Their Very Own Blog

Crash and Pippin told me they wanted their very own blog. They heard me talking about blogging to a friend the other day. They said, without words since they don't have any human words yet, 'wouldn't it be cool if we had our own blog? You can write all about us, and how our training is going, and what adventures we've gotten ourselves into?!' I thought to myself, 'Great idea!' and promptly gave them praise for the great idea they had. They also told me they'd help type...they are very handy with a keyboard, they can almost remove the keys and are very good and the laptops mouse button! I declined the aid, but promised to begin this very night with a blog for them. I'll show them in the morning.

Crash and Pippin are both male cockatiels, about 9 months old. Born in June (the 24th and 25th) of 2008, they came to live with me and my boyfriend, Trevor, in October. They started in a giant (24"x36") acrylic cage, but this didn't suit them very much at all. We loved it because we could see them so well, but they are little climbers, and told us the slippery sides wouldn't do at all. Also, we were borrowing the cage to see if it would work, and had to return it to it's proper owners so we found them a cage of the same dimensions that was made of bars, and they quite approve.

Crash and Pippin would have me tell you that they are quite bonded to eachother, and don't like being seperated. If one goes into another room with one of us, the other needs to call to his 'flock' to find out where the other went. They quite like us as well. They tell us with 'kisses' and wolf whistles, and other wonderful singing. They both are quite well mannered, love meeting new people, 'step up' beautifully (98% of the time...cause really, who wants to step up if you know bedtime happens right after!?!), and are starting to become accomplished flyers.

You might be wondering how they got their names. Crash named himself. Crash...crashed a lot when we he came to live with us. He had clipped wings, but kept trying to fly. Instead of learning to glide nicely to a stop, he'd beat his wings so fast he'd fly straight up in the air and land right back down on his bottom. Snap - there went one tail feather. Crunch - there went another. Luckily, none of these were blood feathers. He has his flight feathers now, and is actually the better flier of the two. Let's hope from now on his name is similar to naming a tall human 'shorty'. Pippin is named after the hobbit in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings Trilogy. And, like his namesake, he's good at finding trouble. His favorite type of trouble is "bite the electrical cord and see the humans come running". Both are wonderful birds and are learning to adjust to the human members of their flock. And speaking of their human flock - I should be going to bed.