Here's Abby, banging her hooded dish around. It's the one I put her pellets in (which, of course, she never eats!) because she can't toss them out of it so easily. Or so I thought! When I used to put pellets in her round, metal dishes, she'd gleefully stick her beak in there, and swish her head back and forth, sending pellets all over the room! Ok, foiled her by buying the crock. Nope, it might take her a bit longer, but if she's in the mood, she just takes big beakfuls of pellets and flings them. Or, when tiring of that, let's see if we can break the darn dish off! You should see the joy in her eyes when she's being naughty!

When I first got Abby, Simon would love to play on her playperch on top of her cage, whenever she was safely IN her cage, that is! Here he was this time, though, caught between what he considered a rock and a hard place. That darn (in Simon's eyes) Mohawk flew over and made him jump off the top perch, and Simon wants to get away from him, but he doesn't want to get too close to Abby, either!

Here's Fearless Mohawk sitting by his buddy, Abby. Does it bother him that she's so much bigger than he? Not one whit! Note that feather of hers is out of place even then, shortly after she came to live in the Madhouse!

Abby is so sweet, she even shares her seed dish! Mohawk is taking advantage. He only gets seeds as a treat now and then, unlike Miss Picky who would starve rather than eat pellets, so he didn't come up for air til he'd had his fill!

Please note that whenever birds of different sizes are together, accidents could happen very easily. Always be watchful, no matter how well you think you know your birds. I am careful to keep a close eye on my birds when they are together, no matter how gentle I think Abby is, she is so much larger than the other birds. Them being close together is not an every day occurence.

Late 1998: An elderly aunt of mine gave me a plastic plaque off her wall when she had to leave her apartment to live with some relatives. It is a textured 3D rendition of a sulfur crested cockatoo. Not totally exact, but pretty good. I hung it behind Abby's cage. Strangely eough, my aunt had named this bird Gabby! Anyway, Abby really likes Gabby. She raises her crest to him, hollers at him, and does the cockatoo dance to him. She acts the same way if she looks in a mirror.

2/99 Abby was so funny today. Getting the little seedfreak to eat anything else is like pulling teeth. Today, instead of giving her the usual corn or mixed vegetables, we put in some brussel sprouts, fresh green beans and pea pods. I sat at the table for my lunch, and watched her reaction as my son put the dish in her cage. She tipped her head WAY over, eyed the contents, and looked up at me. Stared me down one way, then another, peeking from one side of a big toy and then the other. Then she climbed closer to where I was sitting, and just gave me the stare. I finally caved in, as she wouldn't even go near the dish. I added some corn to the dish. Then she went down to it, and plop, plop, plop. Out came the intrusions to her meal, flung out of her dish. This is not the first time this has happened. She does this every time we dare to give her something she doesn't want!

New in the summer of 99 - Our family room has turned into a birdy playground.