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!