Sugar Franklin on Sunday

This morning I sat and watched Sugar Franklin run back and forth, back and forth, in her cage at approximately 70 miles an hour, wanting out. I took her out and she's now on my shoulder, helpfully chirping directly into my ear. She occasionally stretches out, first one wing and then the other. Her weight on my shoulder feels normal and solid. Sometimes she faces forward to chirp at the other birds, then she'll turn around and chirp at the couch.

It has been so long since she's been this happy and active and vocal -- you'd never know how sick she's been. I am so grateful to the vets, the techs, my friends, and the Great Parrot Spirit that she's still here to poop on my shoulder and chirp in my ear.

I think I'll go get the big bag of Nutriberries. She's earned one.

Good Bird! (I hope)

I'm so proud of Charli. I would have posted this when it happened, but I've been too busy with other stuff.

Our routine in the morning is for me to uncover the birds. Charli demands a little scritch to start her day (unless she'd rather bite me), so I unlock the cage, scritch her little head, lock the cage, and go on about my business.

One day a week or so ago I got home from work and said hello to all the birds. I went to Charli's cage and saw that the door was open! She was in her Hide 'n Sleep, looking at me casually, as if I always leave her cage door open.

Evidently I'd forgotten to close and lock it that morning. I examined her closely to be sure she was all right, then I went through the house to see what damage she might have done while I was gone.

Nothing was damaged or out of place. It was as though she didn't leave her cage all day.

I'm a lot more careful in the mornings now. Just in case.

Poor Little Sugar

In this picture she looks like she's been in a fight.

The real story is that she had a tiny nick in the air sac behind the vein while having blood drawn at the vet's. This air sac circulates through the head and usually heals/closes very quickly, but not in this case.

She has blood in her beak and her nares, but she's okay! This should clear up in about a week. She's eating like a pig, drinking healthy amounts of water, producing perfect poops, and bossing me around -- just like always.

I'd taken her in to check on her uric acids; first time since that awful few weeks back in June. Unfortunately, her levels this time were 21; normal is 10. This means we have to go back to meds for some indeterminate time. We're not starting this week in order to give her time to clear up the blood issue.

I sure do dread giving meds, but I'm glad she's doing as well as she is.

Sugar Franklin's Bath

Despite all my efforts to encourage bathing with water, Sugar never does the rain dance when there's water around.

But give her a bowl of warm yummy veggies, like peas, and she's in bathing heaven!

Cucumbers!

Parrot Musings recently discovered that one of their parrots loved cucumbers, so I decided to try some with Charli.

I took her into the kitchen and I could barely keep her away while I peeled the cucumber. She loves peppers and corn and green beans (raw or cooked) and peas and various other vegetables, plus almost every fruit I've offered, but we'd never tried cucumbers.

As you can tell by the picture, Charli thinks cucumbers are just wonderful. So I foresee lots more cucumbers in the house.