Tea with the Senegal

I haven't looked back to see the precise date of the entry but early on I wrote a blog post called "Breakfast with the Budgies." Much has changed since that post. Among other things, we are down to 1 bird from a maximum of 4 and I no longer eat breakfast.  Odie has been moulting lately and has been both cranky and weird.  He's been nippy which is understandable as the new sheathed-feathers poke through his skin and hurt if we catch them the wrong way. He bit Richard's arm a while ago. He has been quieter than usual and, if I were to anthropomorphize even further, I'd say he was sulking.

I'm not much good at selfies but you get the idea.

I was out at a friend's working on a wood project for two days over the long weekend.  Odie didn't have much to do with Richard but when I came home Odie called me  5 times asking for head scratches.  Now that's weird. In case you're wondering I've taught him a particular whistle when he wants my attention.  Some people think I'm nuts but I find it more pleasant than having him squawk.  When he whistles I go over to the cage and he puts his head against the bars so I can scratch.  Sometimes our scratching sessions last for several minutes while he cheeps quietly.

I've been saying for some time that if Odie and I could get to a place where I could move him around the house he could hang out with me in my study and he'd get a lot more attention.  I'm a bit of a slow learner.  Richard often sits in the dining room with his computer where Odie can see him.  Today I decided to take my computer into the dining room and sit beside Odie's cage while I watched one of my woodworking videos and had my tea. When Odie naps in the afternoon he sits in the middle of his cage on the large square perch and he was there when I sat down with my computer and my tea.  I pulled a chair up close to the cage and he came up to the front and fixed one eye on the screen.  We watched for half an hour like that.  Every once in a while I'd look over at him and he would blink.  He didn't ask for head scratches.

As I'm writing this I'm back in my study where I can concentrate better and all is quiet in the bird cage. I don't know if having tea with Odie regularly will make any difference to the way we get along but it's not a hard thing for me to do and it certainly can't hurt.  I'll keep you posted.