This morning I put some seed on a piece of paper so she could “forage”. She seems to prefer eating that way. I let both birds out. Today they are getting on well. They just sat together for about 10 minutes, with Chester quietly preening the new girlie. However, the only place where she felt secure enough for that was on my shoulder, snuggled against the back of my neck. Nevertheless, it seems clear to me now that they’re going to be good friends.
A local pet store has a sign up that says Parakeets will make your dreams come true! This may be a justified claim, under certain circumstances. For instance, if you’ve ever had a dream about giant Marshmallow Peeps coming to life and pecking you in revenge, a parakeet can certainly make that dream come true. More appealingly, though, if you’ve ever wanted to be like Saint Francis of Assisi, that’s a dream parakeets have the power to help you with.
The parakeet now has a name: Chester. Because of his subdued and distinguished colors, we wanted a name that suggested seriousness. However, it also had to suggest clownish sillyness, because that’s what they’re like as birds. Some rejected names: McNugget, Griffy, Steve, Bruce. (The last two because budgerigars were originally Australian birds.) He’s starting to be a lot more cooperative about being taken out of the cage, even when it’s to squirt antibiotics in his beak.