We're Grandparents!

     Everytime I remember the day I said those two words to my mother two years ago I can't help but laugh. Mom's reaction was priceless. Even though she had visited us just a couple of days earlier and had clearly seen that there was no way our young daughter was pregnant, Mom just said "Is there something you forgot to tell me?" She said it in a perfectly calm voice. It took me a moment to realize that she wasn't aware that I was talking about us being grandparents to baby birds.
     Birdman and I think of our flock as family members. I know, we're weird that way. Some of our Zebra
Finches had chicks that had just hatched. Birdman discovered this while I was on the phone talking to Mom. So of course when he told me I was extremely excited. These were the first babies any of our flock had had. In my excitement I just blurted out the first words that came to my mind. These words were "We're grandparents!"

     Since then several of our other birds have made us "grandparents" also. Birdman and I have been teased quite a bit for carrying pictures of the baby birds in our wallets the way other people carry pictures of their grandchildren. We don't mind. We are quite content to only have bird grandchildren for quite awhile yet.

Your Hair Is Such A Bird's Nest!

Have you ever heard of the expression "Your hair is such a rat's nest"? Growing up it was a term used alot by my grandmother to describe the knots that I would get in  my hair.  I did brush my long hair daily, just not always as good as I should have.  I hated those knots!

Well, our daughter had to take that expression to a whole new level with a little help from Rebel.  Rebel was one of our parrotlets. He had a very unusual habit.  He enjoyed being out of his cage and socializing with Darling and us.  When Rebel would want to bond with one of us, he would come to our shoulder. Once there he would slowly work his way up until he was sitting on top of your head. Of course, even in that Rebel had to be a rebel in how he accomplished that.  First he would sneak under your hair and start nuzzling your ear.  As soon as he was sure that you weren't going to do anything he would begin the climb under your hair.  Rebel would use his beak to grab sections of your hair and use them as a rope climber would.  Periodically, Rebel would peek out to see how much progress he had made.  When he got to the top, he'd come out from under your hair and just sit there.  The longest any of us tolerated him on our head was an hour. (I was in the middle of an excellent book.)

We would tease our daughter by saying, "Your hair is such a bird's nest" because of his second habit.  When Rebel got tired or overloaded but refused to go into his cage, he would go over to our daughter.  She has beautiful long, curly hair that she usually has pulled back into a half bun, halfpony tail. Rebel loved this hairstyle.  Instead of climbing to the top of her head, he would work his way to the back. Once there he would work his way into the very center of it.  Because of the thickness of her hair he could totally disappear in it.  Sometimes when she walked by we'd just see him barely peaking out. 

Angel Wings

     This afternoon Birdman and I were sad to discover that one of our lovebirds passed away. Even though we have such a large flock, it is always hard to lose one of them. It was a peachfaced lovebird that we have had for several years.

     As I was walking over to the aviary to help Birdman with removing the body, Angel Wings came running up to me.  Angel Wings is one of the female ducks that has adopted us. Since the beginning she has been shy and timid around us.  Just this past week though, she has been coming to the front of the group at feeding time.  She likes to jump in the air and spread her wings when I feed her. That is why I call her Angel Wings. Well, today she ran right up to me and stopped within a foot of me.  She tilted her head as if to say she was sorry about the lovebird's passing. What she did next totally shocked me.  Angel Wings allowed me to pet her! What a wonderful gift she gave me at a time that I really needed it.
     When I continued over to the aviary, she followed me. Birdman tried to pet her but she ran away. After we took care of cleaning the one aviary Birdman began feeding our flock. All the ducks came over towards him but wouldn't take the seeds from his hand. Which really isn't surprising since we have never tried to have them eat from our hands before. I decided to see if I would have better luck. Birdman put the seeds into my palm, I called to Angel Wings and she raced over. She looked at the seeds, looked at me and then began eating from my hand. I was totally amazed and pleased. When she finished I did our hand motion letting her know that there was no more food. She looked at me, and then came up and put her beak up against the back of my hand as if kissing it. Then she continued on with her normal duck day.

