Our Flock
The Cockatiels
We got the ‘tiels in September ‘08. At the moment we are unsure of their genders as they do not really have any distinguising markings to tell the gender. We will soon be getting them DNA tested, but until then, the pronouns used are just personal feeling.
Kami
Kami is our cinnamon (heavily) pied pearl cockatiel. He’s the troublemaker of our little flock – whether it’s dropping things off the table, perching just out of reach over my head, or trying to distroy mouse cables – Kami’s normally to blame. Kami is a week younger than Lofty. The first time we went to visit the breeder, we arrive close to feeding time, and had the oppertunity to hand feed him. He is flighted, and has never had his wings clipped. On his first flight (still at the breeders) he flew straight over to a table and managed to land on fly paper (leading to his name – Kamikaze). As a result of this, he was still nervous about flying when we first got him, and was generally happy to stay close to us. Now he’s got over his fears, but is still a very cuddly bird, and frequently swoops down to perch on our shoulders.
Lofty
Lofty is a whiteface cinnamon pied ‘tiel. She is very cuddly and likes to either sit close to/on us, or follows Kami around the room. When we first got her, she had discovered the joys of flight and refused to come down – something that resulted in three of us spending half an hour trying to catch her as she flew around the breeders very large, very high ceilinged room. As a result, once we were sure she had all the flight muscles well developed, Lofty had her wings clipped, so that we could tame her – without spending all our time bringing her back down from the curtain rails. Now she is going through her first moult, she is beginning to grow back her flight wings, and can already make two/three meter long flights across the room (although only a foot or so off the ground). Once she has her wings back, she will remain flighted.
The Budgies
Budgies were the first small bird I kept as pets. Our pair at the moment are not as tame as they could be – only Misfit will step up to come out of the cage – because we spent sometime living with my parents, when it was not possible for us to have them out as regularly as we would have liked. Hopefully with regular handling we’ll get them back to being tame again.
Misfit
Misfit is a pied sky blue grey wing. We’ve now had her for about three years. She is the most tame of our girls, and the most acrobatic in the cage.
Gizmo
Gizmo is a cobalt blue budgie. She is our best mimic out of all the birds and has recently learnt to copy the ‘tiels whistling.
Widget
Widget is our oldest boy at approx 2 years old. He’s a grey, with lovely light blue cheek patches. We’ve had him for nearly a month now. He’s very tame and laid back, and has never even offered to bite. Widget takes great care of Akio, and when all the other birds fly off, he often stays with Akio on the perch.
Akio
Widget is our youngest budgie at approx 1 year old. He’s a light green or “wild” coloured budgie and really stands out in the cage. This poor boy has at some point before we got him, injured his right wing, and when it healed the muscles tighted with the result that he’s lost movement in it, holds it awkwardly and can’t fly. He’s very tame, and at any point when he lands on the floor and wants lifted back up, he’ll come running over to us and jump on to our hands.
