Introducing Kizuri!

Or one big(1) reason I have not written reviews in the last few weeks. Kizuri is a pied lovebird whom I fell totally and completely in love with on spotting her peering out at the world, watching everything curiously and cautiously.

She's four months old and not hand-fed(2), so hand taming her is a bit time-consuming.

She's also super smart. I often get the feeling that I'm being very carefully evaluated. She knows she's an intelligent, reasoning being and wants to be sure I am as well before she'll trust me.

So it's all a matter of patience on my part.  Really, she's amazingly confident and outgoing. She spent the entire ride home from the store coming to the front of the box and, sometimes, trying the support of the wire mesh to see if she couldn't get out (I'm glad it was a short ride), and started exploring her cage within minutes of being in there.

Also, while she's still quite cautious about hands, those nasty, grabby things, she's getting to be fairly content about sitting on my shoulder--in fact, she's currently sitting and burbling quite contentedly in parakeet(3), making this the longest stretch of typing I've managed since getting her.

This is actually two-handed typing, as well. Since I am trying to get her used to hands as well as shoulders, I hold her on my finger for as long as she'll sit there. This makes for a lot of one-handed typing. Not at all suitable for reviews. She actually almost consented to eat out of my hand yesterday, as well, so I do think we're making  progress.

I'll try to get some short reviews(4)  up soon, but if there aren't any for a while, you'll know why.

I'm besotted by a lovebird.

(1)Five and a half ounces, at most. On the other hand, as someone once posted in a list I can no longer find "Nothing is bigger than a lovebird. Ask one." Kizuri, while distinctly an individual with her own quirks, shares this belief.


(2) The rule of thumb: Hand-fed lovebirds think "Humans=food. Food=good. Humans=good." Birds raised by other birds think "What is that monster coming toward me?!" Guess which is easier to make friends with? On the other hand, a hand-fed bird wouldn't be Kizuri, and, as I mentioned, it was a case of love at first sight for me. And I have done this before. Sixteen years ago, but I have done it. Actually, Kizuri has only bitten me twice, so far, which is far less than  Malaika did when I first got him. I'm not sure if this is a difference between birds or a difference in my handling; I can't remember the initial training with Malaika or Rafiki very well, but I did learn a few things. 

(3) I like parakeet burbles. They're soft, pleasant little sounds. She wasn't in the store very long, from what they said, but it was long enough for her to pick those up. They have a lovebird accent, but are different from any sound I ever heard Rafiki or Malaika make.  I hope she doesn't lose them!  

(4)And we all know how good I am at short, right?

Night and Day Nasturtiums

Whew! The "Night" part of the Night-and-Day blend finally bloomed. The "day" started a few days ago. It's a very pretty golden yellow. I'd been looking forward to what a "mahogony" nasturtium would look like. It's an attractive deep orange. Not really quite as dramatic as "night and day" sounds, but pretty enough.

Maybe next year I'll buy some whirlybird nasturtiums and see how they look.

Bolsa Chica Blue Heron Babies

There seem to be several nests in Bolsa Chica all full of busy, hungry blue herons.

Bolsa Chica Lizard

I think this may be a western fence lizard.

Clever Crow

I've been thinking people were awfully careless throwing away their trash and leaving such a mess around the cans in the Huntington Beach Central Park.

Then I sat and watched a very large, very confident, very clever black crow systematically going through the trash, pulling out one item at a time. He opened styrofoam containers, shook bags free, and generally investigated everything there was to investigate.

I had to admire him.

I also think lids might be a very good idea.

Snail at Bolsa Chica

When they aren't eating my garden, snails are rather beautiful in their own way.

I'm trying to find out which sort this is. It's larger and differently patterned than the aforementioned garden-munchers and was hanging out in Bolsa Chica.