Izzy and Lilly, a story of rivalry, love, and preening!

[xafsmom]

So, we got Lilly a bit ago. She settled in quite well and we decided to introduce her to Izzy. She'd already been quarantined during weaning (only chick) and Izzy was going out of his mind with "Soon, Izzy, Lilly will be here". So, with cuddly Congo hen in hand, we venture forth to the bird tree for a first meeting.

At first, Izzy eyeballed her from a distance, sizing her up. He snaked himself forward an inch at a time. His eyes unwavering, unblinking, holding fast onto Lilly. Each inch closer brought another inch of feathers puffed on his body. We moved into position to snatch both birds up if Izzy started the 'hissy quacking sound' he does and charged (He charges his shadows fiercely).

Lilly, nonchalantly ate a bit of sprouted seeds, ocassionally glancing at the crazy, stealth-bird approaching and pointedly ignoring him otherwise. Closer and closer he crept until his beak was just touching her pretty, red tail feathers!

Lilly whirled around with a squawk and Izzy flailed and fell off the bird tree and onto the back of the couch. He shook himself, preened and announced "Eat time? S'it eat time?". Lilly paused in gorging herself full of food to preen her tail feathers mockingly, tilting her head to gaze down upon the fallen Izzy.

Izzy made his way back onto the tree (...pauses in tale to fight off a Hahn's baby who is attacking fingers...) and instead of stealthily approaching, decides to sit about a foot away, fan his wings, crook them and do a funky dance, his head low and rolling while he awkwardly flaps his wings.

THAT gets Lilly's attention and while I might be imagining it, she looked rather amused (he did look very funny!) and settled closer to him. Overjoyed, Izzy immediately regurgitated food and tried to force-feed Lilly. But, she wanted nothing to do with it ...and the 1500 later attempts at feeding her.

Alas, both ended their time together, totally ignoring each other. Of course, that changes when both want the same toy now, or one dares to leave the room, or a human servant has food... Then they both demand the attention for themselves!

We felt the first meeting went so successful, we've allowed several throughout the days she's been here. They are happy to allo-preen and big brother is teaching her all about Shrek and Ratatouille movies. Izzy gently lays his neck under hers and whispers "Love... Love... mmm eats! EATS! Sorry... Oooh quack quack! Looooooove" softly into her feathers.

Here's some pics of where Izzy's investigating Lilly's half of the big double macaw cage they share (with divider)! NO idea what Izzy (bird in back) is doing. He looks goofy though. Lilly looks huge in these pics, but it's the photo perspective. Izzy's got her by about 100 grams still. She's in the 500 range.

[Okanairda]

Awwwwwww!! So cute!! Lilly looks like a beautiful girl. So glad to hear her and Izzy seem to be getting along!

[tvymola]

Congratulations on your new flock member. She is beautiful!

[Tom Lawless]

How nice it would be to have two birds that coexist peacefully. They are beautiful.

[jenseits]

Congrats! It sounds like you did a fantastic job preparing Izzy for the new addition.

I thought him asking "how many days?" was super precious, but my absolutely new favorite Izzy-ism is "Love... Love... mmm eats! EATS! Sorry... Oooh quack quack! Looooooove"

[xafsmom]

He's a character. His strings of words can be verrrry amusing at times. Though, 'eats' is always in his vocabulary lol, he's a foodie!

[jlt666]

So happy to hear that Izzy's wait is finally over and they are getting along great! Seems to me like birds are like potato chips, hard to own just one! My hubby fiercely states that our bird family is complete with Martini our TAG and Cosmo our cockatiel, I, on the other hand, am not so sure....

[AngelPossibility]

Aww. I think that's nice.