Merry Chistmas From Darwin

I just wanted to wish everyone a very happy Christmas, and have lots and lots of holiday fun and games.  This will be my first Christmas and I have been helping Janie and Stuart wrap some presents.  It was great fun, especially them chasing me around the room trying to get the sticky tape back I had stolen.

I think there is even a couple of presents under the tree for me, ohhhhhhhhhhhhh... I can't wait.

Nibbles Darwin xx

The weather outside is frightful...

The other day I looked out of the window and freaked out, it was a mess, white stuff everywhere, surely this is not normal.  Honestly it took Janie ages to calm me down, and then, the sky began to fall in, huge white flakes where falling down to join the mess already on the ground.  It was disgusting, and looked sooooooooo cold.

I was really happy to be inside, all warm and safe.  Honestly it's a complete jungle out there at the moment.

Janie said that we could go outside to build something called a 'snowman', it seems you bundle all the white stuff up and make a replica of a person.  Honestly she is so strange at times, she put a carrot on the table and said we could use it as a nose.  I looked at the carrot, and thought that it really didn't look like a nose, even the overly big nose that Janie has. 

So when Janie went to put on her coat, I did the only thing that I could to show Janie that this was not a nose but a carrot.

I ate it.....

Nibbles Darwin xx

Scrapbooking for Beginners

Well look at this, Janie has decided to make a scrapbook of me, isn't she sweet...  I can make a scrapbook as well, or at least I can take a book and turn it into scrap pretty darn quickly tee hee...

This is the first page she made, with one of the first photographs she took of me.  Don't I look so cute, as if butter wouldn't melt in my mouth as Janie often says of me, which is strange as we all know that butter would melt in your mouth, so why she says it I don't know???  But then I can't figure out half of what Janie is saying anyway, it's all gobledegook to me.

It's just a short and tweet post today, but will be back again soon...

Nibbles Darwin  xx

The Birdinator

Hello again, todays lesson is in the Art of Destruction.  Some may say that it takes time, patience and a lot of know how to destroy anything, I say, it doesn't. Destroying anything is actually quite easy, be it chairs, wall paper, curtains, tables, cooker hobs, plastic containers or curtain poles, as seen in the picture above.

I love to swoop down on an unsuspecting Janie, if she is sitting and reading one of her crafty magazines, oh what fun to grab a page and rips bits of it out.  As I have said previously about food what's mine is mine and what's yours is mine to, this actually applies to everything in the house, it all belongs to me.  I can eat, chew or poo on everything, and I do it all with great abandon.

Sometimes, when I poo on Stuart he gets a little tetchy, and tells me off and puts me back in my cage.  I just ignore this bad behaviour and eat a little food and wait until he lets me out again.  I always forgive him, I haven't owned him that long and I am still training him.

Nibbles Darwin.. xx

Grey's Don't Go Cheap

Hello friends, yes it's me again, can you believe it tomorrow I am six months old!!!  Don't I look good for my age?  As you can see I am enjoying life, my flying is really coming on now, and just to annoy Stuart and Janie I always try to land on their heads.  They do so hate me to do that, but I find it so funny, especially when I hang on to the hair really tightly when they try to get me down.  Such a laugh!!!

As you can see Janie has given me my own Piggy Bank to save up my pocket money.  She says that I cost to much and that I will have to start supporting myself.  I tried to explain that, that was what my wings were for, but she was having none of it.

It seems we are very expensive to maintain, besides the cost of buying me, and buying my cage.  There are food costs, vet costs, toy costs and cleaning costs.  Having a Grey or any bird in your home is something you should not undertake lightly it seems.  We are not cheap, but we are lovable (mostly), but anyone considering buying one of my feathered chums, should really think hard before going ahead.  As a wise man once said, 'Polly wants a cracker'.  Not sure what that has to do with things, but it is a very wise saying you must agree.

Anyway, I really must get on with trying to work out how this Piggy Bank thing works, I am sure there is a nut in there if only I could work out how to get to it. Polly might want a cracker, but Darwin's prefer nuts!!!

Nibbles Darwin  xxx

Food For Thought

Ahhh, one of my favourite things, the great and noble pursuit of eating.  Today Janie was eating a pear, I wanted it, Janie gave me a piece, I wanted hers.  We had a battle, Janie gave me what was left of her pear.  This is what happened to it.  It was on the walls, on the chairs, on the floor, on Janie, it was wonderful.

You see I have discovered in the months since I have been born, that getting air to food is very important to getting the taste just right.  So the more I throw the food about the better it tastes. Janie sometimes gives me odd looks, but one day I know, she will learn this valuable lesson.

Oh before I go and get on with a little more eating I have compliled a short list of food that I should never eat, there are bound to be more, so before feeding me a new thing Janie always checks to see if it is safe for me.  She is good like that.

