Artichokes

Turns out that the birds love artichoke. I was eating it a couple days ago and Manzi flew to the table to check it out. I handed him a leaf and he loved it. I gave him several more.

Maui is usually more picky than Manzi. She will eat a lot, but sometimes I struggle to get her to try things whereas Manzi will try anything. Despite that, when I gave Maui artichoke, she loved it as well.

The following day, I tried some with Hercules. He wasn't quite a keen as the birds, so I gave him only half and gave the birds each a quarter. The birds quickly went through the artichoke.

In this picture, Maui only has one leaf left and finished the heart already:

Manzi usually eats faster, but he was more thorough than Maui, so he still has a way to go with his section: 

Attack of the killer balloons

Yesterday I had a party at my place. One couple brought their 10-month old daughter. She was interested in the balloons at first, until her dad bounced a few nearby. Then she panicked and was scared to death of the balloons after that, wanting to be held the rest of the time.

I left the birds in their cage, as usual when a group of people are around. After everyone left, I brought the birds in. They were just as terrified as the little girl. It didn't help that they both began flapping frantically. Then the balloons moved with the current created by the flapping. Which made the whole situation even more terrifying. Maui, once she made it safely to my hand, kept a death grip on my poor hand. Manzi came to me, but when I went near a balloon he abandoned ship and flew towards the closet where he sleeps. I opened the door and he ran in. I've never seen him so eager to get to bed.


It seems that I have a couple of pansies for birds. My husband pointed out that their fear of balloons is not unlike mine of spiders. Maybe he has a point.

Update

The New Year has been hectic. I've slacked off flight training, but even after missing a couple weeks, we had a great session today. Both Manzi and Maui did many flights. Manzi was tempermental/stubborn at first and didn't feel like doing his flights. When he doesn't want to fly, he puts his head down and bites at his perch. When that happens, an easy fix is to go to Maui. She was perfectly happy to do her flights. After two of them, Manzi was begging me to let him fly to me. He knows he doesn't get a treat if he flies without be called. So he will hold his wings out, looking at me waiting for me to call him. Then he does show Maui up by bolting straight to me.

I have been impressed by Maui's flights. She can do 5-6 of them. She is still having to make lots of conscious, mid-air corrections (like accidentally going to high, then slowing her flapping to lower down, or over/under shooting my hand by a couple inches). Manzi doesn't do that at all, but when I did ask him to fly down, he missed the landing and then wouldn't even try again. I need to work with him at that. We have stairs, which is the perfect place to practice.

Hercules is doing well. His grass patch is growing and he is loving the sunny days. Southern California is a better location for him and the birds, weather-wise, than the Twin Cities.