Introducing…

Marvin!

On June 24th, someone on our neighborhood Facebook page posted that they found a budgie in their backyard, hoping to find its owner. I commented that we could take him in until the owner was found, as we have extra cages, bird toys and plenty of food.
The next day the woman who found him dropped him off. He was just a baby! He was starving, and his keel bone was very pronounced. He wolfed down some seed and promptly fell asleep.

We put the little guy in a quiet room (quarantine) and monitored him in case he needed a trip to the vet. He rallied pretty quickly. At first I thought he was tame because he was so easy to handle. But I think it was the heat, and the lack of food that made him so docile. The next day it was clear that he wasn’t tame at all. And he was a bit of a biter. So we started working on building trust and stepping up.

No one ever searched for him on our neighborhood pet pages or at the shelters. We think someone either let him out (maybe because of the biting?), or didn’t bother to look for him when he escaped. So now Tippi has a little friend.

Marvin has since finished his quarantine period and is in the bird room with Tippi and Sido. He is stepping up in the cage, but we still need to work on stepping up out of the cage. The biting is no longer an issue (knock wood).
This little budgie is a cutie, quite a singer and very playful. Welcome home Marvin!

Introducing Harvey!

10Meet the newest member of the flock! I think we needed something positive to focus on after we lost Gordie, so we decided to adopt a new little one. Gordie definitely inspired us to provide a loving home for unwanted budgies. I wish we could take them all in…

Harry found him on Craigslist*. We’re not sure how old he is (the previous owner said they had him for 6 months and that they had purchased him from Petco). He isn’t banded and his wings are grown out, so who knows? His cage looked like it had never been cleaned (ugh), so we loaded him up in our quarantine cage and spirited him away.

Harvey is very nervous when we approach the cage and flips out when we put our hands in to change out his food and his water. Another taming challenge! He’s been calling to the other birds and I can’t wait for them to meet him. It’s nice to know another lonely bird will have a flock, and I’m glad the other budgies will soon have a new friend. Perhaps Cooper will take a shine to him…

*Harvey was the first budgie (not from a breeder) that was available on our Craigslist search. I think we are fated to have blue birds!

Eight is Enough.

Or is it??nbMeet our newest addition! We found this little cutie on Craigslist. He’s about a year old and went by the name “Budgie.” More photos later, I didn’t want to bother him with the camera on his first day. The little guy is already finger tame, which is a nice change for us. He also talks! Among his repertoire is “tequila”.

Right now the little one is in quarantine. Can’t wait for him to join the flock!

And Then There Were Five…

Look what I brought home today!

boxNope, it’s not a Doodlebug.

newIt’s an adorable budgie!  I picked it up at the animal shelter. It’s another mystery bird – it was found outdoors and has no leg band. It will be in quarantine for a month, but the budgies are already chirping back and forth. Not sure of it’s age or whether it’s male or female. I’ll have to ask the experts on http://talkbudgies.com/. And of course, the little cutie will need a name…

new2