Baby Pictures

The pictures below were taken this morning, when both subject and photographer were somewhat sleepy.








The Vasa coloring is hard to capture. None of these photos really show what her feathers look like, although they do capture quite accurately her slightly rumpled condition at the moment. She is not fully feathered yet, but she is getting there. In the next few months she will lose that babyish look and begin to look less threadbare.

It should be noted that she was most definitely NOT happy about being photographed... hence the pissed off look.

The Vasa has Landed.

Imelda arrived at Denver International Airport at 09:35 yesterday. She received a clean bill of health from the veterinarian, and by 14:45 we were headed back to Black Vatican City. She was the largest of the babies, weighing 410 grams, which is considered medium-high for a Vasa parrot of her age, but she is a big girl, so the vet said she was not in need of any special dietary consideration at this time.

She was silent on the ride home, not making any noise until we reached Flock Hall. Even then she didn't really squawk - her vocalizations sound more like a whine. It is definitely a baby noise, sounding kind of like the hatchling dinosaurs in Jurassic Park.

This is not a picture of Imelda, but a relative of hers named Maddie. G Fresh did take some video and stills of her on her arrival and I will be taking more stills tonight, but last night after we got home and got her into her new cage, we were both exhausted, so no photos are ready to put up on the web yet. She was operating on Florida time, and I got up at 05:00, so by 20:00 we were both asleep. When I return home today after volleyball I promise she will have a proper photo shoot.

Ajax took it all in stride. They are currently housed in different rooms, but they can certainly hear each other clearly. He was his usual chatty self this morning and she was very attentive to his noises. She didn't make a peep as I filled her food and water this morning, but she did watch me closely and then lean forward to get some head scratches when I was done.

If you are interested in details on her species (Coracopsis vasa) you can click here. Incidentally, the baby pictured at the bottom of that page is Imelda - the pic was taken about 2 months ago at the breeder's facility in Florida.

More info and pictures can be found at Old World Aviaries, The Feather Tree, Featherlust Farms and Aves International.

Peek-A-Boo!

I'm not even going to pretend to be objective here - the following pictures are of the cutest baby bird EVER! This is Imelda, my Greater Vasa parrot. She is 13 weeks old in these pics - they were taken at the breeder's facility in Florida this past weekend by another Vasa owner from the bird club I belong to (the Rocky Mountain Society of Aviculture - very nice people, who do great work for birds of all kinds).

In the first two pics, she is playing peek-a-boo under a paper towel. It just doesn't get any more adorable than that...





Feel free to adore the infant queen, and gift her with gold, frankincense and myrrh - although I am told she would prefer grapes, corn, and cherries. She is scheduled to arrive at the Black Vatican sometime in August. I'm thinking of asking for paternity leave...

New Babies

Over on the Flock Hall 2.0 blog, I asked everyone to introduce themselves - and they have, for the most part. The human and nonhuman members of the family that we had when we signed the lease have been introduced - but we have recently acquired a new member, and we are going to get another in the near future...

Much like she was taken in and adopted herself, Squid has adopted a pygmy hedgehog. He came with the name "Kitsch" but I think Squidly has other names in mind. I'm sure she will do an intro post for him on Flock Hall 2.0 very soon (hint hint).

I am also getting another baby - a Greater Vasa parrot hen - toward the end of July, assuming the landlord doesn't object (he better not object; I'm having some plumbing and carpentry improvements done to the house out of my own pocket!). Because they are somewhat rare as pets, I've posted these pics of Vasas so you can get an idea of what they look like:



She was born on April 20th (hee hee; 4-20) and she is just about weaned now. As soon as she arrives and gets settled into her new home, I'll take some pics of her and post them.