Cooper’s Cuties

Meet Sailor and Duckie!sdcThese two little cuties live in California with Erin.dandsSailor and Duckie will be five years old in 2014.lettuceTheir favorite treats are anything in any shade of green, celery, dandelion leaves, lettuce, broccoli, and parsley. They also love organic corn on the cob.seedDuring the day, they spend the whole time hanging out on their tree in the middle of the room staring out the window whistling at other birds as they fly by outside.napAt Christmas, mommy decorates their tree with plastic candy canes which during the whole week get slowly but violently knocked off onto the floor (where Sailor and Duckie think they belong). They both have Holiday stockings which on Christmas eve get a special surprise in each. This year the little elves at the North Pole hinted something about twine balls and millet sprays.scritchTheir favorite toy is a miniature hanging twine basket stuffed with crinkle cut shreds and beads. They love to slowly rip each and every piece of paper stuffing out and onto the carpet below. Mommy is continually refilling their basket with new shreds 🙂pinkPretty in pink.sanddGetting ready to nap.zzzZzzz.

Cooper’s Cuties

Meet Scotty (aka Budgie)!

s1Budgie lives in San Diego with Ben.

s2I’ve had my parakeet Scotty (Budgie) for about 2 years. He doesn’t
talk, but loves to sing. When I first got him, he didn’t chirp for
about 2 weeks, but now he chirps all day long. He likes to sing along
to “noise.” So he’ll start chirping away with the vacuum cleaner,
static, action scenes in movies, or any type of rock song.  He also
likes the sound of running water, so I take him into the shower with
me when I can.

It’s been a priority of mine to see that Budgie will play with other
people, after all, half the fun is getting to show him off to family
and friends. That has lead me to also acclimate him to my friend’s
Holland Lop Rabbit named Marshmellow.  We started out at first just
having Budgie in his cage and letting the rabbit run around the cage.
Eventually they’d both be out of their cages in the room together and
finally curiosity got the best of Budgie as he’d to flying and landing
on Marshmellow’s cage. Usually what happens when they play is
Marshmellow comes up to sniff or investigage Budgie and Budgie flies
or runs away and then lands back where he was and then the bunny comes
hopping over.
Sometimes when I know I’ll be gone all day, I like to leave Budgie
over at Marshmellow’s house so they can sit with their cages by each
other.

Budgie likes to wake up before I do in the mornings, so I usually open
his cage door as he likes to sit in the window and sing. I like to go
back to sleep. Sometimes he’ll fly and land on my arm and sleep there
where I go back to sleep for another hour or two. The only downside
is, sometimes he likes to come up and nibble on my toes or ears while
I’m trying to sleep.

s3Budgie likes to sit on the corner of my keyboard, right by the
backspace and delete keys. Which makes it hard when I’m trying to type
something and mess up because he’s blocking the fixing keys. He’s
usually not too happy having to move as I try to slide my fingers to
the keys. He also likes to stand on top of my tablet or touch screen
phone.

s4

Cooper’s Cuties

Meet Oscar!

oscarOscar lives in Australia with Wendy.

oscar2I’ve had Oscar for almost a year now. He came from a local pet store. From what information I managed to track down he was about two years old when I got him, so that would make him roughly three now.
He was always a stand-offish budgie. You know, “Look but don’t touch!”. I put this down to his age and I also didn’t know how long he’d been in the pet shop. He will, however, get on my finger to come in and out of the cage, and sometimes will sit on your shoulder and have a little natter.

oscar3(Oscar with his best buddy, Bailey)

He gets along okay with the other five budgies, but immediately took to my little pipsqueak – Bailey. They bonded straight away and are always feeding and preening each other. This looks hilarious as Oscar is my biggest budgie and Bailey is a tiny little runt! I call them Little and Large! Oscar has his own nickname, though. I call him Fluff. You can see why! He never did anything much, preferring to just sit and watch the others play. Until just recently when he decided that it looked FUN to come down and play! It’s nice to see!

oscar1He hasn’t really got a favourite food, apart from millet which they all love! Oh, and just a couple of other things – he waddles like a duck when he walks and it looks really funny, and he has just learned to wolf-whistle!

Cooper’s Cuties (part 2!)

