lindentreeisle

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Ok but Jonmartin stealing a Breekon&Hope delivery van and mad maxing it through the fearscape recruiting all the avatars who are not super into this either.

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which one of u was going to tell me that tea tastes different if u put it in hot water?

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did i tell u guys i got into an argument on twitter bc i said foxes are dogs and someone tried to bring up their actual fuckin. classification or whatever and i just said “foxes are dogs cause they are fluffye” and they kept arguing with me. the entire time i was like “you will not survive the immigration to tumblr you are lucky we are not there right now”

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Sir, I'm....not sure what you were hoping to accomplish with this line of questioning.

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Uh oh.

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I think the birbs may have finally made the transition to living in the big cage. I didn't originally intend for it to take this long- at first, I wanted to give them a chance to practice moving around the larger space and be sure they were comfortable with it, since when I brought them home it was obvious they did not have the climbing skills they need to move around the larger space with clipped wings. Then, I was trying to encourage them to venture into the cage on their own because they aren't comfortable being carried yet and I don't want to do a lot of grabbing. I placed a perch between the cages and targeted them onto it to encourage them to realize they could cross.

It wasn't until a couple days ago, when it occurred to me that I could position the cage doors facing each other so there was a gap of only a few inches, that there started to be progress. Beep crossed the gap back and forth numerous times, but Duck was too intimidated. Eventually she figured out how to climb to the top of the small cage but she would still stand on the threshold hesitating. (In the second photo, Beep has crossed back over to encourage Duck.) Then it occurred to me to use that wooden ladder to create a more horizontal link between the small cage and a perch in the big one, and Duck joined Beep. They seem perfectly comfortable and are showing no apparent interest in going back to the small cage, so I've moved their water and food across and suspect they'll be spending the night.

Two more facts of note:

I've had a major setback with Duck. They started hiding from me when I came in the room, and I figured I must have done something to scare them without realizing. Then they started engaging in a weird behavior. Trying to figure out what a weird bird behavior means is like trying to diagnose yourself on WebMD, any individual behavior can mean anything from "absolutely nothing" to "go to the hospital NOW." Gauging bird health is a combination of zoology and copromancy, and it's difficult even when you've known the bird for years and are intimately familiar with all their behaviors. Watching Duck closely and trying to decide if this weird behavior combined with the hiding indicated A Concern, I saw a flash of reddish-brown when they stretched a wing that scared the hell out of me. Convinced I needed to be sure they did not have a wound on their wing, I caught them with my hand to check. It ended up being nothing, fortunately (apparently Duck has a band of reddish coloring across their wing feathers that is only visible with spread wings) but of course it shattered whatever trust we had managed to build. I will rebuild but it's frustrating to be back at square one and it makes me sad- having a beloved pet be afraid of you is such a terrible feeling.

I've been playing music for the birds when I'm away, as I always did for Raz, thinking they might like the noise- they do seem more likely to chatter along if there's something playing. But I think I've discovered something interesting, which is that they are far more likely to respond to prolonged human speech than music. I do a lot of cross stitch (took it up just before last Christmas, and just now I'm working on a very large project) and I like to sit in the office and listen to podcasts or watch youtube videos. They seem to really enjoy narration...wondering if I should load some spoken word recordings or podcasts onto the phone I use as a music player for them.

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Hi, Tumblr. It’s Tumblr. We’re working on some things that we want to share with you. 

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I honestly have meant to be on here more, but it's honestly been hard to get back in the habit, haha. Also the state legislature is in session and I do a lot of legislative advocacy so to the extent I have slack time at work, I usually spend it on that.

The babies have settled in really well- they are very comfortable in the small cage and more and more engaged in playing with toys and exploring. The first time they (accidentally) ended up on the floor, they were terrified, but now they go intentionally and are delighted with the adventure. I'm still working on encouraging them to explore the big cage- I want to feel like they're confident and safe getting around in there before I move them for good because there's a lot of ground to cover in there.

Most importantly, at the beginning of last week I finally got their names. The white is Beep and the yellow is Duck. (Which is kind of ridiculous but I thought of it and knew immediately it was the right name.)

We are working on getting them to eat the dang pellets and not just the seeds in their food, and mixing in the pellets I use with the plan of transitioning them over (I have at least two more weeks of food from the breeder, she gave me a LOT). And while they are generally happy to come onto my hands in exchange for millet, after Duck suddenly got super hand shy again I realized I needed a different approach. Plus with them outside the cage more now, I need to work on step up so I can get them back in without grabbing (right now I mostly open the cage when it's near feeding time, so I can get them back in the cage easily by luring them into the food bowl and moving that).

So we've gone back to first principles and I'm doing touch training. Duck got it immediately (I would call Duck "highly food motivated") and Beep finally, FINALLY seemed to make the connection today (instead of just trying to figure out how to get to the millet directly). Starting to work with Duck on movement (following the target) and hopefully from there on to stepping on and off a perch. Working with two is turning out to be challenging in ways I didn't expect. They are bonding with one another and spend many happy hours squeaking and preening each other but are also more than willing to trample each other for a bite of millet.

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Still working on names; and on taming. They were hand-raised so I'm not starting from zero, but they just met me so we're adjusting. Keeping them in the smaller cage at the moment ; they have both escaped containment when I was holding them (and then peeped unhappily for one another) but are not really ready for full-on out of cage time yet.

I am starting to see their individuality emerge as they settle in. White bird is bolder and quicker to examine new things- was the first to figure out how to get up on the cloth perch and the first to jump into the food bowl. Yellow bird is shyer of hands and more cautious at first, but absolutely goes for the gusto once they have assessed the situation- was the first to learn to climb the sides of the cage to get up and down from the dowel, and has a notable penchant for flinging themself off things and beating their wings to break the fall and land where they're aiming.

Both are taking frequent naps and snacks, the latter of which are always a production with much crunching, flinging of seed hulls, and crawling on top of each other in the food cup. I leave the cage on my desk by the window when I leave the room and I always come back to find a blast radius of food debris on my chair and desk, it makes me laugh. Both are making many happy squeebles and chirps; although prolonged chirping has so far mostly happened when I'm not in the room. I came home from work yesterday and could hear them talking to each other from down in the kitchen. I can't even tell you what a joy it was to be greeted by that sound again.

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Beautiful babies

I am considering names, have ideas but want to see if they feel right. It was a long drive home and babies are very tired. I expect there will be more chirping and curiosity tomorrow. :D

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IT'S BIRBDAY

Everybody wake up we're driving three hours to meet a bird breeder

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A strange alien doctor stands near the unconscious body of Padme Amidala. “It appears she has lost the will to live.” A older man with a limp hobbles closer with the aid of a cane. “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,” says Dr. Gregory House.

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Long shot

Does anyone still following along happen to know anyone who breeds (American) budgies in one of the east coast states? It's so damn hard to find a breeder, there's no money in parakeets so mainly people who breed them are doing so for the love of the game which is rarer all the time. Raz's breeder got out for health reasons, another person I found may be ghosting me, and I'm just getting frustrated.

(Yes, I know several orgs I can adopt from and I'm considering that too. But I'd rather a breeder so I can be better assured of health and age- I won't feel guilty for wanting the best possible chance to have a good long time with my new friends.)

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In my experience, college is for spending 4 solid years in your dorm pirating every piece of intellectual property in the English language and then discovering at the last minute that you have crippling social anxiety and depression.

"college is the best years of your life" "college is for meeting new people and expanding your mind" wrong. college is for discovering new types of grief. also the timeloop

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Portrait Of An Enemy.

Lucia Heffernan

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Fast on their little legs