Birdology

I'm not ready to continue the other thought on bullying, mental health and all that good stuff, so I will concentrate for the moment on my bird.

I adopted a cockatiel earlier this year from a friend; his name is Nugget. I learned about him from a post, and something in his posture in the picture she posted moved me. He looked a little uncertain and a little lonely. I messaged her and made an appointment to meet him.

She was surprised that I didn't reach for him and try to make him perch on my hand the first meeting. I explained that he needed to get to know me first, and that we'd need a little time to get acquainted.

The second meeting I told her we'd take him over holiday break and see how it went. She was going away, and bird-sitting would give us an idea if we were a match for one another.

Nugget immediately became a member of our family. He'd hang out on my shoulder or on my foot if I were stretched out on the couch, just happy to be out and about and a part of the action. We decided pretty quickly, Nugget and I, that he was my bird and I was his hooman.

But all is never perfect.  Nugget poops wherever he goes, being a bird, and having full run of the downstairs made the boys a little batty. Nugget frequently mistakes younger son for me, and is forever stunned when G bats him off ("Whoops, wrong hooman.")  Elder smiles at him and watches him eat when he thinks no one is looking. Hubby calls him a little dinosaur.  He also wanted me to get Nugget's wings, beak, and nails clipped.

I finally got that done on Friday. The shrieks he let out while I waited in the next room convinced me that I need to do something differently next time. He didn't eat much the next couple days, sad about his diminished mobility and angry that I subjected him to strangers who did these things to him.

After an amiable evening last night, he hissed into my ear, then bit it.  Reminding me he's still mad, and that he's not going to forget it.

Which makes me think I need to learn how to do these things myself.  And I think I will.

I hope he's with me a long time. Elder calls him my security bird. He's not wrong.