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Hey BirdNerds!!! QueenBirdNerd here- reporting on the next little birdy fella who has entered my kingdom. Bridget (Bridgey for short, can’t tell you why that’s his/her/trans/non binary/gender fluid name because of PRIIIVACY REASONS…) is a little teensy STRIATED PARDALOTE- the very first one we’ve ever had!!! Pardalotes are my favourite birds… and I think now my Mum’s faves as well!!! Bridgey was found at my school in the middle of the road by one of the students, and brought up to the front office. That’s when we got the call!

He was peeping like crazy, a small but penetrating repetitive “be-be-be-be-be!!!” at a very high pitch. Later, we found that he would repeat this EVERY TEN MINUTES until it got pretty annoying. BUT it was still super cute!!!

After all the other students had gone home at the end of the day, we decided to try reuniting him/her etc with its mum. But after around 20 mins- half an hour the only birds that had come to visit were some curious Eastern Spinebills- not exactly what we were looking for… and by this time the bird was panting and looked mildly heat stressed so we decided to call it quits.

However, soon after, we noticed some bird calls of other Striated Pardalotes coming from a nearby backyard, and we figured there might be a nest around there – and perhaps the mother of our chick. So we slipped a note in the letterbox of the property requesting to try to reunite it (as the people weren’t there), and we went off home with the cutest peeping fluffball you’d ever seen.

Kindly, the people got in contact and agreed to let us come back to try and reunite the chick. Sadly, we had no luck the second time.

It was time for Plan B- we would have to raise him until he was ready for release. Already, eating wasn’t a problem at all- he’d definitely let us know by peeping his head off, and we could feed him with our hands, or even better, with a stick, and he would independently grab water off a spoon if offered- although he would often nip your knuckles accidentally. He is an insectivore so our special substitute powder and meat mix would be fine for him, but we had to be careful since he was so little not to spread any germs to him.

He was quickly beginning to hop around too much in his little box, so we moved him to a smallish cage so he could practice his flying skills… he’s getting really good!!!

Bridgey is probably ready to move into the aviary as soon as we release our magpie fledgling Oreo (She’s going very well and we are thinking of releasing her this weekend as she seems quite depressed and bored, always trying to escape- you can read more about Oreo in my last blog post) so hopefully things go well from here!!

Ok that’s it for today, BirdNerds, cya next time! Stay in tune for more stories like these and hopefully a report on Oreo’s release!!! Byeeeee!!

QueenBirdNerd

Hey BirdNerds!!! You might remember Oreo from my last blog post… but shes grown a lot (yes, she is a girl!!! I won the bet, mum! Told you!!!) since then. She is still cute, magpies always are, but she’s definitely not as fat as she was!!!

She has now figured out how to eat off the floor, so feeding times are a lot easier!!! We have got to make sure she has always got heaps of clean water though, because coming into South Australian summers it gets very hot!!!

It’s been great watching Oreo grow and develop, but she is getting restless to escape, and soon we should be able to release her.

The only problem is, although her flying and foraging skills are up to scratch, we have lots of magpies and still some baby ones hanging out around our property, so we are worried the native ones may act hostile and territorial towards her as it is breeeding season like the one that attacked Skittles (if you want to know more about Skittles the rosella, check out one of my recent blog posts on her/him)

I’ll try to keep you guys updated on Oreo, but until then, byeeeee!!! (sorry for the short post!!! QueenBirdNerd, out!!!

On Thursday, my mum and I were about to head to Stirling to pick something up from Red Cacao and drop some books off to the library, when we got a call from Fauna Rescue- a baby magpie- the fluffiest, fattest baby magpie I’d ever seen!!!

Oreo, (nicknamed Mr. Chubb-Chubb immediately), had no injuries at all- just another baby bird who tried to fledge too early and lost his mum. Also another bird that may have been picked up by mistake- people often see a baby bird lying on the ground (supposedly missing its mum) and pick it up, cooing “oh you poor little thing”, or “oh you little wuggawoogacutieshubbawugga!!!” when really it’s likely the adult magpie is watching its young from afar or off to get a worm. Or maybe Oreo really was alone- no way to tell now.

Now that we don’t know exactly where Oreo was found, we won’t be able to attempt to reunite him with his mum 😦 .

Luckily, Oreo was more then willing to eat when he reached us, but he still needed the standard baby magpie feeding as he wouldn’t eat or drink on his own yet. I love feeding baby magpies because they are SO CUTEEEEEEEE!!!

