Hi BirdBoard

[svolk]

Hi and welcome! Bela is beautiful, and I love that picture of her shredding the "important" documents

I have a marvelous little budgie so I'm a budgie fan and would like to see a picture of your little ones as well if you have any

[Bela]

will post some pics of the budgies later tonight. I have an albino, red eyes and all...

[svolk]

Originally Posted by Bela

will post some pics of the budgies later tonight. I have an albino, red eyes and all...

Ooh, pretty! Can't wait to see the pics!

[Monica]

Thanks for the comments! I am curious too about the albino! Male or female?

[Bela]

I was told it (the albino) was a male. However, the cere was bone colored...(no pigment ) They say the albino is a mutation of blue/yellow, I think. I was never really good at figuring that out. I love them whatever/however they come out.

That reminds me of when I was rescuing betta fish. Had 12 of them at one time. I'd get the ones almost dead that barely had fins or the colors were muted. Didn't matter to me. I just loved being able to turn them around see what colors they REALLY were meant to be. That was a lot of work and if I had a better tank set up/filtration included, I'd do it again.

The hard lesson I learned was, as soon as I purchased them, or got them free, the store would restock. In essence, I wasn't really helping the betta as a whole. Sadly, I think actions are necessary at a higher level in terms of who can sell what... and in the world of parrots, who can BUY them. They're like owning a child only too many people give up on them too easily, get bored with them, or treat them like a shoe that can be discarded when packing up to relocate (move). Ugggh, it is agravating and disgusting to me so I better stop and keep my ulcer from flaring.

[svolk]

Oh yes, the poor betta fish who are kept in tiny tiny little bowls in pet stores - it's awful! We have 1 male betta in our community tank and he is wonderful, so full of personality! It angers me to know that people think that it is ok for bettas to live in such tiny bowls with no filtration

[Bela]

ok, here are some pics of the albino. for the longest time i couldn't come up with a name. he was 'little white bird' for months. I finally decided he was Phoenix.

The one with the yellow head's name is Mostly Sunny. He has a little gray cloud on the back of his head...yeah, I know, nice name!! I often call him sorbet because his colors remind me of sorbet ice cream.

The little blue and grey/white one is Romeo. Romeo is my most outgoing budgie. He flirts with my grey and is constantly trying to get close to her. I bought her from a pet store (large chain) b/c he was sitting on the bottom of the cage all puffed up. I told the store manager she looked sick and needed medication. She acted as if to humor me, but you could tell she didn't think so and didn't see anything wrong with the birds behavior. Because they refused to do anything, I bought him, kept him isolated, medicated and before you knew it, he was a healthy birdie. He also had his wings clipped, so he stayed in my smaller cage until his feathers grew out and he could fly in the aviary. It would be a LONG drop if he fell off of a perch.

the odd ball is Liberty, a cedar bird I found in the middle of the street, when he was about a week old. He was a fledging, could't fly, couldn't eat on his own. He has a missing toe, and is extremely domesticated. Everyone gets along and the coward flies back into his cage if I bring him out. If anyone's interested in more on him..baby pictures to adulthood, pls let me know and I'll make alternate arrangements vs. posting him on a parrot site. :) He's gonna be three years old this July.

[Bela]

sorry, here's Romeo.... sorry it's blurry, I'll have to work on better pictures...and a web site while I'm at it!

[The Outlaw]

Very nice. I've never heard of a cedar bird. Tell us more, please.

[Bela]

Also known as a Cedar Waxwing, they fall under the category of songbird. Their song is a "tsee tsee" and it can be loud, but it's really quite soothing/pleasing. They are flocking birds that eat primarily berries and fruit, but also insects. What this means for me is a plateful of fresh cut grapes, apples, blueberries, raspberries, cantaloup every morning, sometimes twice a day, depending on how hungry he is and the time of year. For protein, he (and the other birds) get those bird egg bisquits and the quicko egg formula stuff you add water to. All small insects that fly in the cage get eaten...which is good for me.

In captivity, one person had a waxwing for about 8 years. They're about 6 inches long and have feathers on their wings that look like they've been dipped in red wax, hence the name waxwing. their feathers look like fur - they're really soft, and their tail feathers, the very ends, are yellow.

God blessed me with a gift...I have what seems to be a natural nack for bringing critters back to good health and they seem to come to me. This little guy I just couldn't let back out there...he just got too domesticated. Though I made the mistake of becoming too bonded to him, in return, I will take care of him for the duration of his life.