one legged Black Bird , and he is tough

[ralph]

tougher than the rest of his crowd that numbers maybe 20 healthy looking big birds . My wife feeds these and whatever birds that show up , she'll go through a half loaf of cheap bread or a pile of crumbled potato or corn chips a couple times a day . The one legged guy though flies in with the crowd and claims a slice of bread for himself and he aggressively defends it as he is the owner . He stands in the center of that slice of bread as he eats and won't let any other birds have any of it . The other birds are scared of him and stay away for the most part . Pretty funny to watch !!

[millergrovesue]

Guess he's learned he has to be tough to survive. Interesting.

[ralph]

that's what I figure Sue , he just toughened up to survive . No idea how he got to be one legged as he might be like that since hatching or maybe a kid with a BB gun or slingshot .

[millergrovesue]

I see an occasional 1 legged bird. As you said, who knows how they got that way but those legs are pretty fragile things.

In the late 70s through the early 90s I raised canaries. No matter how many hundreds I banded I was always nervous doing it for fear of breaking a leg. Since I used closed bands it had to be done when they were very young before the ankle grew too big to fit the band over. Never lost a leg but it's probably because of my hyper caution.

I still miss my canaries. They were fun to raise and wonderful to hear.

[ralph]

my wife has a love bird and has had 3 lovebirds , all single and in in cages for overnight or when we are gone . The one we have now is very nice , almost like a dog , knows his name , comes when called . He is 15 years old since being a featherless hatchling . Wife fed him with a syringe . . He has never been clipped but he can't fly anymore . I think that he is just getting old because he seems healthy , eats a full range of veg and seed , supplements , etc , hamburger . I mess with him and he loves it as he just keeps coming back to me just like a baby or little kid keeps coming back for a little more . He also likes my wife as she is nicer , rubs his neck and pets him . He is neat .

[millergrovesue]

They are really pretty birds but that squawk goes right through my head. Noisy little things.

For many years I wanted an African Grey but was never willing to make the commitment a bird like that requires. All in all I'm glad I never got one. Two dogs and a cat are plenty diversion in the house.