . .

Dede clinging to the outside of her cage . . . .

And Boomer, catching some rays on the first day of Spring.

It's been quite a trip how Dede the conure and our newest bird, has integrated herself into the pecking order here at the birdhaus (pun definitely intended.) She is not at all shy, and she and Boomer, my guy and the top bird here, have a bit of a rivalry going on. In this picture it plays itself out quite visibly, with Boomer claiming the top spot on the outside of Davey's cage (Davey is barely visible behind the bars), while Dede acts nonplussed.

Birds are really not too different from people. There are social structures which play out in conflicts and then quiet into truces. It's a nonstop show.

We're still the birdhaus!

I don't post our birds as often as I should, so here's a rundown of the avian population at the birdhaus:

Gimpy is the youngest, who we inherited from my wife's daughter. He broke his leg as a very young bird, and was almost euthanized, but my step daughter rescued him. He's quite a character, and due to his injury seems to be dancing a lot of the time.

Davey is a bird we got from a friend of my wife's. He was originally called "Daisy", but then it was discovered (by people who know more about sexing cockatiels than I do) that he is of the masculine gender. Gimpy sings to him frequently, though Davey seems nonplussed by the attention.

Dede is a conure who was given to us by another friend. The purplish tint on her beak in this picture is juice from a blackberry I gave her, which she literally tore into. She can be very feisty if she isn'y into being handled---meaning she bites.

And this is my guy, Boomer. He likes to lick his mirrors, which makes viewing his favorite cockatiel (himself) a bit difficult. But his reflection must taste good! He's somewhere between seventeen and eighteen years old, but still is as spry as ever.

Colorful fella

My bird, Boomer, seems to be undergoing a bit of a change in his old age. At about 17 years old, his orange coloring on his cheeks is spreading a bit on his face. I don't know what is causing it, but when it first started happening, I thought he might be bleeding. Anyway, we may have to start calling him Orange Beard.

We're still the birdhaus!

I don't think I've ever posted all of our birds in a single post, but I got shots of all of them today, so here goes:

Here's Dede giving her "Ain't I sweet?" look . . .

. . . and Gimpy, typically looking a bit scruffy . . .

. . . Boomer, doing an impression of Sean Penn taking on some paparazzi . . .

. . . and Davey, getting a good close look at his bell in his cage. I'm not sure why, but several of the birds exhibit this behavior. It never fails to amuse me.

That's all of 'em. We are so happy to have our little aviary, and we do miss Sunny and Woody, who passed on over the last couple of years. Animals are such a wonderful blessing in our lives.

The beauty that is all around us . . . .

I took a short walk around my yard yesterday and soaked up some of the beauty, both natural and (wo)man made (my wife is the gardener), and it was quite a joy to behold.

My cockatiel Boomer was watching me, and he almost seemed stuck in the spider web outside his window.

Speaking of spiders, this one was chilling inside a lily.

The daisies my wife salvaged from someone's garden are going wild this spring.

An evolving construction .