Digby's Improvements

Digby has come a long way since I've brought him home. When I first got him, he was shy and very cautious. I could towel him and get him out of his cage after the first couple weeks. I really didn't like doing that. At first, I would carry him in the towel to his t-perch, and we would spend about ten or fifteen minutes getting him to step up from the perch to the towel draped over my arm. He picked up on the "step up" command quickly, but was very careful about it and would only step from the perch to the towel and back again. He would only sit on the perch and watch us if we just let him be.

Now, though, he is becoming quite outgoing and is finally accepting us as his flock, especially my mom and me. He will gladly sit on my arm or, if I let him, my shoulder. If we are sitting at the kitchen table, he'll jump down from his t-perch to the table and will wander around, sometimes coming to sit on me. Now when I take him out of his cage, I still have to use a towel to get him out, but he will step onto the towel while I take him out of the cage rather than me toweling him. If his cage were big enough for me to put my arm in, I wouldn't even need to do that.

He has also discovered the joys of the iPad through the power of lovebird filled YouTube videos (this is his favourite). If one of us is using an iPad and he is out, he will walk right to the iPad to look for his birdie friends. He also likes to watch Snowball the cockatoo videos and the "Whip My Hair" bird video. He's also learning to appreciate music. He likes Snow Patrol and Train. He really hates "Time" by Pink Floyd. He also likes "Single Ladies" by Beyonce (and it will end up being in my head for days after I let him listen to it).

He knows who his people are--primarily me, as well as my mom. He's still learning to trust my dad. He is okay with my little brother too, but doesn't listen to him as well as he does my mom or me. Tonight, my niece wanted to hold him, so I let her, but he kept jumping back to me.

Despite these things, he still has a long way to go. I cannot hold him on my arm if I have short sleeves on, and I can't hold him on my hand. If I try to do either of those, he bites me. I'm sure with some more time, he'll get better about these things.