Sunday Scribbling - Research

Well, there's nothing that will send you googling quicker than a orphan pet finding it's way into a household. So all the great ideas I had for doing research on North Africa, Breast Cancer, my favorite place in the world - Fountains Abbey, Organ Donation - these all took a back seat to my immediate need to know how to feed and care for one very lovely little Peach-faced Lovebird that moved in today.

About two weeks ago we lost our lovely neighbors across the street. Well, they're not really LOST, like freaky magnetic island in the middle of nowhere lost, but moved to another part of town, lost. We loved this family and had become good friends with them and enjoyed exploring the different cultural differences in our families. The mom had a hobby of raising birds and my daughter had spent many hours at her house watching her care for the many birds. She gave us this lovely gift today as she's expecting her 4th child and is trying to pare down her extensive bird collection so she can focus on her family.

So Keko (keeko) joined our family today. We are struggling most right now with what to call it. He? She? Did you know that the only way to definitively tell the sex of a lovebird is to have it's DNA tested? Okay, maybe it's just me, but that could really stink if you were a lovebird trying to make a love connection. Just how do THEY figure it out? Hmmm . . . write that one down to ask the Creator someday . . .

Mrs. N gave us a wonderful supply of bird food but tonight I learned that lovebirds also need a variety of fresh fruit and vegetables. Tonight Keko dined on birdseed, broccoli and banana (we're nothing if not fans of alliteration). I also learned that avocados, rhubarb leaves and apples seeds are poisonous to birds.

Lovebirds love their toys. They need to chew and toys made of leather, rawhide or natural substances work best. They don't necessarily like to be alone so tomorrow we're going to try to get a mirror so maybe we can convince he/she there's a buddy right next door. We let her/him out of her/his cage for a bit of a stroll around tonight and he/she seems content with her/his new surroundings.

The real unknown is the noise factor. That could immediately earn Keko a ticket on the next raft off the ark if he/she tries to start revelee too early in the morning. The research says that these can be noisy little birds if they don't get enough attention. We're hoping that the kid's fascination with little peach-faced Keko holds out and they can sufficiently tire out the little critter so it sleeps in until a descent hour each morning.

I'll try to post actual pictures of Keko in a few days, but for now the canned google image above lets you see how cute the little guy is. Or girl . . .