Scooter

New pictures of Scooter from this weekend...He's such a doll!



I love the way birds can look so interested and intelligent.



I'm not too fond of the blurry background and the lens Hubby used for these pictures - but any photo of Scooter is a good photo!

The birds generally spend 4 - 6 hours a day in their play area. We usually eat dinner with them. At first Scooter was getting exited when we would sit down and he would jump off and fly onto the table. Even though his wings are clipped he is still a decent flyer since he is fairly small and light bodied. This weekend he was finally able to stay out without trying to jump on the table. Yay!

Scooter has also learned his first "trick" - giving me kisses. It's easy to teach a smart baby bird to give kisses because they remember being fed that way (mouth to mouth). I just make a big kissy noise and say "Kisses!" and Scooter will kiss me back. So cute! (The cautionary note is that you need to always be careful with a beak around your face! Make sure your bird is really in the right mood for giving kisses rather than biting! Also, you may get a regurgitated surprise if you aren't careful. Ewww.)

Dianne asked how you DNA test a bird. The answer is that you have to get a blood sample - same as for humans. But since all they are testing for is the male and female chromosome markers they only need a very small sample which they get by clipping a toenail a wee bit too short. Bird toenails will bleed just like a dog or cat's will if you cut the quick. So that's how they do it. They send the sample off to the lab and then you wait two weeks for the results.