oh dear lord bird cute

The Osbick bird just said, very clearly, "what was that?" I just about fell off my bike. Good thing I'm riding a trainer, and not rollers!

He is also now accompanying the techno to which I pedal with some really really adorable parrot sounds. I hasten to mention that he is capable of several parrot sounds which are far from cute in any way, which is one of the reasons he is not joining my permanent zoo no matter how tempting that possibility becomes, or how pretty, sweet and generally undemanding he is.

I bathed him for the first time yesterday, with my kitchen sink sprayer (the method second in rank only to sharing a shower with me amongst parrots in my home generally). At first, he was all flappy and "noooo" but after about 2 seconds, he realized what was happening and went into "OMG pure bliss' mode, complete with poofed feathers, outstretched wings and greedily drinking the waem water from the sprayer. Now he's even prettier and more day-glo;it turns out that parrot feathers get dingy and are not self-cleaning. Tropical birds like baths, they just do.

He will also step onto a dowel from inside his cage now, a huge step that means I don't need to towel him to get him out anymore. It still takes a few tries, but I'm thrilled.

Another cute but kinda gross bird thing is how Miz Kaya likes to lick the sweat off of me after I've been working out; the webbing between my fingers is her favorite spot, and she's very persistent. Um, burd? Thanks, I think, but ew...

You want pictures. And no, Bey still hasn't foaled. I feel like I may be about to, but she hasn't.

( obligatory cute bird pics under cut )