No Fishing Allowed!

     I am quite proud of our backyard pond. It has taken me nine years to get the pond that I imagined when we purchased the house, but it is finally mine. When I first told Birdman that I wanted a pond, he thought I was nuts. (He still thinks I'm nuts but that is besides the point.) I knew that it would just be a matter of me being patient. After five years of gentle nagging (yes, I fully admit to nagging him) we dug our first teeny, tiny pond. Birdman would not agree to the size pond I wanted since he was having problems visualizing me idea. I figured a teeny, tiny pond was better then no pond. After the original pond was dug I never had to mention wanting it larger.  Birdman decided on his own that it needed to be larger. Over the past four years, Birdman has expanded my pond four times so it is finally the size I envisioned nine years ago. 
     We have tried to make our pond as natural looking as possible. I believe that we have accomplished that through the plants we chose, their placements and the rocks surrounding it. The butterflies, hummingbirds, frogs, and dragonflies all seem to agree. 
     The best complement we have received about our pond did not come from any of our friends or neighbors, though they all rave about it. It came from a Double Crested Cormorant. This is the bird that is most known for drying its wings by keeping them spread wide open. Well, we have a lake directly across the street from us that is kept stocked with fish. On a typical day you can spot one or two Double Crested Cormorants either swimming very low in the water with just their neck and head visible or standing around drying their wings. On several occasions now we have had one of them standing besides our pond drying his wings. This bird has stayed beside our pond for hours. We do not keep our pond stocked, so no matter how long the bird stands there waiting he will never catch a fish. Birdman and I believe that we have accomplished making our pond look natural when a bird is bound and determined to catch his meal from it.

The Sextuplets Arrived!

     I received such a wonderful surprise today. Tonight when I left to pick our daughter up from the train station I thought it was just an ordinary school night. We made a quick stop at the grocery store on the way home so that she would have all the supplies she needed to make some cookies for a dear friend that just got out of the hospital. So instead of coming in our front door like we normally do, we entered the house through the garage. In response to our called out greeting to Birdman, we heard "Damn. You ruined the surprise."
Puzzled I went from the kitchen into the livingroom. Sitting just inside the front door was a new birdcage containing six zebra finches. Birdman had placed it so that I would spot the cage as I entered the house if I had come in through the front door. 
     It seems that these six beauties are actually a rescue of a rescue. One of our neighbors had rescued them from an aquaintance of his about a month ago. While he enjoys them, they are a little more then his wife wanted to have around the house since they have two toddlers under two years old. Our neighbor often visits our backyard and has even given tours of it to his family and friends.  He knew that we would gladly welcome these birds into our flock.  Plus he was positive that he would have visitation rights.
     These finches are absolutely beautiful!  It took less then a moment for them to steal my heart.  They are all very comfortable around people and cameras.  I grabbed my camera and took a few quick shots.  I swear two of the birds posed for me.

Thanksgiving Guests

     Since Birdman and I went to my sister's for a fabulous Thanksgiving celebration, our birds decided to hold their own. Our three black masked lovebirds seem to have been the hosts this year. I haven't figured out how they managed to get the word out to all the other birds, but they did. Teenage girls with cell phones have nothing on the bird communication network.

     Our guest birds began arriving on Wednesday. The first to arrive was a Baltimore Oriole. He was absolutely gorgeous! He spent a good 40 minutes hanging on the outside of the black masked lovebirds avairy chatting with them. Our lovebirds were such gracious hosts that they got off their perches and hung on the side of the avairy for their conversation.
     I wish I had been able to take a picture of them for you. The lovebirds are in a wooden octagon shaped avairy that Birdman built for them. It has a lovely wooden scalloped roof. This is the avairy that is placed next to the red firecracker plant that grows besides our pond. The colors of the birds, plants and avairy combined were breathtaking.