Oreo just moved into the aviary today- we used the little cage while the weather was terrible, and he was really desperate to move out. When he first got in, and sometimes even now, he tasted everything he could find. The aviary wall, gumnuts, my arm, my hair, leaves…

He is very tame, and if you put your arm in front of him he will usually use it as a branch. I think he’s actually starting to learn to fly, which is great progress, but we’re gonna have to keep him for quite a while and release him when he’s older on our property- we may have to wait for breeding season to be over!!!

Ok, thanks for listening!! That’s it for today, have fun cos its HOLIDAYS!!! Pls like and subscribe for more blog posts!!!

QueenBirdNerd, out!!!

*good news first… but skip ahead if you want to get the bad news over with first!!*

Hey Birdnerds! Yep, it turns out that the aviary was only mildly broken and thanks to my dads handy work, it is now back up and running, ready for new birds!!! We are also working on setting up another smaller aviary perfect for baby birds so we can take care of even more birdies as the calls start to rush in!

But, not everything was as easy to fix as the broken aviary- and Skittles’s problem was one of them.

It was in fact my dog who found Skittles- my mum was running my dog around in the paddock when suddenly she tore off towards a little rosella who was hopping around aimlessly on the grass. It was obviously Skittles… but he wasn’t in his usual good shape. Most of his tail feathers were gone- victim of the other territorial birds of the area.

He still seemed robust and cheery enough, shrieking away as my mum and dad recaptured him… but in the end, as we expected from this bird who couldn’t fly with most of his tail feathers missing, when my mum took him to the vet, he had to be put down ;(

“At least he died a humane death”, my mum said. “If we hadn’t found him he would be dead anyway, attacked or starving to death” It’s pretty true. Skittles didn’t really have the ability to find his own food, and since it was breeding season, the magpies would swoop him and the rosellas even more hostile and territorial towards him.

RIP Skittles… he will be missed.

On a brighter note, at least our aviary is back up and running. Also, now that it’s spring, we get to watch the ducks’ (that live on our property) little babies grow up!!!

So, yeahh. That’s pretty much it… for the good AND the bad. Join me next time for a (hopefully) happy post… CYA LATER!!!

*btw, if u have a bird question for me, pls comment down below or text/email me!*

QueenBirdNerd, out!!

FEATURING: queenmotherbird (aka my mum!)

So, as you might already know if you are a kid from the Adelaide Hills, there’s been a LOT of rain and wind lately. Good if you’re a plant, not so good if you’re a bird… and in this case also not so good if you are an aviary.

As you could of guessed from the picture, our aviary got blown over by a huge gust of wind at around 11 this morning. And yep… we had a bird inside- a long time rosella resident by the name of Skittles (you may remember him from the naming ceremony on my blog a while ago). And the crazy thing is… we were going to take him to the vet today after I finished school! So… well, we were pretty sure he would have to be put down. We had him for ages, and he was flying a bit, but not enough. He could climb pretty well, but it was too dangerous to release him as he wasn’t ready to face the dangers of the outside world.

Anyway, when the aviary fell over, Skittles made his break for freedom, jumped out and took off, scampering into our neighbours property and was soon out of sight behind the rich undergrowth.

Where did he go? I have no idea… as soon as the weather clears up, I’ll go on a walk looking for him, but it’s doubtful we will find him and I just hope he’s ok… my parents spotted him briefly; apparently a magpie tried to swoop him, and Rosellas are territorial… we have got to hope that he wasn’t attacked and managed to find shelter and food.

Ok, that’s enough talking from me! Let’s hear from queenmotherbird…(warning, sorta cringy alert!!!)

queenmotherbird:

A Wing and a Prayer *I WARNED U!!!- QBN*

Today’s events have got me thinking about the part that fate, luck and coincidence play in the life and/or death of our feathered friends.

We’re yet to find the magical formula for why some birds will survive and others don’t make it, and it’s fair to say we are still learning.

From the freak accident of our magpie Malteaser, who was doing so well until he crashed into the aviary floor breaking both legs, to the little silvereye who wedged itself – to the point of no return – into a tiny crevice in the aviary.

We’ve been looking after Skittles for some time now, part in the hope of full recovery and part in the general busyness that comes with any mention of the vet (he had already been once). But, we had to bite the bullet this week (figuratively, and probably literally had fate/luck not intervened).

