Bowie learned this trick when she was very young

To do this at such an early age is a real achievement I think, I am very proud of my little buddy.  When Bowie goes off the screen, it is to collect her reward of millet seed.  I don't ask her to do this trick a lot, but its good to know that she will do it when asked.  It means that I can check her feet all around or her back if necessary from close up.  Also it helps with our bonding, I always tell her that she is a good girl and she responds well to that in other things too.  Today my Mum came to visit and she brought her dog along who is very young and boisterous.  Bowie got a little bit flustered at first but she soon calmed down when I told her that it was ok.

From an early age I have been associating food with the words yummy yummy, so Bowie knows that if food is on offer I'll say Yummy yummy and she can come and get something.  It also helps a little bit when introducing new foods.  Bowies first non seed treat was brocolli which she wasnt fond of, but Spinach came next and she loves that.  She will also eat lettuce and a little bit of boiled rice.  She is not bothered about butternut squash but I will keep trying her with it. 

Back to when Bowie was very young

 

This is a quick snap of Bowie at about two months old.  We were still getting used to each other, but at about this time Bowie learnt the first trick.  Using millet seed as a reward, I taught Bowie to turn around on my finger and get more millet as a result.  I simply said the words turn around at the same time that I made a circling gesture around the birds body to attract that circular movement.

 

Two things happened as a result 1. It was fairly easy to give the verbal command to turn around when Bowie was in the cage and on the perch, this was a real achievement. 2. Even today, if Bowie thinks I'm being tightfisted on the millet front, or not feeding it fast enough, a spontaneous 'turn around is likely to result'.  This makes me laugh, its so cute.

 

I have video somewhere of Bowie doing turn around, I'll try and look it up.  Since that first trick, I have taught Bowie to ring the bell in the cage, on the command 'ting ting'.  I genuinely believe that Bowie is a tremendously bright bird and is very quick to learn new things.  More next time.

 

I just thought that I would add a few thoughts from when Bowie was first in my home and the impact this little bird has had on me.

 

I went to collect Bowie from the petshop and the sales assistant said that she couldnt be certain but that she thought I was buying a male bird which is what I wanted because male birds tend to be easier to train to talk.  Well, that turned out not to be true on both counts but for the first four months of Bowies little life, pretty BOY was the order of the day.  In fact, after only three days of having the bird in our house, we clearly and distinctly heard the bird say 'pretty boy'.

 

I let Bowie stay in the cage for the first week, just to acclimatise to the new surroundings and get used to our voices and the sound of the tv and radio.  I was very careful when putting my hand in the cage to replenish food and water, and would sit with the cage next to me with my hand in the doorway but not going too near to Bowie in case of inadvertant startling.  Eventually Bowie learned to step up onto my finger in the cage.

 

I soon learned that Bowie would do anything for millet seed so getting Bowie to step up became easier and easier because bribery worked so well.

 

Not long after this, I decided to let Bowie out of the cage to allow flight up to a couple of shelves in the room that I had made bird friendly.  Surprisingly, Bowie 'stepped up' when required to go back to the cage.  Bowie seemed to enjoy being free to fly and sit up on the high shelves and explore this new world.  I was happy at this stage, although Liam seemed to get nipped fingers a lot if he went to collect Bowie but that soon altered.  This picture depicts Bowie's love of seed, and my increasing pleasure at being a bird Mommy!

Mad ramblings of a new budgie owner.

I got a budgie for Christmas.  My Mom got her for me, and she's a real cutie.  Originally we thought that she was a boy budgie and its really weird getting used to calling her a she.  But she's a lovely bird and we are bonding and learning how to live together, so I thought I would start up a new blog highlighting her exploits.