Close and personal with Kermit the princess

A pic taken yesterday of our princess, Kermit. My wife is talking to him as he sits on her arm and it's hard to see, but his "crest" is up. He likes her voice, and it's funny watching the little fringe of feathers above the cere go up and down. His deformed beak is quite obvious, as is some residual food on his face, his main food being a pellet paste from a bowl. He likes kisses (in fact, apart from a light touch on his breast, his beak is the only place he'll tolerate being touched). He enjoys kisses, but he only gets them from me- my wife's put of by his (often) mucky face. Brings to mind jokes about frogs and princesses

He's a real character, very vocal when in his cage and has quite a few interesting dance moves. He's let out for a fly in the afternoon, occasionally mornings, but we have great trouble getting him back into his cage, often having to wait until nearly dark when he can't see, and doesn't he make a racket when he's caught! He just won't go back to his cage despite sitting on top of it with a wide open door- since he can't eat the seed and other food in various places around the bird room for the other guys, he gets very hungry, so first thing he does after being placed back in his cage after capture (after always jumping hard on the bottom to make a crashing sound with the grate) is to go to his food bowl.

He's taken a shine to our new lutino 'tiel, and will hang around her chasing the other guys away- or gazing lovingly at her through the bars after she's been put back in while he's still in escapee mode.

Kermit is adorable! How lucky he is to have you and your wife's adoration, as well as his new friend Does his new girlfriend return his feelings?

He's beautiful!

Aww what a little doll! She is to cute!

Terry57 said:

Kermit is adorable! How lucky he is to have you and your wife's adoration, as well as his new friend Does his new girlfriend return his feelings?

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Not really If he gets too close she tries to peck him. We suspect Custard, the hen 'tiel, has poor eyesight. She has the usual lutino "albino" eyes but that doesn't explain her poor sight, I'd think. I know they're sensitive to bright light, but Kermit, Custard and others never go outside.

One thing about Kermit I find interesting is that while he looked scruffy for some time after being raised, he now looks really good, in terms of plumage. We thought he might not be able to preen properly, given his blunt "hookless" beak (plus missing one claw) but apart from dried food around his face he usually looks really good. Sometimes the 'tiels clean his face for him

How sweet he looks.

Oh my gosh I am so sorry! He is a boy!! D: sorry, HE is very handsome!

kq_fan said:

Oh my gosh I am so sorry! He is a boy!! D: sorry, HE is very handsome!

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Actually, we don't know the gender, KG. We suspect boy because of his bright plumage, although that can vary with princesses. Having seen some pairs for sale recently (many in the rather boring blue form) I could see differences, the males seem to have a bigger head. But Kermit's head is deformed, so not a very good guide

He looks like a big personality!I have 2 princesses and 2 babies and they are wonderful little birds.

Does Kermit have the spatula like feathers on the end of his wing? The boys have that plus a lot brighter colours as you said. They don't appear for 12 to 18 months I think.

leanne27 said:

He looks like a big personality!I have 2 princesses and 2 babies and they are wonderful little birds.

Does Kermit have the spatula like feathers on the end of his wing? The boys have that plus a lot brighter colours as you said. They don't appear for 12 to 18 months I think.

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He has a huge personality, Leanne, a wonderful character, we're so glad we have him. We weren't supposed to keep him, as he was the last survivor of a clutch that was abandoned October last year, the breeder gave us two birds (a pearl 'tiel and a plumhead) and asked if my wife could raise him too. The deformed beak meant though that he couldn't go into an aviary (he can't crack seed) so after a month or so John told us to keep him as a pet. So he's 13 months old: I'll keep an eye out for the wing feathers. He's beautiful to watch in flight, princesses have a delightful array of colours and they're on display in flight- the tail fans right out.

The weirdest thing with Kermit is that the most noise he makes when out (apart from a raucous shout when caught by hand) usually is a soft throaty cheep. When he's in his cage though, he "dances", with one side to side movement plus one up and down one. All the while making all sorts of noises. Quite loud too- even though he's covered he's the first to start making a racket in the morning which we can hear from the bedroom I have some video of all this but having trouble getting it into a usable form (from phone) and as he only does his noisy dances in his cage, not all that good for "viewing".