     After the Oriole decided that he had other social obligations to attend to and left, our next visitor arrived. This guest was the beautiful emerald hummingbird that has paid us a few other visits. He went straight to the firecracker plant and then to our purple flowers. Again I wish I had been able to grab the camara for some photos. While the hummingbird didn't stay nearly as long as the Oriole, we weren't upset. We know that he will be back soon.

Playing Catch Me If You Can With Yue

     Our daughter has a black lovebird. Not a black masked lovebird, a black lovebird. She went through a stage a few years ago where she loved anything black. At one of the bird shows we went to, we came across the black lovebird. It was instant love between the two of them. Since Birdman was delighted that she was finally interested in a bird we gladly added him to our flock. Our daughter promptly named the bird Yue. Yue joined Sweetie Pie as one of our indoor birds. 
     Our daughter began hand training Yue. Yue doesn't mind stepping up on command. He just doesn't like staying on your finger for more then two seconds. Yue enjoys his time out of the cage. He explores anything and everything. When he gets bored, he finds a place to perch and hang out with his buddy, Sweetie Pie. They remind me of two old men sitting on a park bench watching the world go by.

     One of Yue's favorite games to play is "Catch Me If You Can". Part of his training includes sitting on shoulders.  I'm not 100% sure who was training who.  Yue always has our daughter "chase" him about the room three times before allowing himself to be placed on her shoulder.  Yue is very particular about which shoulder he sits on.  If you place him on your left shoulder, he walk across your chest so he can sit on your right shoulder.  If you place him on your right shoulder, he immediately settles down and will stay until it is time to go back into his cage.

A Duck Named Spot

When we first moved into our home there was only one Muscovy duck in our neighborhood and it lived on the little lake across from our house. The entire neighborhood felt that one Muscovy duck was more than enough. So no one fed it or allowed it on their property. I thought this Muscovy duck was very ugly and soon named it Scarface. If Scarface would wander onto our property, Birdman of Boca or our young daughter would chase him off. It was good exercise for them but didn't keep Scarface from coming back.

     Over the years new people moved into the neighborhood. With each new family came less resistance to having Muscovy ducks hanging about. In fact many of the new people started feeding the ducks and encouraging them to visit their yards. Of course, after a few weeks of the ducks fertilizing their yards they realized why the rest of us discouraged visits. Unfortunately by then the ducks were used to regular feedings by humans.

      We also began working on our backyard, which is a story for another time. Some of the changes we made was to add a little pond to it.  Well, the Muscovy ducks absolutely love that pond. As a result, Birdman of Boca and our daughter finally gave up trying to keep them off our property.  We would not feed the ducks, though, until I met Spot.

     Spot was a young Muscovy duck so full of love and innocence.  He would hang out in our backyard and watch me.  If I walked outside Spot was immediately by my side wagging his little tail.  He'd follow me anywhere just like a little puppy.  One day I called "Spot.  Come here." to him.  He ran from the other side of the yard right up to me and stopped to wag his tail.  He stole my heart that day. From that day forward his name was Spot and he answered to it faithfully.

     It never ceases to amaze me how love, patience and a touch of kindness can change things.  Here a young duck showed me love (by wanting to be with me), patience (by waiting for me to acknowledge him) and kindness (showing me he was happy to see me with a wag of his tail).  Birdman of Boca and I are happy to say that we have gone from not allowing ducks on our property to being claimed by five wonderful Muscovy ducks.

