Flying triplet teenagers

My three little lovebirds are teenagers now. They’re not as sweet as they used to be, but they’re still lovable.

Piccolo is the boss bird. He likes Banjo and he’s aggressive towards Oboe. He doesn’t hurt Oboe, he just chases him away. (Banjo chases Oboe away too, but not as consistently as Piccolo.) Piccolo and Banjo sleep snuggled together on one perch, but poor little Oboe has to sleep alone on another perch. Piccolo is not affectionate with me. He likes to sit on me, but flies away if I touch him. For awhile there I found myself starting to dislike him because of the way he treats Oboe. But lately I’ve been teaching them tricks, and I’ve discovered that Piccolo is a very clever and engaging bird with a good sense of humour, so now I like him again. Even if he is a bit of a bully.

Banjo is the girl bird. She likes to shred paper and tuck the strips into her tail feathers, which is classic lovebird nesting behaviour. She’s much more calm and mellow than the other two. She can sit quietly without getting all twitchy like the boys. But she has no qualms about sticking up for her rights. If someone tries to take her sunflower seed, she’ll fight hard and mean, and she’ll win. Sometimes they get into a squabble when they’re sitting on me, and I’ve learned to keep my hands away from any altercation she’s part of. They all bite my fingers from time to time, but she bites the hardest. And she’ll bite me when she’s mad at one of them. But I always forgive her. She’s cuddly and affectionate and I know she likes me.

Oboe is the youngest and the most attached to me. When I open the cage and let them out for a flyabout, Piccolo and Banjo will sometimes head straight over to the window. Not Oboe. He always comes to me first for a snuggle session. I give him extra everything – extra cuddles, extra sunflower seeds, extra praise, extra kisses – because he’s special, and because the others pick on him. (GC wonders if the others pick on him because he gets extra everything, but I don’t think so…)

I let them out of their cage twice a day, for about an hour and a half total. I spend most of that time in their room with them, while they fly and play. I’m part of their playground. They especially like me when I wear shirts with zippers, or a watch, or something else they can play with.

I’m going to make a special bird shirt. I’ll just attach interesting things to an old shirt. This will serve a dual purpose: it’ll give them something to do, and it’ll keep the bird poop off my regular shirts.

When it comes time to return them to their cage, Oboe’s always the most cooperative. Then Banjo. Piccolo likes to make a game of it, so I have to chase him all over the room and climb up on the desk and threaten to ground him by trimming his flight feathers. (They’re all fully feathered. I got as far as buying decent scissors, but I never used them.)

I’m still planning to build a finch aviary. I’ve been inspired by the Finsters. It will go in the living room where the TV would be if I had a TV. It’ll have to wait until after November, because I’m busy with Nanowrimo right now. (Speaking of which, I wrote 5,046 words on the first day!)