Last Updated on by Catherine Tobsing
It is 10 PM, the 5 upstairs cages are covered and I sneeze loudly. Keto, the African Ringneck responds with a “Hi baby”.
Do the other birds think how do I get a “Jim Dear” (think Lady and the Tramp) to talk to me like that?
Especially Sweetie Pie, our newest rescue a grey cockatiel. Thankfully his cheek patch is slightly lighter than Barney’s, our other Tiel rescue who has been with us for 4 years now.
Barney is molting so the ragged pinfeathers coming out of his cute little head make him look well, not so cute.
He still gets mandatory scritches daily but they can’t be comfortable.
Navigating back from a frequent digression, I often wonder about these brilliant little creatures’ thought processes.
We use clear dishes for cage water.
The moment a bird enters its cage it can see water is available.
They don’t know if it’s fresh but they know it is water and could never acknowledge we put vitamins in the water but any observer would relate to anyone interested, we have a very healthy flock.
To my point, every afternoon between 4:00 & 5:00 (we travel occasionally but never far enough to prevent the freshening of food and water daily).
Freshening food is usually a “top-off” with a small scoop of new food or just a finger stir.
The food crock then has what looks to be just “new” food of the same food so it’s GOT to be better.
The water though, is in a dish that needs to be replaced with new water, not just simply a “top-off.”
I remove 6 water dishes from 5 birdcages (the budgies have two water cups) while all 10 birds watch.
If you are reading this you know these tiny Velociraptors miss absolutely nothing going on around them.
The water dish is gone, vanished from the cage.
What are the bird’s expectations?
I know they know, they have never experienced an extended period of drought,
Sometimes after removing all the bird’s fresh veggie and water dishes for the day, I get distracted (I know news flash right?)
I might not return with water for up to an hour.
They all appear to be cool with this.
That “fresh” water is always available makes for a less stressful bird.
You probably don’t know it but your bird is happy not to fly dozens of miles to find new food and water sources for the flock.
They will never truly appreciate how lucky they have it.
Written by Mitch Rezman
Approved by Catherine Tobsing
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