HOOKED ON HERONS

What have you been up to lately? Me? Well, I have a new addiction.

Yes, It's hard to admit it but it's true. I heard about these tall blue beautiful feathered friends and had to check them out. One hit and I was hooked!

You will be hooked on this pair of Great Blue Herons, too.

Here is the LIVE web site Hosted by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology at Sapsucker Woods Pond, Ithaca, New York.  http://www.livestream.com/cornellherons




Not tempted yet? Just wait to you see the 5 cute fuzzy's that are sleeping under Mom!

Told you! They are absolutely adorable when they are playing Beak Boxing! 


The stream is live 24/7 and has 2 cameras. Camera 1 is eye view on the nest and can watch the Mom and Dad tag team their duties like keeping the Fids in line, snuggling them up to keep warm and dolling out lots of fish and frogs for meals. Oh do they love their meals. But within minutes of eating the go into a Fish Coma! The act of bobbing their heads on their long necks to eat totally wears them out! Camera 2 is above the nest and can scan in and out which is wonderful when things are happening in the nest but also to pan over the pond. The can pan the cameras wide angled to watch Mom fish or just preen full sized like in this picture below. She's beautiful, huh?

Mom laid 5 pretty blue eggs which is more the average of 4 but she is no average Mom! 


Chicks 1 & 2 hatched late in the evening on April 27th while being cared for by Dad. Both started off making a fashion statement wearing "Shellmets", half the eggshell on their heads! I think it's gonna be the new style for Fall.


Chick 3 wastes no time cracking(pipping) the shell  with him "Egg Tooth" and hatching late on April 28th, again while Dad was caring. Yes, it's a real thing! Here is an article with everything you would ever want to know. 
http://www.birdchannel.com/the-egg-tooth

Chick 4 is a bit slower but a "Pip" is visible on April 29th went Dad urps(regurgitates) fish up for the 3 hungry chicks waiting eagerly! After their fill they instantly go into "Fish Comas". Good job Dad! To all watching they are given a surprise the next time Dad stands to stretch, # 4 has hatched while Dad was sitting on them! Dad cleans up the nest and drops the eggshell out and then there was 4 fuzzy's... and 1 egg!

Over the next few days we are all watching form the edge of our sofa's waiting for #5 to join the crew but he was laid a few days after #4 and so he's got time to spare and gonna use it!  Finally late on May 1st we all see a little Pip in the photo below and he's starting. I think he has heard how much fun the other 4 are having with all their chatter.

Each day Mom and Dad trade out caring for their family from a few minutes to 20 hours. Then on May 3rd at 3 pm the 5th chick is out as Dad is watching. Dad just happen to be there for all the hatchings! You can see chick 5 in the picture below, right in the middle, snuggling up to the others. See his little beak resting to the left and his tiny wings? Smaller than others but very mighty when it come to food!

These still pictures are cute but do not compare to seeing everything happen live! Like when Mom had to go through a rough night of strong rain, thunder and lightening while keeping her 5 fuzzy's warm and safe! or when they both at separate times got attacked in the dead of the night by a very large and dangerous Great Horned Owl. Mom actually lost her long black head feathers from one of the attacks. Dad still has his and is one way to tell them apart quickly.


Please check this incredible, once in a lifetime event and you'll get hooked, as I am! Also, if you can please support their effort of hosting this stream without commercials by giving a donation in any amount on the main page!!! it's a great Mother's Day gift, too!!


http://www.livestream.com/cornellherons

LET'S MAKE A BIRDIE TOY PLAY NECKLACE

I purchased this fun and unusual "Birdie Toy Play Necklace" at a local bird show. I thought it was a great idea and looked like a fun, easy project. I was right and you can do it, too!

This is the one I bought.

This was made for me by a good friend. 

You can buy one at www.thebirdmama.com

This is the option I made of misc. parts I had.

Why not try making one of these fun and playful "Birdie Toy Necklaces" for your fids? You can wear it as a necklace and they can have fun chewing on it instead of your ears! Keep extras around for them to play with and keep busy in the kitchen, bathroom or while traveling.

You can use heavy string, leather or rope and add miscellaneous beads, toys or left over pieces from old bird toys. Nothing is better than being able to Reuse those few toy pieces left on all of those expensive hanging toys. So every time you change out a hanging toy and there is in good condition a bell, plastic chain or a single large bead left on it, take it off, wash it up and put it in a ziplock bag. You'll be surprised how quickly you'll have a full bag of fun toys to make a one of a kind "Birdie Toy Necklace" for your fids to enjoy! Best of all it will be free!

