Western Arab

I got a new cage for my birds. It is more than twice the size of the previous one so now the birds can enjoy the space and I don’t have to let them out in the screened patio much if any, since they insisted on tearing the screen multiple holes. Dad made a pole to hook the cage on so it is suspended and away from the screen as well. Now the cage has some free movement, but Dad added a metal hanger to the top so the cage doesn’t bounce around so much every time they jump in it. And I think their new home is perfect! They were excited once it was all setup and they were exploring and congratulating each other on their new home! Here are some shots.

New bird house

Celebrating the new house

happy birds

front view

My green parakeet

This is just one of the pictures I took today of my green parakeet. Ever since the blue one got his tail feathers, he has been harder to get to sit on my finger where as the green one has been easier to do so, while she used to be the hard one to do so. The picture was taken with my new awesome rebel xs . I have been having fun with it taking various shots out in the yard, but the yard is limited and I have run out of subjects to shoot.

Looking forward to a good trip/event to shoot some pictures, but at least I am getting a lot of practice with the manual settings. I do have an indoor event this weekend that I will be taking a lot of shots. Should be fun.

Apparently there is another snake in the my yard. My mom spotted an all black snake this time. I am wondering if the parakeets are attracting the snakes. It is strange that in 4 years we did not see a single snake in the yard and now there are two that have been spotted. No idea if this snake is poisonous or not. I read it is best to just leave the snakes alone as they feed on rodents, but we don’t have any rodent issues here so I am not sure why they are here. Either the budgies are attracting them or the budgies are attracting rodents that I have not yet seen. If the budgies are the reason, they will need to go. Seems like ants, lizards, frogs and snakes are the pest problems in South Florida or maybe all of Florida. Probably ants are a problem everywhere.

Parakeets in cage

I made a new “house” for my parakeets. They had chewed through the original perch that came with the cage until it broke. I got a branch from some type of pine tree in my yard that I used and they chewed through the bark of that and it got too thin and became loose. So now I got a thick branch and have set that as their new perch, one of the original perches that came with the cage is on the bottom behind the feeders, which is known as the first floor. The second floor is the new thick branch and I added a third floor on top of that with a thin branch which is curved that I placed from the front left side and it curves to the back right side. They usually hide up there when I put my hand in the cage now. There is also a branch that is set diagonally from second floor down to the first. They like to sit on this one as the green one is doing so in this picture, the blue one was there as well, but got scared of the camera and ran up. I also ran some very thin plant stem with green leaves on top of the cage to provide them with shade if needed. I like this new “house” much better.

They both stand on my finger now when outside of the cage in the screened patio. I place my finger to their side as they hang on the screen and they step on. The blue one does so instantly, he knows to get back to the cage he needs to do so. He doesn’t know how to fly, he is younger than the green one, and his tail was short to begin with and then he broke his tail feather a few weeks back when he jumped on it. He also will go on my shoulder, the green one does not do so yet.

Get off my shoulder

I finally got the blue parakeet to get on my finger, hand, arm, and shoulder! He still panics and gets scared of stuff, but he was just fine hanging out on me. He even walked around the back of my neck to the other shoulder. He got to spend a long day out of the cage today in the large screened patio.

The green one, well she still doesn’t get on my finger. She only steps on it to move away sometimes, and she only once got on my finger but didn’t stay long. She can fly well so she doesn’t need my help to get back up to the cage, as the blue one currently does. But she will come around. She is a female after all, so typical.

And I am so glad the parakeet didn’t poop on my shoulder for his first time being there.

Parakeet on shoulder

A video of my parakeets out in the screened patio. They like being in the cage more it seems, atleast for now. I need to get them comfy enough to sit on my finger or hand.

Got my 4 gigs of RAM for the macbook. Ended up going with xp 32 bit on vmware fusion. Working great so far. Installing the RAM was a major pain in the ass. Eight tiny screws. I got my box of cheap small screw drivers I had bought a few years back at the dollar store. So I managed to get six of the screws out and I ended up with a blister on my finger. I cursed apple for making it so hard to open the machine up. I finally managed the seventh screw, when I finally remembered I had a screwdriver on my keychain meant for eyeglasses, tried that on the final screw that would not loosen and isnstantly turned. It was only then that I realized, it is not the macbook but my shitty screwdrivers.

Tax guy, after two weeks, I called for two days to get a hold of him. Tells me he is working on my taxes and will try to finish them up next day by afternoon. Again I say you will call me when they are done? He says yes. Day goes by, no call. Arab to Arab all over again. Not using his services again, or lack of services. Will see if he calls tomorrow.

We changed the green/yellow parakeet last weekend for a female green/yellow one. She is a little older than the blue male one and has long wings. She flies good … kinda. She doesn’t seem to avoid walls. She flew into the wall twice. So I let her out in the screened patio now only. She flew into the screen at least three times but I think she will get better over time. Maybe I will post a video of them later when they are out on the patio.