30 May, 2004

Day 40

Update: Pickle is now a flyer. Pickle was not quite as graceful as Sherbet was on her first flight. He takes after Meringue who is a bit clumsy as well. There have been some rather uncerimonious landings after collisions with doors, shelves, windows etc. Actually Pickle has been taking a fair bit of abuse as he (maybe she) learns the ropes.


We have taken away the nest box. Pickle probably could have used a few more days in it (at bedtime) but it's time to try to slow Kiwi down. She has immense amounts of energy and seems determined to explore every nook and cranny of the living room. She seems to be trying to find a new nest location. If we put gravel in the gravel dish she attacks it, emptying every piece of gravel out of it. Really, she is like a power shovel digging up mouthfuls and throwing it away. When the dish is empty she tries to pull it off of the cage. We are not really sure what has motivated her hatred of the gravel dish

Meringue is an excellent father to the two babies. He feeds them and preens them frequently. Kiwi is pretty much determined to treat Sherbet as a competing adult. She is strict about the rules in the nest. Namely, she owns all of the seed dishes and especially the gravel dish. Sherbet is a bit of a bully when it's feeding time. She pushes herself in front of Pickle so that she gets first dibs. Sherbet is also eating at the seed dish so we know she is getting enough. We try to arrange things so that Pickle gets some alone time with Dad.



Sherbet having a nap. She flies around with the adults but needs longer rests than they do.



Pickle still likes to snuggle into a fold of your shirt or under a blanket. Notice the rims around Pickles nostrils. Is he a she? Is she a she?



The siblings spend a lot of time preening each other. Budgies have quite flexible necks. Notice the luminescence in Kiwi's feathers. There are studies that show that budgies hang out in areas where the lighting shows off their feathers to best effect (seriously).