Skittles planned visit to the vet was cancelled yesterday when Kingfatherbird (AKA Dad- QBN) was called into work, and rescheduled to today…..as we now know bringing the awesomely squally and wild windy weather that tipped the 3m aviary and released Skittles into the hands of fate/luck/OMG!

Coincidental?

Journey on Skittles, Safe Travels – QBN’s Mother

Footnote; I TOLD U ITS CRINGY!!! hehehehhe. also, mum, first time I’ve ever heard u say OMG!!!!!

Ok, thats it from me! (and mum!) Cya next time!!! (if mum hasn’t scared u away hnehehehehe >:D) I’ll keep you updated on whether we find Skittles…

PLS LIKE AND SUBSCRIBE!!! 😉

QueenBirdNerd, out!!!

*mum says over and out*

As many of you already know, Spring is peak baby bird season! We have already received a number of calls from Fauna Rescue, but sadly we can’t manage to take many of them as we still have a Rosella (Skittles) in care. We did manage to take one baby magpie in (Ranga, named after where he was found; at the zoo slap bang in the orangutan cage) but sadly he died the first night. We think it was either because of the overall shock, or he had a blockage of some kind (RIP Ranga).

Ok, so basically Spring is my favourite season. It’s warm and sunny, it’s the season my birthday is in, and it’s the season of life where we get to look after heaps of ADORABLE baby birdies! I mean, what’s not to like!!!!

Spring is a great season for birds, especially nectivores, as this is when the flowers start to bloom (in case you don’t know what a nectivore is, well, they eat nectar. I know right, I never woulda guessed!) If you have a nectivore in care, make sure to fill the cage with heaps of bright flowers like a natural habitat, even if they haven’t quite learned to get the nectar from there themselves!!! (If you want to learn more about nectivore and other birds feeding habits, then hey, why not check out one of my earlier posts!)

Many of the birds (especially baby birds) we have in care need encouragement at first to start eating or drinking. It’s soooo cute when we have baby magpies, because when they need feeding, trust me, they’ll let you know!

Ok, so that’s basically it for this post! (sorry it was short) If you liked this post and want to see more like it, then stay tuned by hitting subscribe for more birdy nerdy stuffff!!! And if you have any suggestions for another blog post, then why not share your ideas on the comment section down below?

CYA LATER, POTATA!!!

The end!!!! (finally) 🙂

QBN

Hey BirdNerds! I’m sorry I kept you all hanging but I just couldn’t resist! *evil laughter* But finally the end to Phoenix’s story has come. SUSPENSE! Dun dun dun… Read on to find out what happened to him and if I kept my word not to split it up into another part…

Where was Phoenix? There was still no sign of him through the deep tangle of bushes and twining leaves and branches, no flash of feathery wings or tawny belly beaming proudly with a yellow spot that had grown over time (They are not called Yellow Wattlebirds for nothing)

I slowly breathed in and refused to let water leak out of my eyes, but couldn’t stop some pearling in the corners. I sniffed and wiped my eyes as they blurred, and looked up and-

-Phoenix was swooping down from a nearby tree excitedly, looking as though he had never left and worried us all.

“Phoenix!” I called joyfully, as he made his trademark dive-bomb and jackknife twist onto a little shrub with rather weary looking faded bottlebrush flowers hanging off it limply. He gave a halfhearted lick then gave up and just sat down calmly on it, feathers ruffled from his great escape.

It took about five attempts for us to show him where the food was, but he spotted it eventually and started licking greedily, acting like he hadn’t eaten for a month even though his rather plump belly didn’t help this illusion. He stopped licking after a few minutes, then paused, flew up a tree, and watched us curiously from above.

We knew he would be fine now, so we decided it was time to go, though we would check up on him regularly. I thought my grandparents would enjoy having him around, dive-bombing them and their guests, sitting up in a tree squawking like he owned the place, greedily licking at the last crusts of nectar… I sure enjoyed him. My grandpa scoffed at Phoenix, “He’s very plump” and “He’s not very smart”, but I could see the gleam in his eye and decided Phoenix would grow on him.

When we started to leave for the car, we found Phoenix sitting on it, fluffing up his wings and deciding this was a good place to sit. Actually, Phoenix thought everything was a good place to sit. If we had left him at our house, he probably would of tried to land on the cat, and that wouldn’t have ended well.

Phoenix lived the high life from then on, free nectar mix whenever he wanted, lots of “perches” to land on, humans to order around… but he sure didn’t seem to be getting any wilder. He was as tame as ever, perhaps more so, but at least now no cat with a murderous spark in its eye could chase him down and hunt him.