Meet Butch!

butch1Butch lives in the U.S. with Shelly and Leon (yesterday’s cutie!).

butch2Butch was adopted from an animal shelter in 2011. He was very nervous around people and still is. My guess is that he was in a home with children who were loud and would grab at him. He prefers the company of birds, but will tolerate and has begun to trust me. Butch is vocal at times but mostly eye pins his toys and perches. He likes mirrors and pulling hay out of his shredder toys. He loves Leon and goes crazy if Leon is out on the tree and he is not. He also likes feeding Leon when they are together!

butch3Butch is a really sweet guy who was given a second chance. Though he has a harmless fatty tumor on his stomach, Leon treats him just as he would a normal bird. They are truly Partners in Crime and love screaming and making messes!

butch4Though butch is semi-wild, I hope to own more parakeets like him the future. Butch is a gentle soul who values friendship and embraces life.

butch5butch6

Cooper’s Cuties

Meet Leon!

leon1Leon lives in the United States with Shelly and Butch (more on Butch tomorrow!).

leon2Leon is a sweet and playful guy who loves playing (and being fed by) Butch. He does go through his cycles of biting every so often, but warns before he bites by singing a certain way.

leontoyLeon’s friend is Butch –  but his best friend is a home made toy he is obsessed with (above)! He would sing to it all day if he could. Leon will go anywhere or sit on anything (like plastic dinosaurs!) to see his toy. He loves bells and mirrors more than anything and would rather see his toy than eat millet. He does enjoy eating lettuce, though, with the occasional carrots and broccoli.

leon4Leon really enjoys coming out on the big tree (soon to be 2 trees!) to play with Butch and the toys on the tree. Both budgies are very spoiled –  and get lots of toys made for them!

leon5

Cooper’s Cuties

Meet Billie!

billie1Billie lives in the United Kingdom with Carly.

billie3(pinnies!)

Billie is a nearly 6 months old yellow face dominant pied.
He loves to be out of his cage flying about and likes to sit on my head!
He’s just started talking, saying a few words/phrases like “you’re soo cute” “mummy’s baby budgie” “give me a kiss” “pretty birdy” and gives me kisses
He loves listening to other budgie videos on YouTube…this is where he’s learnt some words and phrases…then he goes crazy when I turn it off or it finishes
His favourite fruits are apple and strawberries and his favourite veg is lettuce,celery,spinach and carrots..he likes his veges more

billie7
He loves millet as his treat and will do almost anything for it! When he doesn’t want to go back into his cage I put some millet in his cage then he goes straight in
Billie loves his bell and likes ringing it by swinging on it shaking it so it rings..he also talks to his bell and kisses it saying “kiss kiss kiss” to it

billie2(after his bath)

billie4Zzzzzz…

Cooper’s Cuties

Meet Wiki!

wikiWiki (short for Wikileaks) lives in Australia with AnnMarie.

8616247946_4843e1cf2d_cWiki loves clicker training, with all the challenges that presents. His favourite tricks are running through the slinky, turning around and fetching. Putting things into other things is a big favourite! He’s determined to prove to the world that budgies can keep up with those bigger parrots, and what they lack in size they make up for with enthusiasm!

Wiki1Playing isn’t limited to training – he has a favourite green ball which he will follow around everywhere, and loves toys with bells on. Anything which can be grabbed and thrown, or even better – destroyed! He particularly loves “approving paperwork” left lying around by “signing” it with his beak.

His favourite veggies are broccoli, carrot and baby spinach, along with pulling seeds out of capsicum and strawberries. Millet spray is his favourite training reward.

He really loves the sound of his own voice, and if he can amplify it by talking into a hollow object, all the better. After a long day of destroying things, flying around, doing tricks and going about his budgie business, he likes to perch on AnnMarie’s hand and go to sleep, preferably while she is trying to use that hand.

Wiki in action:

More videos of the amazing Wiki here: http://www.youtube.com/wikibudgie

Cooper’s Cuties

Meet Indi!

indi1Indi lives in Australia with Lyn.

indi7This handsome little fellow loves attention and will nip at Lyn’s mum’s hand if she is doing something other than giving Indi the attention he deserves. Indi helps with the washing and with bookwork and has learned to say, ” You’re going back to your cage”.

indi9Indi’s favorite foods are carrots, corn, snow peas, broccoli and silverbeet. He loves veggies more than fruit.

indi4Indi loves his oval shaped bell and rope swing, but his favorite toy is the plastic “flower” pictured above.