Bad for Me
Avocado
Egg Plant (Aubergine)
Chocolate
Rhubarb
Cabbage
Mushrooms
Alcohol
Caffeine

Fatty Foods
Fizzy drinks
Raw onion
Apple Seeds

Grit (We don't need it in our diet)

That's all for now folks,

Nibbles, Darwin. xx

 

A Flight of Fancy

Hi again, have you all missed me?  I have been having such fun lately, as you can see my flying is coming on in leaps and bounds, I just love it.  I have told both Stuart and Janie that I do not want my wings clipped, I love to fly, and they agree with me, though in this photo of my coming into land on Janie's camera, you can't really see my wings to well, they were flapping to fast for the camera.

Maybe you can see in the background my play area window has expanded a little, with a hanging climbing frame, and another hanging bamboo pipe the other side of my Boing, you can't see it though as it's not in this picture.  My Boing also has a foraging toy near the top now so I can look for some food in it when I feel hungry, which is most of the time.  I like food!!!  Especially if someone else is eating it, that's the best food there is.

The photo also gives you another good view of my tail feathers, imagine what they will look like when they are bright red all over!!!!  I just can't wait.  Life is so good.  Till next time.

Nibbles, Darwin.  xxx

Boing, Boing !!!

Well here I am again, I guess I wasn't really on the look out for Janie and her camera whilst happily sitting here looking out of the window.  She sneaks up on me in the most unusual places, honestly, and she calls me a little devil!!!! 

I am sitting on my Sisal Boing, Sisal is a very good material for making ropes for us birds, just be aware to make sure that the rope hasn't been treated with anything bad for us before buying.  The red round thing just above me is called a Bagel, and it wonderful for chewing on, they come in so many different colours and sizes. It's made from cardboard which is brilliant for tearing to bits, almost as good as wallpaper and carpet, oh, and curtains, especially those net curtains you can see in the photo, almost !!!

The reason why I chose this photo, was not really my toys, though I do love showing my things off. The real reason was to show off my bum and those wonderful tail feathers of mine.  I am only a young Congo, you can tell this by the darkish grey tips to my red tail feathers.  When I moult for the first time, my tail feathers will come back as the brilliant bright red of an adult, not that I will be an adult when that happens, it will just be a step towards being grown up.

Before I go I have to say a big thank you to Sandy O...  she commented on Janie's blog about me as she couldn't find the comments section on here.  Thank you Sandy, I so love people to like me.

Sandy O said...

ha ha ha, I just came back from Darwins blog and he is so cute and funny! I friended him so I don't miss out on his antics and sense of humor. Thank you for posting the link. Didn't see a place for comments, so maybe you can tell him for me ;o)

Until next time,

Darwin xx

The Games Afoot

 Janie says that my feet are beautiful and when you look at this picture I am sure you will agree. Feet are funny things though, Janie's toes look like little pink sausages, whilst mine are much more useful, long and slender and ending with a wonderful nail.

Did you know that my nails should be a perfect quarter of a circle in shape?  Mine are just right, and should stay that way as long as I look after them properly.  Janie filed the very tips of them off, she said they were hurting when I sat on her, which was funny as I never felt a thing.  To file my nails, she put a large foot file on the table to let me get used to it, as sometimes I can be scared of new things. Where my family originally came from, 'strange things' can sometimes eat you, so it is best to be wary.

Now I am happy with the file, Janie rubs a nail at a time on the foot file, it doesn't hurt but feels a bit strange, it took time but all things happen with patience.  All you have to do is file the very tip of our nails away, never file to much as we need them for gripping perches.

Often Janie brings out the file just to pretend to do my nails, she thinks I might forget for when I need them doing again, honestly, humans are odd at times, but you got to love them.

Darwin  xx

The Colourful World of Grey

Hello, my name is Darwin Grey, as you can see I am rather gorgeous.  I am a Congo African Grey, or as some humans say, a CAG. I live in the U.K. with my parents Stuart and Janie who worship me and allow me to do everything I want, whenever I want.

Today happens to be my birthday, I am 18 weeks old today, and I have lived with my parents for 5 weeks yesterday so we are still getting used to each other.  On Saturday I went to visit a vet for the first time, it was a scary experience at first as we had to travel in a car for almost an hour to get there.  It seems that good birdy vets can be hard to find, which does not seem right to me, vets should learn more about us. 

I really enjoyed the car journey after I got used to it, and the vet was really nice.  She really grilled my parents about good bird housekeeping, she knew her business and my parents managed to answer most questions as they had done there homework before I came to live with them.  I then had an examination, which wasn't to bad, and the lady vet said I was in wonderful condition. and a really nice young Grey.  I would of told her that, had she asked.

Will write more soon,

Darwin xx