Button & Ava

[DonnaBudgie]

Now, I'm really going to confuse everyone (I was confused so y'all should be too!). I just learned that a "hardwood" isn't necessarily "hard" and a "softwood" isn't necessarily "soft"! The terms have to do with how the trees reproduce, not necessarily by how hard their wood is. The Janka scale rates how hard a wood is by how much force it takes to pound a tiny metal ball into the wood.

A hardwood tree is an angiosperm. Angiosperms reproduce with flowers. Most, but not all, are deciduous, broadleaf trees. Most hardwood trees grow slowly (slower than softwoods) and the wood is denser, thus harder.

A softwood tree is a gymnosperm which has "naked" seeds that lacks the protective coating found in flowering tree seeds. Most softwood trees are conifers that grow more quickly and have wood that is less dense than hardwood trees. Trivia: gymno means naked, so I guess ancient gymnasium activities were performed in the nude!

Here's where it gets REALLY strange- most "hardwoods" are harder than most "softwoods". Balsa is by far the softest lightest wood, BUT balsa is a HARDWOOD! White pine is a soft softwood. Poplar, a bit harder than white pine, is a soft hardwood. Southern yellow pine is a softwood but is harder than poplar.

Now y'all are experts on types of trees, types of woods, and ancient gymnasium fashions!

 

[nkrbkr]

I got a shower perch for Ava to see how she’d like it. She definitely enjoyed herself, and decided to continue her bath in her water bowl in her cage after. You can see how aggressively clipped her wings are in this photo. Our vet tech described it as a perfect example of how to NOT clip a bird’s wings.

 

[nkrbkr]

Ava finally lost three feathers from the other side of her tail, so she’s no longer lopsided. I love the blue on the far right feather.

 

[Vampiric_Conure]

Ava finally lost three feathers from the other side of her tail, so she’s no longer lopsided. I love the blue on the far right feather.

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Such Beautiful feathers!

 

[rheashard2]

Could she prefer the texture and sound chewing on balsa makes?

 

[nkrbkr]

Could she prefer the texture and sound chewing on balsa makes?

Maybe? It does make a nice sound and snap

 

[rheashard2]

I wondered because when Nameliss chews balsa, she'll cock her head. Then changes the angle for another crunch. Balsa isn't her favorite. A ball last her days.

 

[nkrbkr]

Here are some pics of Ava enjoying her whole almond, and Button enjoying his large chunk of millet from their stockings on Christmas morning. They were twisted up in plain cupcake wrappers for a little foraging exercise. Button understood the assignment and dug in, burying his head in the wrapper …Ava not so much. She needed some help unwrapping the almond.

They each had a gift under the tree too. Again, Button understood to help me unwrap his gift. Ava needed Dad to do it for her. We’ll have to work on her foraging skills.

 

[onamom]

Merry Beakmas to Button and Ava! What good unwrapping skills, Button! My girls like to forage but aren’t always the best at opening gifts either.

 

[nkrbkr]

Merry Beakmas to Button and Ava! What good unwrapping skills, Button! My girls like to forage but aren’t always the best at opening gifts either.

Awe thanks…I hope you all enjoyed the holiday! That was mostly me that ripped the paper to get it started, but he does pull at the paper and rip it a bit!

 

[nkrbkr]

I made some toys for Ava today with some of the partially chewed toy parts I’ve saved from the bottom of her cage. I have a baffle cage that I put chunks of used toys in as well, but wanted to give her something a bit different. A local parrot shop sells new, unused small egg cartons. I put chunks of broken balsa, yucca, beads, vine balls, etc. in them, sprinkled in a few pellets, and strung them up with some beads and other toy parts. Ava dug in right away, & had one egg carton 1/2 chewed in about 20 minutes.

 

[onamom]

Nice job! That looks great!

 

[nkrbkr]

Oh, Ava. Regardless of how long I spray her down in the shower, or with a spray bottle, she always finishes up bath time in her water bowl.

This bird loves a bath. I’ve yet to really see her refuse one.

 

[onamom]

That last photo!!! Those eyes!

 

[nkrbkr]

That last photo!!! Those eyes!

She was rather pleased with herself. Lol

On that note, it has been so surprising, and endearing, to me just how expressive her eyes are. I’m not talking about eye pinning, but the shape and movement of her eyes and eyelids, and that I can tell how she’s feeling by looking at them. It is very cool. I can’t tell as easily with Button, as his eyes are so small and dark.

 

[LaManuka]

Oh, Ava. Regardless of how long I spray her down in the shower, or with a spray bottle, she always finishes up bath time in her water bowl.

This bird loves a bath. I’ve yet to really see her refuse one.

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At least Ava is polite enough to bathe in her OWN drinking water, unlike Lovejoy who bathes in Peachie's water and Peachie who bathes in the 'tiel's water!!

 

[onamom]

She was rather pleased with herself. Lol

On that note, it has been so surprising, and endearing, to me just how expressive her eyes are. I’m not talking about eye pinning, but the shape and movement of her eyes and eyelids, and that I can tell how she’s feeling by looking at them. It is very cool. I can’t tell as easily with Button, as his eyes are so small and dark.

I get this with Ona especially but Yuri a bit as well. I can tell how Ona is feeling just from her pretty eyes. My favorite is still her look when she’s really listening to what I’m asking her.

 

[nkrbkr]

I just made a realization about something very cute that Ava is doing. I already mentioned that she says “scritch” and puts her head down when she wants us to scratch her head. Well, she was sitting on my husband’s shoulder this evening, and preening the back of his neck. I looked over and was watching her. She paused, looked at me, and said “scritch.” She then continued to preen him, saying “scritch” periodically. I think she has connected that she’s scritching us when she preens us.

 

[LaManuka]

Clever girl, she understands perfectly what "scritch" is all about!

 

[onamom]

I just made a realization about something very cute that Ava is doing. I already mentioned that she says “scritch” and puts her head down when she wants us to scratch her head. Well, she was sitting on my husband’s shoulder this evening, and preening the back of his neck. I looked over and was watching her. She paused, looked at me, and said “scritch.” She then continued to preen him, saying “scritch” periodically. I think she has connected that she’s scritching us when she preens us.

Oh, how sweet and cute! I love that!

I find it amusing that Yuri does the head-lower for scritch. Ona absolutely never does that, but Yuri does it all the time.