Introducing Sydney

A few days ago, I was contacted by somebody who found out I have birds. His mother recently passed away and left him with four birds--three cockatiels and one lovebird. He wasn't asking me to take them, but asked if I knew anybody who was interested. I told him I would spread the word about them. (Anybody in Louisville want three cockatiels?) I hadn't planned on taking any of them, but I could not get the lovebird out of my mind. I decided I'd take her.

This is Sydney. She is a peach-faced lovebird. Her exact age is unknown, but she is at least three years old.

When I picked her up last night, I asked what her name was. The answer was, "She doesn't have one." I got in the car and the song that was playing on the radio was "Sydney (I'll Come Running)" by Brett Dennen. I jokingly said, "Oh, we could name her Sydney." But then I glanced back at her and realized that the name totally fits her. She looks like a Sydney. And so, she became Sydney. (Sydney is also a good name in case she ends up being a boy.)

Sydney came to me in a very small cage, no more than 12"x12"x18". She has two dowel perches, one toy that looks very old, two hooded dishes, and a good amount of seed in her food dish. The cage is very dirty in spots and had twist-ties on the two food doors. The twist-ties had been chewed on to expose the wires. I replaced them with new twist-ties last night as a quick, temporary fix.

Her cage: it looks bigger in this picture than it actually is

She's not overly friendly, but she's not terribly unfriendly either. If I stick my hand in her cage and don't get too close, she's fine. But if my hand does get too close, she starts squawking and trying to get away. I don't know when the last time she was out of her cage was, but I suspect it was before her owner died.

Here are a couple pictures of the dirty spots in her cage (as always, you can click on any picture and make them bigger--I made these small for those who don't want to see lots of bird poop in such detail):

She tends to cling to the bars of her cage rather than sitting on her perches. I moved one of the perches to a higher spot (to where it is in the picture of her cage) and she will sit on it a little.

I have a lot of work to do with this girl. We'll be doing a vet visit. I have to buy her a new cage. She needs new food and water dishes. Especially a water dish (the guy I got her from said she sticks her head in her dish and makes a mess...obviously she needs a bigger and better water dish). She needs some new toys. I'll probably have to teach her to eat healthy foods.