Among Friends

[Bird mama]

@NycVixen 

Regarding the multi-vitamin:  Because I feed my sparrow and pigeon foods that include some vitamins already, I sprinkle a little of the Quiko powdered vitamin into a couple of ounces of water (about a shot glass size).  It turns a yellow color and then I mix the vitamin water into more drinking water.  I do this a couple of times a week, not daily.

Regarding the egg food formula:  I give this to my sparrow daily as a treat in addition to her seeds.  I mix a little water with the egg food formula until it's damp and crumbling, not wet or runny. 

It is spring and the increase in daylight can trigger hormonal changes in birds.  Your little lovebird could be moody from spring fever.  

You mentioned that you changed up some food.  Perhaps he didn't like what you gave him.  Based on my limited knowledge of lovebirds they appear to be fussy eaters when the mood strikes them.

I buy my egg food bags 3 at a time just to make sure I have it on hand.  I'd say the daily amount I make is probably 3 or 4 tablespoons full - then again I have it in 2 different habitats so I make sure it's available wherever Presto goes.  I haven't adjusted to feeding one sparrow yet.

[NycVixen]

Thanks so much @Bird mama. I will order three bags so I always have it.

He just took a bath came to sit with me for a minute then back to romance. He's hasn't eaten yet. I hope this is just a hormonal thing. In August, it will be two years since he was rescued and he's always had a great appetite.

Here he is freshly bathed. Gosh, I love him so much.

[Bird mama]

@NycVixen  I will tell you one thing.  You will learn every day with this bird.  

Grayson joined my flock in July 2009.  By January 2010 he staked out a place under an old coffee table that is between a recliner and a wall and I named it a man cave.  I change out beach towels for him in his man cave.  He lived with me a year or so when he showed me that he liked the thin 
things from the walnut tree that the small leaves grow on.  I call them twiglets, lol.  He saw some on the patio one fall and started picking them up and taking them in the house.

He built a nest in his man cave.  Then about a year later I found him sitting on a small latex chicken toy that I bought him.  It was like he was incubating something - I thought he was losing his mind.  Now I know he does it every spring and I personally help him collect fresh twiglets for the nest.  

Since then as long as he is eating, drinking, bathing and pooping good, I let him fly his little pigeon freak flag however he wants to.  I try to let him be all the pigeon he can be given that he can't be in the wild because of his lame wing.

[Bird mama]

@NycVixen  Since I just went through this for the first time in nearly 13 years with a hormonal bird (female or not don't matter).

If your bird could be hormonal avoid cuddling.  You can pet your baby's head and that is it.  Avoid petting down the back, rubbing under the chin or touching their feet - yea their feet.

When they bond with us they don't look at us like Mama when they are hormonal.  They take it the wrong way, lol.

[NycVixen]

@Bird mama   He's never allows me to pet him. I hope I can one day. I didn't know about the feet. Wow. A few weeks ago he flew to my head when I had a turban and he mounted it. It was very weird. But he stopped after that one time.

I was advised recently to clip one wing so he becomes more tame. But it just doesn't seem right to me. I just want to be able to pet and cuddle him when he's not hormonal.

[Bird mama]

@NycVixen  I never clipped my sparrows wings, ever.  There's joy in repetition and just reinforcing the relationship between the two of you will get him there eventually.

You are an attentive and good birdmama 

[Drythe]

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@Bird mama wrote:

@geezerette     Because I try to find the lesson or the blessin' in everything  I have to look at it this way.  Her initial voicemail contained the offer to bring it to me.  Had she done so, a baby robin would have been removed from it's parents for no reason.  Because I put the brakes on to get in touch with someone more qualified than I to work with the robin and because I took her up on the second suggestion to go and get the bird, enough time went by to allow the baby and the parents to be reunited.

Initially I was a bit perturbed because she felt I wasn't moving fast enough and had her TL, someone I worked with, text me to let me know former manager had a bird issue.  

Breathe in, breath out and keep a sense of humor are my words to live by.

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@Bird mama

And you learned about Wild Wings Birds,  they are great in my area !

You ARE a hero.

[possummink]

[luvsbulldogs]

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@Bird mama wrote:

Good Morning,

I ended the month of May with a little bit of wild bird excitement

When I retired, I removed certain telephone numbers from my telephone's contact list.  Late yesterday afternoon I was on the phone with my sister when I noticed a call coming in from a number that looked familiar but didn't have a name associated with it.  I ignored it.  I could see a voicemail was left.  Call came in again and I ignored it.  I could see a text was left.  I told Mary, let me get off the phone and see what this is all about.

It was my former manager.  She found a baby robin near the neighbor's pool.  Her backyard and the neighbor's backyard face each other.  How she got into the neighbor's fenced yard to grab the bird is beyond me. 

I said do you have any trees near your property?  She says no.  I said robins don't usually lose their children and rehabbers don't usually intervene unless you can confirm the death of the parents.  She insists that there are aggressive dogs that will kill the bird. 

As she's talking I get on my computer and stumble across a local bird rescue called Wild Wings Bird Rehab and tell her the location and hours.  She says she will never get it there in time.  Long story short, the purpose of the call was to dump the bird on me and go to bed with a clear conscience. She even texted me asking if I wanted to come get the bird and then figure out where it should go

I reach out to the organization and learn they are nearly at capacity.  I text the photos that former manager texted me and lady at the organization tells me she can take the bird.  I arrange to meet the woman after 8:30 at the Hazel Park location since there is no way I will make it to the Rochester Hills location by 6:30.

Meanwhile former manager is trying to guilt me into this by sending me videos of this poor bird in a bucket .  I tell her, do not try to give it water, you don't know what you are doing.  It's hot as hades outside - keep the bird outside, it doesn't need to get a chill.  I also tell her to get $25 or $30 together to go with the bird because this rescue organizations depend on donations and rehabbing ain't cheap.  Yes I did have the nerve to say that.

I get dressed, she gives me directions to her house and I drive out there - it's not like it's around the corner.

I get there and former manager and her spouse are in the driveway sitting in lounge chairs in front of the attached garage.  In the front yard is a fledgling robin being fed by two adult robins.  Apparently the baby robin chirping in the bucket made the parents come near and former manager put the baby in the front grass of a tree lined street no less.

I sat in the driveway and observed the fledgling eat and preen itself and determined there was no need to rescue and I came home.  I texted the bird rescue, explained it was a false alarm.

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@Bird mama

You really do have the patience of a saint!!!  Bless your heart!!!  Thank goodness you were calm and in the end all went well!  You certainly made the right decission birdmama.

Thank you birdmama for starting the June thread!  You are the best!

Waving hi to all the birders!!!

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

[possummink]