You know how the saying goes … your pet finds you. Well, we have a WHOLE new meaning to that.
On Friday afternoon I looked out onto the deck and saw this beautifully strange bird. We get a lot of birds living out where we do, but this one was a vibrant green and yellow. It looked more like a parakeet than a wild bird. So I watched it for awhile, grabbed my camera and took a few photos from inside. The poor thing didn’t move much from the railing, so I opened the door to see how close I could get. I took a few photos and then stuck my hand about three inches from it and the bird just looked at me. I went back inside, grabbed some wild bird seed and put that and some water in a dish for her on the deck. Then it struck me … it is supposed to get down to freezing tonight, not to mention all the predators in the area, and this is someone’s pet.
I found a decent sized box in the garage, ushered her into it and brought her inside. Then I started sending emails/FB posts to the neighborhood to see if someone lost their pet.
Saturday rolled around and we hadn’t heard anything back from anyone and we realized we needed to get her a cage. As I was checking the FB post to see if anyone responded, I saw someone put up a post advertising a free bird cage. I ran out and grabbed it and then we headed to the pet store to get some toys, food and to talk to someone about how to care for a parakeet.
We weren’t sure if it was a girl or a boy and all the Star Wars names you could think of started flying around. Anakin. Captain Rex. Asooka. *sigh* I live with boys.
After learning she was a girl, I told the boys they needed a good name. A name not related to Star Wars. And after Carter listened to me coo’ing at her, he said we should name her Sweetie Pie. And it was perfect.
So meet Sweetie Pie. She was scared in the box and always quiet. Once we got her into a bird cage she was still a little out of sorts. Now when we are all in the room together and talking, she is singing her sweet song to contribute to our family, our family of five as Carter pointed out. She seems to sing more when the boys are home and playing, loving their chaotic noise. I haven’t tried to handle her yet – I figured I would give her the week to get comfortable first and then slowly start to put my hand in the cage to get used to. But she has shown rapid improvement from being scared and not moving, to flitting around her cage and singing her song. So I am hopeful :)
In the meantime I cringe every time I get an email, hoping it is not her owner. The boys love her and I have to admit I am even enamored. There is something so sweet about hearing a bird song.
And here she is … FINALLY ANOTHER GIRL IN OUR HOUSE:
