Not Quite "Ready For My Close Up Mr. DeMille"

When Chris & Holly were at the vet's last week for their annual check ups, I bought them a "foraging kit."  Parrots in the wild spend a huge part of their days foraging for food.  This keeps them focused and busy.  Captive parrots (aka pets) don't have to forage for food so they can get very bored and become destructive to their surroundings and even to themselves (ie feather plucking).  Cockatoos are particularly vulnerable to this.  Consequently it is very important to provide pet parrots with lots of stimulation to keep them busy and provide them with hours of fun.  The best way to do this is with loads of toys in all differest colors, shapes and materials.  Chris & Holly's cages and play areas are loaded with toys.  DisneyWorld Manhattan comes to mind when viewing their cages.  The foraging kit we got at the vet is a bag of assorted toys and it looked like the kinds of things the boys, Chris especially, would love. 

And, it just so happens that the veterinary hospital is having a contest to find the best video of one of their patients utilizing skills and information learned via the hospital.   So, I thought a video of Chris playing with the items in his foraging kit would be a great idea.  Chris had other ideas......below are two versions I shot, neither of which I have submitted yet.  Not sure they are contest ready.

Hats off to our foraging kit

The cockatoo steals everyone's heart

Annual Check Ups

Chris & Holly had their annual check ups this week.  And, as usual, Chris didn't think of it so much as a trip to the doctor as much as a chance to socialize and pick up more chicks. 

The veterinary hospital

 

I take the birdbabies to the Animal Medical Center if they need vet care in Manhattan and to Dr. Hess in Westchester.  Dr. Hess is their main vet and they first met her at the AMC, but she now has her very own exotics hospital in Bedford Hills, which is perfect for us!  The hospital is brand new and very nice, and only treats exotic animals.  It definitely got the cockatoo stamp of approval. 

Upon arrival, Chris instantly attracted a crowd of women.  I don't know what it is about that bird, but he just seems to ooze sex appeal.  Ladies of all species love him.  In addition to the human female attention, he also flirted with a female eclectus parrot who lives at the hospital.  Holly, meanwhile, kept calling back and forth with a male sun conure who was in another room.  I don't know what they were saying, but it seemed like they knew each other.

 

Chris entertaining the clinic staff

The check up itself went well and the boys are healthy.  Chris was mostly interested in getting a massage from Dr. Hess and Holly was mostly interested in avoiding his check up.  He flew around, jumping from head to head, and it took a concerted effort on the part of five of us to catch him.  Luckily, Dr. Hess has a cockatoo and a pionus, just like us, so she knows the deal and was patient enough to allow Holly to use her head as a landing strip and to indulge Chris in some affection.

Dr. Ritchie & Dr. Hess examining Chris

Holly, bundled up in a towel, awaiting his beak and nail trims

A little cockatoo love with Dr. Hess

And, no trip anywhere would be complete unless Chris & Holly took out some time to groom each other.  They are 'brothers' after all, and where one goes the other goes. 

The boys interacting

 

After their check ups were finished and all the flirting was over we got back in the car and headed home to Barbara's house.

Holly & Chris ready to roll

Spirit of Independence

The summer fun continued for Chris & Holly in July........they hung out on the porch most days, being mellow and enjoying the peaceful solitude of country living.  Of course, there was plenty of snacking, screaming (the cockatoo), flying, playing and bathing out there as well. 

Chris looking handsome on his swing

Holly, soaking wet after a bath

We tried to get them to play in the makeshift wading pools Barbara bought them, but I think the sides were too steep for them to figure it out.  We need to get them a mini pool.  I think Chris could definitely warm up to that because he loves to play with water and make a wet mess. 

Our first attempt at bird pools didn't quite cut it.

Even though the Fourth of July weekend didn't include swimming the chickens had a good time and kicked off the month in style.  The rest of July proved to be challenging with a heat wave one week and a three day power outage another week that was caused by an epic near hurricane storm, during which Chris refused to come inside and instead flew back and forth across the porch while yours truly got sprayed with rainwater trying to catch him.  But, Chris & Holly weathered it all amazingly and were none the worse for wear.  I think country living agrees with them.