My life flashed before my eyes

Maybe not quite, but I did have a "holy smokes" moment!

Yesterday the moving truck finally arrived. That was wonderful. The birds now have their large cage. I set it up outside and plan on having perches inside for them. The cage has an extra door, that previously had no purpose. I am going to use that to cut a hole in my window screen so I can let them in and out of their outdoor cage freely and without having to risk them flying away.

Okay, here is the scary moment. In the morning, I put them both in the outdoor cage while I was working on my computer. Manzi was busy eating while Maui was on a perch looking around. After 5 minutes, I glanced over at them and saw Maui standing on top of the cage. I immediately looked for Manzi and exhaled when I saw him still inside the cage. I was outside so fast, but worried about opening the door on the patio too fast and startling Maui which might cause her to fly. Luckily, she happily stepped up on my hand and I put her back inside the cage. She had opened one of the food dish doors that I didn't properly tighten.

The food dish doors have spring loaded locks and also an extra tightening screw to secure them. Just the day before I had a conversation with Andrew (my husband) about whether or not the extra screw is even necessary since the spring lock is pretty tight. Well, Maui answered the question for us.

Seeing Maui on the top of the cage scared the living daylights out of me. My mind flashed a million possibilities in an instant. All of my neighbors, except one, have dogs. The back patio has three sides of fencing, whom I share with the neighbors. If Maui were to get startled, from the top of the cage she could definitely make it over the fence, but probably not much further, which would mean she'd land in a dog infested yard. I imagine it would only take them fractions of a second to take her out. That thought terrified me.

So, now all food dish doors have their locks and screws double checked. My brother is coming over today and hopefully we can figure out how to connect the cage to the window so I don't have to carry them outside before putting them in the outdoor cage.

The birds loved being outside. I had errands the entire afternoon. When I returned home, I thought Manzi would want to come in right away. I was wrong. He politely declined my offer (putting head down to stop my finger from getting to his legs and backing up) and wanted to stay outside. They seem to have quite the time chatting away. I heard the neighbors whistling back to them as well. It will only be a few days or so before they start picking up some of the outside noise, probably including dog barks.

Manzi met a friend

The birds have settled into their new place, despite still not having their main cage. The moving company is coming Thursday, then we'll be all set up. We still need perches as we plan on keeping their main cage on the patio. Then have perches set up around the house and let them hang out between those.

I have been taking Manzi out walking the neighborhood. I want to be able to fly him outside here, so I need him to be familiar with the landscape. The last time I went out walking with him, a woman told me she has an African Grey as well. A 2-year old. We walked to her place, 1/2 a block away, and said hello to the guy. He was larger than Manzi. He didn't fluff up at Manzi, but Manzi was a bit scared of him. After 10 minutes Manzi was more curious and it was pretty cute to see them interact. The other Grey, Pancho, is not hand tamed at all. They were surprised that I was able to hold Manzi. I'm hoping to go back to their place this week and bring some treats for Pancho. Maybe even convince him that humans are not so bad after all.

There are lots of parrots here in L.A. I see them flying around wild and many people have them as pets as well. So here Manzi is not a superstar, or a rare item, but on the other hand everyone does seem to like him and see him as a friendly creature (many people who have never been around parrots are very afraid of him, but since a lot of people here have parrots, they are not afraid of him at all).

We do still have hawks here, but I've only seen smaller ones. I think with proper practice, Manzi will get back into shape and be able to outmaneuver them.

Moved, sunny California

We're in Los Angeles!! The move started off pretty poorly. After getting the birds loaded into the car for the first 14-hr drive, Maui went into a seizure pretty quickly. I was by myself at this point, on the way to pick up my brother. Maui was hanging upside down from the top of her cage. She began to go into a seizure and was flopping a bit. Then her wing got caught in a toy and she released her feet grip and she was just hanging by her wing twisted up in a toy. It looked terrible. I was able to reach into her cage and untangle her wing. She flopped to the bottom of the cage and I was worried that she may have broke her wing.

After a few minutes she began to be responsive again. Within 30 minutes she stood up and climbed back up to the perch in the travel cage. I was worried that she would continue to have these seizures, but luckily that was the last one.

Once I picked up my brother from the airport, things were much easier. We had a method to give the birds water using a bottle cap. They already knew how to drink from there. Maui even cheered up and by day two she was making some noises.

We arrived late Sunday night. On Monday, Manzi came out of his cage, but only to fly to me. Maui didn't want to come out of her cage at all. I let her be. I thought she was going to take a few days, but by Tuesday she was tentatively walking around exploring my place. Seeing that we're moving, one of Maui's favorite things is filling the new place: cardboard boxes. She has already begun to dismantle two of them to suit her liking.

Manzi has gotten a lot more comfortable around my place and already found lots of places to land (much to my dismay).

Hercules is doing fine as well. We set him up with water, food and his new home made by kind friends of mine. We're going to build him a garden this weekend.

The moving truck won't come for another 2-3 weeks, so the birds will have to live in their travel cages until then. The cages are open most of the day, so they don't seem to mind.