Intoduction to lovebirds

Oh, alright...I guess I could say some stuff about my neighbors.

Those neighbors of mine are lovebirds and they originate from Africa (I looked it up..) They are bright colored usually. Some species, such as the masked lovebird, are not brightly colored, though, with their dark feathers around their eyes...thus their name.

Some bird guides say that the peachfaced lovebirds (such as my neighbors) are the most aggressive. hmm..

They are much smaller than I am, perhaps half my size. Not to mention they really don't like me that much. Maybe our size difference has to do with it, but 'tiels and lovebirds don't naturally mix.

Another difference is that they are much, much noisier than I am. They can talk to basically no one. For such little birds, they are quite loud.

Their acrobatic skills are higher than mine as well. They are able to climb their cage walls and cling upside down on the roof. They are fairly good flyers...ok, they're better than me in that too...

Up or Down?

See those feathers on my head? Those are called crest or crown feathers.
Yes! I, Sunny, have a golden crown!
Anyway, you saw the reason why it's up on the picture to the left in a previous post. (time for a review!)
In this case, I saw something outside that was either very interesting or creepy. (no, I'm not a scaredy cat!)
Feathers that are not puffed up and close together making me look skinny go with the scared look. (if one saw a huge bird outside, of course one would be scared!)




To the right is a picture of me content. You might notice that my feathers are in a more relaxed position. Puffy! I don't look as skinny either. (maid Cy isn't scary, so..)



When I'm angry, my feathers are either in a compact position like above, or they are fluffed up.
To tell the difference, I let out a warning shriek, and keep my beak open as if to bite. My head is kept low near the threat, so to have a better position to strike. I sometimes flick my wings briefly to add to the warning.
Ok, then I run away. Better to run than to fight...
..particularly since a little 12 inch bird can't do much.



It takes a quite a bit to make cockatiels angry. We are a friendly species of bird.
It's better to remain happy anyway!

Pin Feathers 'n' molting

On your left, is a pic of a baby bird. (baby Lovebird) just covered in pin feathers.

Not a pretty sight, but you should see the bird afterwards.







Another reason why we preen, is because we need to smooth our pin feathers out. What are pin feathers, you ask? Well, humans have hair; you just grow hair, there's nothing blocking. We birds, however, are covered with feathers. Now, it'd be a right funny sight (as well as uncomfy) for to just start growing full feathers out of our plumage. No, we have what you call pin feathers. The feathers grow inside a covering that looks like a small stick with a pointed end. If you'd like a more specific description as well as development, Click Here for Wikipedia's explanation.

This is how we grow back feathers from our molting season. We have to molt, of course, not all feathers stay fresh...

Fooooooood

Yuuummmy! Now here's my favorite topic! Food, saffron seeds, sunflower seeds, millet seeds, the list goes on and on. We don't just eat seeds, though. Too many seeds make us fat! Because seeds are mostly starch and such, it would be like eating bread all the time. We eat veggies, all kinds of veggies. Carrot sticks, broccoli, cauliflower, string beans, lettuce...see, all kinds of veggies. Just don't feed a lovebird or cockatiel tomatoes or any mushy foods. Like avocado. Oh, and just in case, consult a handbook afore giving a bird a certain veggie, not all foods good for humans are good for birds!

We could eat bread too. Really, even the birds outside eat bread! Cooked spaghetti strings are also a treat, the look like worms. Regular bread if you please, nothing fancy added to it, just in case. Tortilla is fun to eat as well as rice.

Chocolate. Biiiiiiggggg NO for a bird, or any "Pet" for that matter!!

Long time no blog...

...a'cause I've been busy preening my fluffy feathers! No, I'm joking, but we do have to preen. Preening helps our feathers to stay healthy and free from dust or other such harmful and flight preventing objects. Preening also keeps our feathers in place after flight so the next time we need to escape, our feathers are ready.
Tail feathers are particularly important. They are our rudders for flight. Any science book can tell you, so I won't go in to much detail.

Toys...well now that's a thing hard to come by, particularly since mistress hasn't a job. Yes, toys are very expensive, so inventive mistress gives us string. Not the kind of string you use to sew cloth, a nice kind of string to make knots in. You see, they can't be very thin, or we risk getting our necks ouched. Knotted string, however, is a wonderful substitute for toys. We unravel the knots, and oh it's very fun! Not too long of a string though...

Go cousin!!

This is one awesome cousin!
We cockatiels are a smaller version, but here's an example of what any fun loving bird can do.
For a Cockatoo article click here.

Ta da!

Another example of bird behavior:

Click here

Or, well, follow the link on Mistress' blog at least.

African Greys are among the best in the art of mimicking.

Click here to see a picture and article about them.

St. Francis of Assisi (pictured right) is the patron saint of birds, well, animals in general. Once, he preached to us birds! The picture is from Patron Saints Index.