Thursday, March 31, 2011

PICKY PICKY

I wish I could figure out the pattern to Timothy's plucking behavior.  With each new feather emergence, Timothy lets his feathers grow a little longer....albeit a fraction more at a time, but at this rate I will take any improvement.  Then, when they reach some "magical" length, he can stand it no longer and then he goes at it like there is no tomorrow.  For example, when I first adopted him, he wouldn't let his tail feathers grow but just a wee bit before biting them off.  Dare I say this last growth he let them mature to about 1" in length before attacking them like some foreign alien.  Since he is letting them grow longer each time, there is obviously no set length that freaks him out or he would chew them off at the same point each time. 
Overall, as can be seen from the picture above, his confidence level has increased quite a bit.  He is coming out onto his deck regularly now and going back in when I ask him to "go to perch."  I have added a skewer to his cage to hold some of his favorite veggies.  He loves it.  The journey with Timothy is a slow one, but not void of constant joy and accomplishments.  Slow does not mean boring or uneventful.  Quite the contrary.  Life with Timothy is one I wouldn't want trade with anyone.  I love my little man!

3 comments:

  1. Timmy, Auntie Sherri says you are too handsome to do the picky, picky.

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  2. Yep, picking can be a mystery. I've noticed with Steve that whenever he gets scared (like last night when I banged into the play tree and part of it fell off with a bang), he began picking at his down feathers. He's had a great long (several weeks) period of no appreciable picking and increasing confidence. Then he gets a set-back like this and can't seem to help himself. But the intervals are starting to get longer and he seems to be recovering faster and not regressing all the way to the beginning. So....just a lot of patience seems to be the best remedy. He is so very cute and I'm very glad Timmie's gaining more confidence!

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  3. Shannon thanks for the reminder that these boys, despite temporary setbacks, don't regress to the birds they once were! Thanks be to God for small miracles....I'll take them!

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