Of course, if you would like an amazing "Birdie Toy Necklace" right away for your fids to enjoy, just go on www.thebirdmama.com and order your own custom one! Susan would love to make you one or two or ten! 

Happy toy making!!

LOVELY FLORIDA FLOWL

Living in Florida I'm very lucky to enjoy all the special, cute and unusual birdies that come visit us each day. I thought I'd share some of them with you! Hope you enjoy!

The neighborhood walking club!

Daily ducks for breakfast!

Waiting for Santa?

Woops! I Taut I Taw a Puddy Tat?

Come on, give me a kiss!

Hey, don't eat all the goodies!

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe!

Come fly with me, come fly away!

Honestly, I wasn't speeding!

Beautiful Big Boy!

WHAT'S FOR LUNCH?

I'm sure you love you Fids just as I do and as I do, you may worry if they are getting the correct amount of vitamins, minerals and nutrition their complex systems require. Plus we want them to enjoy and have fun doing it!

I offer my picky eaters many options of human food types including fruits, veggies, pastas, cereals and anything else I discover that would be good for them and they'll eat!

I thought I should share a wonderful discovery I made that my Fids absolutely love and also makes my life much easier! So one meal a day, I have no more chopping, peeling or cutting, especially when I running late or sleeping in! It is called Dr. Beex BirdKakes, which are square birdie cakes that provide a whole days nutrition in just one bar. They say "Formulated by an avian veterinarian for the health of his own birds, a daily Dr. Beex bird cake square provides your bird it's daily nutritional needs". 


I love these cakes because they come vacuum-seal packed and ready to serve or refreeze. I buy a 90 day supply as the more you buy the bigger the discount. Plus I hate running out but often do because I'm a procrastinator and wait too long to order!

 www.drbeex.com

You see this small company hand bakes all their cakes once a week. On Monday they bake all the orders received, then frozen and Tuesday morning they are shipped out. Don't try ordering early Tuesday morning and then emailing them with a desperate plea because you ran out last week but still forgot to order.... no go! They only bake enough for the orders they have on Monday morning! Yes, I tried this and now pledge to order before handing that last bar out!

I was told they have this schedule so every order is guaranteed to arrive as fresh as possible when received at your home frozen/cold within 3 days via priority mail, mine takes two days. Oh, did I mention, the priority shipping is free, yes, free!

The cakes come in two sizes to cover each size of bird, I have only ordered the smaller size, so that's what I'll describe. I gather the larger is basically the same but larger. LOL

The whole flat cake is dense and approximately 1" thick x 5.5" wide x 8.5" long. They perforate each cake into 15 - 1.7" square bars to make it easier to break off.  With a thirty day supply you get two whole cakes. They also offer a discounted 15 day Trial size to see if your Fids like them.

"The formulator of this bird cake diet, an Avian Veterinarian has blended fresh fruit (apples, grapes, bananas, oranges, etc.); yellow vegetables (carrots, corn, squash); green vegetables (peas, green beans, lima beans, broccoli, etc.); seeds, lentil beans, yeast, calcium, vitamins A and D3; Enriched protein, grains, vitamins & minerals—all into an integrated bird cake. Your birds cannot pick and choose—therefore, you never have to worry again about your birds' diet." Per their website.

If you're looking for a new tasty, convenient and nutritious food for your birdies, I hope you'll give them a try. So far every birdie I know that's tasted them, love them!

That's what's for lunch today!

LET'S PLAY BIRDIE TIC-TAC-TOE

I had a fun day today playing a new game with Louie..... Birdie Tic-Tac-Toe and he won!

                      

Last Sunday while attending the local bird show, I was lucky and found Higgins Parrot food for $1.50 a pound. The price was good but I felt luckiest because I could scoop out all the goodies my big girl Congo African Grey, Lacie loves. She so loves their Cheerios in it. When I buy the regular packages there are only a few in them and I have to dig though it to find them. Louie decided to help me and challenged me to play a game of Birdie Tic-Tac-Toe with the fun shaped pellets. I think he was a ringer, with that look in his eye, don't you?

We had lots of fun collecting the dozens of little orange Cheerios for our "Big Girl". I'm hoping they will someday sell them by the bag as pellets. Now I sprinkle them on top of her food or as treats. She also likes the tan banana shapes but not so much the red X's. Go figure!!

