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.

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.