Darling's Story

Darling was our very first cockatiel and the reason there is a Birdman of Boca's Backyard today.  He and Barney were the very first birds we rescued. 
     One of Birdman of Boca's co-workers mentioned over lunch one day that his father had two of the meanest cockatiels on the planet.  While telling Birdman of Boca about how they would always attack people, the co-worker mentioned that his father was planning on just opening the cage to let them go that night.  The idea of birds raised as pets just being turned loose didn't feel right to the Birdman of Boca.  So he told his co-worker that we would take both birds.  When he got home and told me that we were going to be the proud owners of two cockatiels I thought he was joking.  I mean, I was afraid of birds so why would I want two cockatiels?  Then when he explained the situation I agreed that we would take the birds in while he looked for another home for them.
     That night we drove over to his friend's father's house.  The birds were throwing such a tantrum that you could hear them two houses down.  I started having second thoughts about even letting them into our home for one night. We walked into the sunroom where their cage was and the cockatiels immediately tried to attack us through the cage bars.  Seeing the terror on my face, Birdman of Boca's friend told us that he would understand if we didn't want to take them and that he would just set them free. Even though I wanted to be as far away from these two nasty cockatiels, we still agreed that we couldn't let that happen so we took them.
     The ride home was torture for both the birds and me.  They did not like being in the car so they screamed nonstop.  I had to sit in the back holding the cage with these two insane birds so they didn't get hurt.  I had a full blown migraine at the end of the 4 mile drive home.  When we arrived home, Birdman of Boca went to fill their food dish.  Barney decided that he wanted to sample Birdman of Boca...so he did.  Barney obviously liked how Birdman of Boca tasted because after that Barney would try to bite him whenever he was anywhere near the cage.  Barney never tried to bite me, though.  He realized that if he hissed at me I would be so terrified that I would leave him alone. 
     One of the first things we did was to seperate Barney and Darling.  That seemed to calm things down a bit.  The next day we were able to find a home for Barney.  I think that some of his anger issues had to do with being named after a purple dinosaur.  Birdman of Boca disagrees with that theory.  His new owners renamed him and soon were able to rehabilate Barney. 

     Darling was another matter.  As hard as we tried to find him a new home, we couldn't.  Darling had managed to escape the cage that first day and we could not get him back in it.  So while he stayed with his cage, he lived on the outside of his cage.  Darling would hiss and snap at anyone that went remotely near his cage. Darling also whistled nonstop.  From the moment he woke up to the moment he went to sleep.  His favorite whistle sounded like a car turning over.  It drove us nuts.  I finally had enough one day so I decided to try to whistle back at him.  That shocked Darling so much that he stopped whistling.  After a few moments, he started again. So I whistled again and he stopped.  Then he decided to come over to me and check things out.  I was terrified! I mean here a mean cockatiel has flown over and landed on my shoulder and is staring at me.  I didn't know if he would bite or what.  But Darling just got very comfortable and stayed sitting on my shoulder quietly.  From that day on I was Darling's human. That's how we refered to Darling's and my relationship.  Darling was never my bird but I was always his human. If I was anywhere in the house, he had to be with me.  The moment I left his sight, Darling would start calling for me. Darling could sense my presence so well that the moment I stepped foot on our property, he knew and would start calling to me. Suffice it to say I had no choice but to get over my fear of birds.

     Darling was also very jealous.  Now he would allow Birdman of Boca to feed him without attacking.  However, if he tried to kiss me Darling would throw a tantrum.  Darling was quite the chaperone.  When Birdman of Boca and I sat on the couch, Darling would always be on my shoulder between us.

     Birdman of Boca and I discovered that many people believe that it is ok to turn their pet bird loose when they tire of it.  It is not.  Plus with rehabilating Darling, we discovered that alot of love and patience can turn the meanest bird into the sweetest bird.  As we shared Darling's story with others, we became known as the "Bird Rescuers".  Friends of friends would know someone about to "set free" a pet bird and they would let us know.  And so our flock began to grow.

Welcome To Birdman of Boca's Backyard

We are so glad that you have decided to visit and spend some time with us here in the Birdman of Boca's Backyard.  Sit back and enjoy the birdsongs as we share our birds' stories with you.  Each one has an interesting tale and some even more then one. As large and fascinating as our flock is, they are not the only thing that Birdman of Boca's Backyard has going for it.  It has gone from a boring backyard to a beautiful retreat for both us and the animals.  We will share with you our ongoing process of trying to qualify as a National Wildlife Habitat and the varied wildlife that visits as a result.