Who's a Pretty Birdie?

Lest you have forgotten the tale of this little bird, I shall remind you . . . my friend Mrs. E became weary of reminding her young son to care for his parakeet pair. She tried selling the birds on facebook, but they would remove her post because she doesn't have a live animal selling permit (who knew?) The birds were sometimes forgotten while the family took various week-long trips to visit relatives, but somehow managed to survive without food or water. 


Buck heard of the birds' plight. Remembered how much he enjoyed the parakeets he had as a kiddo (I think that's how half of this menagerie started; animals Buck remembered having as a kid--our poor future sons and daughters-in-law :) Thought of how relaxing bird song would be during his surgery recovery period. So, I offered to take these birds off my friend's hands as a gift to Buck and a relief to Mrs. E.

During VBS week, we chatted with the young owner about taking these birds into our collection of pets. He was ready to send them our way. He even cleaned the cage for us, putting the birds into a Tupperware bowl (that had plenty of air, his dad later told me, but not a lot of space) . . . and then forgot to put the birds back in the cage. Only one survived, and Mrs. E said the other wasn't looking good. However, a month later she texted, "Still want the bird?"

So, on Thursday, Mrs. E delivered "Neon" to our door. We took the bird inside, observed it for an hour or so, and then Buck said, "He doesn't trust us. He's not singing. Do you think he needs a friend?" Oh, you know what's about to happen!! :)

I found a youtube video of parakeets (a.k.a. Budgies) singing. The second I played it, "Neon" started squawking and hopefully looking around for other parakeets.

I tell you . . . you could have heard the hearts breaking in our living room and kitchen. "He needs a friend," dramatic, tear-filled whisper. Nodding tear-filled heads, all those eyes looking pleadingly at me (well, at least that's how I remember it ;)

So, the kids pooled their money and off to the pet store we went; they practically greeted us at the door with a cardboard box complete with breathing holes. It's like when the guy on Cheers walks into the bar and they all say, "Norm!" We walk into the pet store and they all say, "Cha-ching!" Animal carries lifted high. Lol :)

Of course, we had to debate names for our budgie buddies. We learned online that two boys are best, because females get very territorial. You can tell if they are boys or girls by looking at the area around their nostrils, above their beaks. If it is purple or blue--it's a boy! If it is pink or beige--it's a girl! Usually. "Neon" is about three years old, so we know he's a he. The new bird is probably only a few months old and the colors are still coming in. We're 90% sure he is a he, but I guess we'll see as he gets a little older. These birds live for 16 years, gasp!!! And will be going with the children to their homes as they grow up and move out of ours ;)


So what names will stand the test of time--we're out of Lord of the Rings characters, we thought about NFL players but the soft pastel colors of our birds ruled that out, candy?, cookies like the guinea pigs? I was thinking something more tropical--Bermuda and Bahama :) But budgies are from Australia, so that didn't really work either. Finally, we settled on names from the books series the kids bought me for Mother's Day . . . Taliesin and Merlin!

This series, written by Lawhead, takes the King Arthur legend from a Christian perspective. Taliesin is Merlin's father (hence, the older bird "Neon" is now the father character). Merlin is a king himself, and not so wizardy as in most legend. He's a noble teacher, follower of Christ, trained in traditional (druid) methods that God uses to help him help the British aisles. Kind of an interesting take on things. So, Merlin is the pretty blue, black, and white bird--half his tail is teal and half white, it's very unique.

We skipped all the introductory stuff and just plopped them in the same cage together. They seem to be buddies, so that's a win! At about 7:30 a.m. they start "singing" a.k.a. squawking, and it's usually at Chauncey. Poor Chauncey, he never asked for any of this :) They are fun to watch, and they make music with the bell that is in their cage. Of course this led to the It's a Wonderful Life quote, "Every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings." Look at that, two days in the house and already our birds are making angels (ha ha, just joking, we know that's not how the angel-thing works :)

So, there you have it--two more additions to the petting zoo; only so far these two are not fans of being petted. Feathers and fur is a-flyin!