Free Flight

Last night Harry and I attended the Free Flight Tropical Sunset Fundraiser. Free Flight is an exotic bird sanctuary in Del Mar. You can read more about them on the Free Flight website. We had a lot fun – they had a bar, delicious  food, a silent auction and a great band.

pA Blue and Gold Macaw greeted the guests.

harryHarry with a Hyacinth Macaw. She was very sweet. I got to feed her some grapes, a carrot and some banana.

meHere I am with an Eclectus parrot (males are green and females are red).

hcHere is Harry with a cockatoo on a visit we made a week ago.

scritchThis parrot let me scritch its pin feathers –  much bigger than a budgie’s!

Here’s a little video of some of the birds: a Moluccan Cockatoo, a pair of Mexican Red- headed Amazons and a Gold and Yellow Macaw.

Alfie update

Alfie hasn’t moved in with the rest of flock yet. Since we brought him home he’s had a couple bouts with illness. And right when we were introducing him to the other budgies. The poor little guy was vomiting (not the typical regurgitation budgies will do) and listless. I took him to the vet and he gave Alfie a shot to help with the nausea. He also ran some labs. Alfie quickly recuperated and was his usual cheery self the next day.

update1A pic of Alfie not feeling well : (.

Everything seemed fine, but we kept him apart from the other budgies in case he had something contagious. Unfortunately, the vet lost Alfie’s labs, so we had no idea what the problem was. Although Alfie seemed completely fine, we decided to keep him quarantined a little longer. This also gave us some more time to work on bonding with him.

A month later, Alfie was sick again (more vomiting, listless, no poops). So back to the vet we went for another shot and more labs. Once again, Alfie was fine the next day. The labs came back normal – the vet thinks that Alfie just has occasional tummy trouble.

As of today, he’s doing great. He’s been more adventurous. He comes out of his cage to investigate and his flying (and landings) are much improved.

update2Like the other budgies, Alfie likes to hang out on the paper towel roll.

update3I’m not sure who enjoys lettuce more. Ozzie or Alfie…

update4Typical Alfie, with food on his face.