Don't worry this isn't the whole seed mix she gets. Lacie gets Higgins Sun Burst mix filled with dried fruit, nuts, mixed seeds and pellets. To it I add another dried fruit mix and other goodies! See pics. Then three times or more a day they all get fresh fruits, veggies, oatmeal, Dr. Beex birdie bread and lots of other people food.

Sun Burst, Fruit mix, Pellets.             Lacie's finished mix.                 Eenie meenie miney mo

Let me know any fun food ideas you have tried with your fids and if they worked! I'm always searching for and trying new tricks because Louie and Libby, my Indian Ringnecks are picky eaters! Plus my Lacie didn't eat people food for her first 10 years, so now I'm opening up a whole new world of colors, textures and tastes. So far so good, she loves most of them... especially if I spoon or hand feed them to her!!! They certainly teach us well.

How Cold Can You Go?

This week, we had the coldest day in South Florida in a year! Yes, it was only in the 30's and a lot of my friends up North would not even think "Burrrr" but..... without heat, it was cold!

It was about 76 on Monday afternoon and as I walked past our AC unit I heard a "woo woo woo" sound and this time it wasn't the Lacie! I opened up the AC closet and it was frozen with ice. Off it went and I changed the filter. Thinking it would be OK once it thawed and the ice was gone, I waited till the night to turn it back on. But nope, just a "woo, woo, woo".

So first thing on Tuesday morning I called the AC company that had installed the unit when we replaced our original builder grade unit. Since it was going to be a really cold night, she said the technician would be out before the end of the day, Yea!

Eric the Tech called and said he'd be there after 1 pm and at 12:50 the door bell rang. It took him only a minute after turning it on, opening the cover and I'm sure hearing the "woo, woo, woo" to figure out it was the fan blower motor. He called it in and low and behold our Warranty ran out 2 weeks prior. To my surprise, the said they called the manufacture and they would still cover the motor. Yea! The labor wasn't covered so the price would be $375 instead of the $895 it would have cost with the motor, too. Yea? I guess! But of course, they had to order it and would be back in the morning to install. No yea, as the house was already getting cold.

Well, overnight the house inside got into the 50's and I'm the one that turns the heat on whenever it gets below 70! I slept in 2 pairs of socks, sweat pants and 2 tops and on the bed 5 covers plus a pink Snuggie that wrapped me in warmth.(see pic)

I was so worried about my spoiled Fids. I already cover them every night to keep them snuggy. So I pulled their cages away from the glass doors and double/triple covered them, too!(see pics)

The next morning at 8:30 am with a knock on the door, I rolled out of my heavy blankets, slipped into my slippers and Eric the Tech carried in a pretty new fan blower motor. OK, it was ugly but pretty to me because it meant warmth!! Just 5 minutes and a big check later, the house was on it's way to being nice and toasty!! Yea!

Hope your family stayed warm and snuggly even if your city was freezing..... Burrrrrrr!

Louie and Libby buried in blankets!

Lacie snuggy, too!

Yes, 1-2-3-4-5 & Snuggie! but my face was still cold!

Good Morning Start to 2012

While I was getting breakfast together for the Fids this morning, they reminded me that we had all agreed to eat better for 2012. If they are up for it, I guess I am, too!

They started their morning with nice warm oatmeal. Louie likes just a drop of milk on his. This morning, I think he was having second thoughts! Maybe he was hoping Dunkin Donuts was on the menu? Libby dug right in, maybe a little too much! Lacie usually gets spoon fed but she decided the bowl would work today!

I stayed with my favorite cereal "Grape Nuts". I love them because they stay crunchy, no soggy flakes for me! The Fids like these, too, maybe tomorrow! Funny but Grapes Nuts just happen to be featured on "Unwrapped" on HGTV as I typing, so at the end is everything you never needed to know about them!!!

Hope you and your Fids have a great start to 2012, too!!

Louie not sure this is what he ordered

Libby caught enjoying her oarmeal a bit too much

Lacie says "Mmmmmmmmmmm Good!"

I do love Grape Nuts cereal but have to have my hot tea to wake up!

Grape Nuts Cereal - It was made by Post Foods in 1897 as an alternative to hot cereal. 

One thought of the name is it looks like grape seeds. 

They are made of Whole wheat flour, barley & yeast... NO Grapes or Nuts! 

They mix the ingredients into bread loafs then they are broken up into little nuggets. 

They sell 60 million boxes a year, enough to lay them from New York to LA.

A bowl gives you 68% of your daily whole grains requirement.

Why not give them a try because they are the crunchiest and even have a natural sweetness!