As I thought, Phoenix eventually made his mark on my grandfather, who seemed almost fond of him now.

For the next week, every time I checked in with my grandparents, Phoenix was fine. We stopped worrying because apparently he was always there, morning and night, unwilling to miss his nectar mix, and whenever I went over to my grandparents house I could always spot him in a nearby shrub, or flying down to greet me with vigour.

One day, my grandpa was picking me up from school, and one of the first questions I had was; “Hows Phoenix?”

His reply was unexpected; “I haven’t seen him” “He came down for his precious nectar mix at morning, but I haven’t spotted him since.”

The next few days, there were still no sightings of Phoenix. I was worried, but we checked all around the garden. No Phoenix, but no dead body either. What we reckoned had happened was that he had finally become a proper wild bird, maybe found a group and mate, and was eating all by himself.

Of course, we couldn’t tell for sure, and I was still scared he might be dead because it seemed rather sudden, but there was no real reason he would die. There was no dead body found, so we believed he had found a path in life, the path he was always meant to take, following the yellow brick road tirelessly, approaching the bright Technicolor swirl of freedom that lay ahead.

The Phoenix who rose from the ashes was reborn with a brand new life ahead of him.

Hey BirdNerds (again!) No, this time I’m not here to announce another part to Phoenix’s story. This was the last part, so no more waiting for the next part! You may have noticed the reference to the Wizard Of Oz in there, and no, its not cos I watched it 12 times on repeat, its cos I just finished reading Cathy Cassidy’s book, Sundae Girl. (Its a great book, by the way) Yeah… See you next time! Maybe with Skittles’s story (My Rosella, named by Ambybirb) Until then, Byeeeeeeeee!!!

Is there an end to this story?! Yes! But when will it come…

QBN

Hey Bird Nerds! The moment you have all been waiting for… the end to Phoenix’s story!!! Sorry for keeping you guys hanging, but look on the bright side! At least I didn’t write a part FOUR. At least I’m not THAT evil… or am I? Read this blog to find out!!! QueenBirdNerd 🙂

Soon the cat started getting even more involved. Phoenix had started swooping down and scouring the rough soil for trails of ants out on patrol, scuttling past unaware of the bird-shaped shadow behind him until he stabbed at them with his beak. Little did he know he was also being closely followed and watched, by the cat, tensing her slender muscles to get ready to POUNCE.

Luckily I yelled out just in time, and the cat jumped, turned tail, and fled to the sanctuary of the bushes. But it had shaken us up. (Phoenix didn’t seem worried a jot, because he didn’t understand not all creatures were friendly. He was living in his own little world of bliss, accepting each and every animal in his wake with opened arms. Actually, wings)

We knew we had to do something about it, but what? We couldn’t keep Phoenix inside, and the cat had been an outdoor cat her whole life! It would be cruel to lock her up in the house when we knew she would yearn for tough bark and gleaming grass and the cool whistle of the wind outside.

We eventually decided we had to move Phoenix away from the danger of the cat, but close enough to civilization so he would still hold the luxury of fresh nectar mix everyday. The best place to move him seemed to be my grandparents’ house, because they had no pets around, so no more danger of being hunted down by a pet.

We called our grandparents to ask if we could move him there, and if they could feed him as well, and they agreed. So that was sorted!!!

The next morning, I woke up excited. This was Phoenix’s big release day!!! (Well, Phoenix’s release day take 2) We had to put Phoenix in the small cage for the drive. Phoenix certainly didn’t like that! If he disliked being put back in the aviary, that was nothing compared to how he felt being cooped up in THIS cage. He flailed and stared up at me reproachfully, as if I was wholly to blame for this confinement.

When we arrived at my grandparents house, I blew out a sigh of relief. Phoenix could finally stop battering the cage with his fluffed-up wings, because soon he would be back out in the whole wide world again.

I hooked the food onto the side of the little cage, and tried to get Phoenix to register where it was. But he was too worked up to care. He’ll find it anyway, I thought, and with that, I swung the catch and opened the cage.

Phoenix flew up and out straight away, wings beating furiously. He circled the sky slowly, then in a flash, dived into the branches of a tree, blurring and mingling with the deep shades of brown and green until I couldn’t spot him anymore.

“Can you see him?” I called. My parents shook their heads nervously. I looked around all the trees but I still couldn’t spot him.

