Selfie Sunday

Mango is enjoy our beautiful (currently, 70*) Sunday outside! 

Happy Easter from us!!

Birdy Kong

We've had little luck with getting Mango to play with many toys. He tends to just want to sit on our shoulder or a chair nearby and just hang out. However, Calie recently bought Mango a plastic ball that has piqued his interest pretty thoroughly. I refer to it as the 'Birdy Kong' due to its similarity to the red rubber kong toys you can give dogs. We fill the ball with extra confetti paper and wrap a few pieces of nuts in parchment paper. They sort of look like wrapped candies. Mango then pushes this ball around on the ground pulling out paper trying to get to the nuts. Disclaimer: we definitely presented him nuts in wrapped paper for a few weeks before hand, so now he expects all paper-wrapped things to contain food. Anyway, here are some pictures of him having at it.

One nut devoured, working on the next

Almost got the next one...

Yoink!

Rubber ducky, you're the one! You make bath time so much fun!

I mean, in this case rubber ducky = Brian, but still - bath time is a favorite!

We have noticed he is very particular about WHEN he will take baths though - not too early in the morning, not too late in the afternoon. After 10am and before 3pm though - and you can barely keep him from flying into the shower without you!

Johnny Appleseed

I received some apples and caramels from my office this week. Mango decided they were for him! 

Brian and I were both surprised when he jumped on the counter and walked over to the box. He tested the stem first, then he dove in! 

It amazes us that he a) knew it was something he could eat and b) figured out how to eat it without us cutting it up. I mean, I know they do this in the wild - but he isn't a very "beaky" bird - as in we don't often see him try and take bits of foods we offer him before we cut them up. 

Does this count as birdie enrichment??

Once you pop the fun don't stop!

Mango is spoiled, and gets (healthy) treats and snacks from us - so I thought I would share one he loves!

Popcorn!!

We have an air popper, so it's not covered in the bad (read: good) stuff like butter and salt - but he loves crunching it with his beak - and we love the beard he gets! He could give ol' Mr. Claus a run for his money somedays :)

(He also loves walnuts, almonds, dried fruits, pom seeds and coconut - which are all part of his everyday diet, too)

A Whole New World!

The past few weeks have been quite exciting for Mango!

He is now an outdoor bird!

We have a smaller cage now, that we use to bring Mango outside with us. Here he is for the first time enjoying the new deck!

We're hoping he gets some of the benefits of fresh air and sunlight to help him with his lack of feathers. He doesn't stay out too long, and not in direct sunlight - but he really does seen to enjoy it! He just seems to enjoy being around with us as we do yard work, BBQ with friends and family or relax (and make commentary or laugh with (at) us!). 

How to combat your household seed thrower

Since we've been giving Mango his new diet, we've noticed a particular issue. When he was on a pellet diet, the crumbs just drop straight down. Now that he is on a pureed sweet potato and seed diet (in the afternoons) he has become ballistic nightmare. Sweet potato covered seed projectiles cover the surrounding area. We came up with an idea however that has helped cut down on the amount of wall-washing we perform on a daily basis. We went to Menards and bought a piece of plexi-glass and hung it with some adjustable links on the side of the cage where he eats. Now he can safely (mostly) test his seed whipping ability without plastering our walls. We just have to take off the plexi-glass occasionally and wash it.