I waited five minutes. My heart started beating faster. I waited 10 minutes, then fifteen. Still no Phoenix.

“It’s ok” my mum reassured me. “He’s probably just exploring”

20 minutes

“Mum” My throat is dry and has a hint of a rasp to it. “Phoenix doesn’t know where his food is”

“He’ll be fine” mum said, though I think she was starting to worry a little herself. “He’s knows how to eat from flowers… I’m sure he will be fine.

WILL he be fine though? Possibilities run through my head. What if he can’t find any native flowers? What if he flies to fly away and can’t find his way back? What if he tries to search the road for ants but end up being squashed by a car?

These thoughts crowd my head, and I try to blot them out, but it’s hard.

Will Phoenix come back? Will he really be fine?

What if I never see him again?

Hey, QueenBirdNerd here… I guess I really AM that evil. Why? You guessed it… there is yet ANOTHER part to this story! Part 4 will come out soon. Sorry!!! You are probably thinking: WHY DOES THERE HAVE TO BE ANOTHER PART TO THIS STORY! Well, here are the answers; 1. I’m evil 2. Dinners ready so I have to go! Cya!!! QueenBirdNerd

Whew! This is one long story 🙂

QBN

The day had finally arrived. Release day.

We had made the final decision to release him at our house, and we put the dog and cat inside so there would be no problems. I was pretty nervous, because even though Phoenix was an adult now, he didn’t show many signs of independence, still screeching at us for nectar mix even though the bright flowers in his cage were clearly visible against the metal bars of the aviary. He also seemed very tame, still flapping determinedly to land on my head whenever I came in with him.

We decided to do a soft release with him, which is what we did with Mondo (read more about Mondo my New Holland Honeyeater in one of my earlier blogs). A soft release is when you set the bird free, but you leave out food and water for it until it eventually learns how to do it by itself and flies off and finds a mate (like we think Mondo did)

So we prepared his food and water and hooked it to the side of the aviary. Then I reached out and opened the door to the aviary…

When I opened the door, Phoenix was clinging on to it, but he didn’t quite seem to know what to do once it was open. (It’s funny, with some birds, they really want to get out of the aviary, but as soon as I open the door, they stay IN for ages until they realize that they are being released! I walked a few paces backwards, though, and Phoenix came flying right out after me! He turned and flew up the nearest tree! He finally realized that he was free!!!!!!

Phoenix was leaping between trees, joyfully licking everything he came across, including branches, leaves, and then he flew down, divebombed me, landed on my shoulder, and licked my EYE!

I guided him to the food, and then we stood and watched for a while as he flapped around. We were convinced he would be FINE.

Over the next few days, Phoenix remained as tame as ever. He would be there to greet me most mornings, pleading for food, and whenever one of us came to stock up his water or nectar mix, he started practicing a new hobby: dive bombing. He would stare straight at one of us, then start flying fast straight towards us, then at the last second, make a hairpin turn and flap onto one of the branches instead, though if you held a arm out, he would sometimes land with a thud onto it (which he frequently did to me) My mum was super scared about this happening to her, so whenever he showed any signs of flying towards her, she would duck, though one day it backfired, because Phoenix thought her back looked like the comfiest landing cushion ever!

It wasn’t just us he would dive bomb. One day one of my friends came over, (Ambybirb) and it tried flying at her, but luckily didn’t land on her, though that day my alpacas were out, and it decided that that would be a great place to land! (the alpacas freaked out, and when Phoenix later landed on my shoulder, they stared at me with wide eyes as if I had been holding not a bird, but a ticking bomb balanced precariously on my shoulder.

But we had a worry. Since Phoenix was so tame, he would be a easy target for a hunter to catch. Especially since he had developed a new habit of swooping down on the ground, looking for ants. It wasn’t the dog we were worried about, it was the cat.

Grey pelt barely visible even between the rich green and brown shades of the grass and trees, she relentlessly stalked down Phoenix and stared up at him hungrily as he hopped from tree to tree merrily, no idea that danger lay below. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that the cat was just waiting to pounce on a yummy bird casserole.

We took to putting Phoenix back in the aviary every day when it was twilight, but we often saw the cat pressing up right against the aviary, eyes gleaming in the light until we shooed her away. And it was getting more of a struggle to put Phoenix in the aviary each night, because his new tactic was to fly up into the trees whenever we showed signs of being ready to capture him.

We had to do something, because who knows what could happen when our family was out at school/work/shopping! We didn’t want Phoenix to end up in the cats stomach as lunch…

Hey guys, that was part 2 of Phoenix’s story. Sorry for keeping you hanging… but I’m going to do it again! Part 3 to Phoenix’s super long tale will hopefully come out on Sunday, if not Monday. Mwah ha ha. Feel free to comment and like (or dislike 😦 and answer the quiz! See you soon, QueenBirdNerd

A Phoenix rises from the ashes…

QBN

A few days before Malteaser died (look in my last bird blog to get more info about Malteaser my magpie), we had been called about a baby wattlebird by Fauna Rescue, but we had said we couldn’t take it because we already had Malty. But then sadly Malty didn’t make it (RIP Malty) and the baby wattlebird still had no one to look after him, so we came and picked him up.

I opened the box, and I could see a fluffy adorable mini wattlebird peering up at me, making the cutest little chitt-chitt-chitt noises.

I decided to name him Phoenix because (remember the quote at the top of the page? if not, go back and read it)

We left him in my room in the box that night, and then I think we put him in the little cage for a while, but soon he mastered that and started trying to get out, so we decided to move him to the aviary, and as soon as he got THERE he was unstoppable, hopping around all over the place, enjoying this new sense of freedom.

It was pretty easy feeding him, wattlebirds are nectivores and insectivores, and we had a teat pipette to feed him with. He was very greedy, and would suck determinedly at the nectar mix until he was full, and then he would sit and digest for a while, then leap up and on the move again.

He had absolutely no injuries we could see on him, so he must of been one of those babies that tried to fledge too early, or was simply lost or unwanted by his mother, though I think wattlebirds leave their young to fend for themselves at a surprisingly young age.

Phoenix quickly started growing up, and developed new hobbies. Whenever it was feeding time, he would let us know by beating against the walls of the aviary wildly chirping whenever we came outside. And as soon as I came IN, he would launch himself at me, wings flapping, and land on me. He would grab the nectar mix from the teat pipette/pop stick ferociously, but he didn’t seem to know he was meant to suck, not bite.

We tried putting some native flowers in so he could have a go at eating by himself, but we rarely saw him venture towards them, preferring to shriek his head off at us until we fetched the teat pipette for him to suck from.

Around this time, we got ANOTHER call from Fauna Rescue. Surprisingly, it was another wattlebird! We pondered about whether to take it, though, because wattlebirds are extremely bossy and territorial, and we weren’t sure how Phoenix would react to another bird in his precious aviary.

In the end, we decided to take it, because since Phoenix was young, we hoped he wouldn’t be a bully if they grew up together for a while.. We put the little one in the smaller cage at first, then put the smaller cage in the aviary so Phoenix could get used to him. Phoenix seemed OK with the bird, in fact was ignoring him completely!!! Eventually I went in the aviary and took the bird out and placed it next to Phoenix to see what he would do.

At first he kept on ignoring it, but I kept watching and saw the little bird start to leap around. He made his way straight to Phoenix and then, tried to hop straight over him but landed straight on top of him, sending them both crashing towards the ground!!!!! Luckily I managed to catch the little guy, and Phoenix was big enough to get a good landing by himself.

It wasn’t a good start for them, but they grew to grudgingly get along (Phoenix could be a bit snappy at mealtimes if I didn’t feed him first, and they would cheep to each other with their little chitt-chitt-chitt noises)

We never properly named little guy. We would call him by many names though, from simply referring to him as “the little bird” to mostly calling him “Little bro”, and whenever we were calling him that, Phoenix was called “Big bro”

Sadly, as the summer progressed with Catastrophic fire danger days and desperately hot weather, “Little bro” died of heatstroke.

I can’t say Phoenix seemed to miss his temporary little brother very much, but the cage must have seemed a lot emptier and quieter without him.

We worried about Phoenix getting heatstroke too, but he remained visibly healthy, tough, and as bossy as usual. He was almost an adult now, and was FINALLY starting to sometimes suck at flowers and nibble at ants on his own. The only problem was, we didn’t know where his birthplace was because the people who had found him and taken him to the vet didn’t leave any details.

We decided we would just have to release him at home…

Hey Bird Nerds, thanks for reading, (If you still are) I have decided to break this story up into two bits because its so long, Part two (The Release) will hopefully come this week, if not, next week. Take care with the coronavirus, hope everyone is ok. Her Royal Highness, QueenBirdNerd, signing off*

*Of course, I’m not actually the Queen, but I am queen of my own “royal” blog! :p