This is what Harley did last night — clearly I was too slow tending to his snack needs, so he hung upside down on his Art Project for awhile to emphasize how much he needed food:

And today, he totally leeeeeaned me around the kitchen so he could explore. Since he's already pretty much demolished the cereal box on the top of the refrigerator, this morning he ended up in the cabinet. Yes, you heard that right: in the cabinet.

The 3 3/4 inches on top of the can of tomatoes is plenty big enough for a bird to climb into, sample the oatmeal box, and chew up quite a bit of the pasta box and four elbow noodles.

Oh yeah, I think he's feeling better.

Despite the 19 degree weather, I took Harley to the vet today, who confirmed over all the barking and growling that he's doing well. We're supposed to continue to keep him quiet for another week — so I'll have to be quicker than I was last night in providing easy snacks. The best news is the vet said she'd try to take an x-ray without using anesthesia, if we decide he still needs one later.

I'll be taking Harley back to the vet on Thursday to check on his leg, but he's been feeling well enough lately to completely take advantage of our worry. He spent most of the weekend perched on our fingers, leeeeeaning us around the apartment, so we could take him exploring everywhere. Here he is perched on Bruce's hand, happily chewing up the box of Sticks Of Butter Walkers Shortbread.

[I just had to point out that Walkers has a whole line of "Weight Watchers" products. What is that — sticks of margarine?]

Harley spent quite a bit of time exploring things both on and on top of the refrigerator. He decided that was the Only Place To Be for most of the weekend, which got to be a bit trying after awhile. But since he was gripping our fingers with both feet, we took that as a good sign, and indulged him. Here he is after he climbed up on top of the microwave oven a few times, and discovered the box of Joe's O's.

(Human breakfast cereal is a slightly better snack for a bird than Sticks Of Butter Walkers Shortbread, but Harley wasn't after the food, only the chewy boxes.)

On a related note, Harley was very good about taking his medicine when we mixed the drops in a spoonful of juice. Obviously, now he will only drink juice if we feed it to him from a spoon. Obviously. Everything is better when your human holds it for you.

This evening, Harley "helped" me fold the laundry. This mostly entails me holding items up for him to screech at. Underpants are particularly popular. Who am I to question this?

While he is still limping, and he's been less active today than yesterday, I think he's feeling a little better. He tried to climb up onto the laundry basket, and when I helped him up there, he turned around and around on the edge a few times. It was hard for him to do this, but he managed — and he couldn't have done it yesterday.

Fingers crossed.

Harley still gets Night Time Scritches on the towel rack in the bathroom (click to pop up a photo), but particularly when Bruce is home, he also gets Loves On The Bed. I can give Harley Loves, too, but not so much at bed time, and not so much when Bruce is home. (His feathers are very soft, and smell very good.)

Try to ignore the small spit ball in front of Harley's beak. (I cropped out the really big ones, and the partially-chomped dehydrated Just Pea. Talk about crumbs in bed!)

Last night, as Harley ran across the bed to get into the proper Position For Loves, we realized that he was limping. Later, he let me place him directly on his Sleepy Perch, instead of climbing around the cage on his own. And this morning, it was clear that he was favoring his right leg. Oh, he still climbed down from his perch on the stove to 1) steal tasty seeds from the Finsters' food dish, 2) steal corn from the Finsters' other food dish, 3) eat drink some bok choy, 4) throw some knives around, and 5) drive me crazy. But despite his activity, he was still putting as little weight on his right leg as he could.

So we put him in his travel cage, stuffed it into a duffel bag complete with an extra towel for insulation and a heating pad warmed up a bit (it was 12 degrees F outside at the time), and took him to the vet. She poked and prodded him for awhile, and decided it probably wasn't a bone break. So she sent us home with three days' worth of Metacam®, an NSAID (Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory) intended for veterinary use. If he doesn't seem better when the meds are done, we may have to bring him back to get an X-ray, which is a big deal for a bird since they'd have to anesthetize him. Fingers crossed.

So for the rest of the day, Harley got extra cheese, snacks held by hand, rides everywhere, drinks on demand, and quite a bit of extra attention. As if that were possible. And while he's still favoring that right leg, by mid-afternoon he was comfortable enough with his owie to stretch it out, and he's done that at least twice since then. Phew!

We can't figure out what caused the injury, but we're keeping an eye out. It probably happened while he was hunting for snacks. He probably wouldn't strain himself for anything less.

Here are two more photos from the Popcorn Event. I love how the popcorn gets stuck all over Harley when he eats it. We must have a lot of static electricity in this place. Yummy:

The caption to this photo is "Are you looking at ME?"

The other night we had the perfect combination of Harley, popcorn, static electricity, and the new camera. I have more photos that show off the birdy goodness even more. But take a close look at this one. Take a look at that eye:

That's a nictitating membrane! I didn't even know birds had them!

Awesome.

In the pet parrot world, a "foot toy" is a toy that a bird picks up and plays with — it balances on one foot while holding the toy in the other foot. Usually, "playing" entails destroying. Although Harley is generally considered a medium-sized parrot, he seems to prefer smaller foot toys, and he doesn't seem to like to work very hard. No hard pine for him (although I want to try making some very thin slices); he prefers softer material like balsa or vines. He is also pretty fickle; he'll play with a toy once, and then won't be interested in it again. This means I have to get to test out all different kinds of toys and toy-making parts.

This woven wicker spiral started out life three times this size. Harley liked a dainty third of it much better as a foot toy. He chewed off a few bits, and then threw it in the garbage, which is conveniently located right near this perch. That's okay, though, because I can pull out another piece in a few weeks, and he might be interested in it again. I got this Super Rattle Bird Toy from Drs. Foster and Smith.

The toy below is one of a series in the category of Toy On A Stick: Get your standard lollipop stick from a kitchen-supply or craft store, string toy parts on it, put a pony bead on either end, and crimp the end of each stick with a pair of pliers so that the bead can't slide off. It takes a certain amount of finesse to ensure the pony beads can't come off too easily — or, in Harley's case, that it doesn't take too much work to get them off. The basic toy is simply a stick filled with pony beads (mmmmm, pony beads!), but you can string lots of different things on a stick. In addition, the lollipop sticks are available in different sizes.

Although you can't tell very well, this stick started out life with the two green pony beads holding a mini munch ball on it. Munch balls are made of wicker or some sort of vine material, that is shaped into a sphere. They come in different sizes, are often strung up to make larger toys, and sometimes have things stuffed inside (like paper strips and other fun things to pull out). In terms of foot toys, though, Harley prefers the smallest ones, on a stick. I got the mini munch balls from The Bird Safe Store (and the sticks from a local craft store, and I don't remember where I got the pony beads — lots of places have pony beads, just be sure to give birds plastic, not glass).

Foot toys can be strung up in many different ways. The toy below is made of two pieces of balsa wood (dyed with bird-safe dyes), a small "birdie bagel" in the middle, and a strip of a vegetable-tanned leather to tie it all together.

Harley really likes to tear up balsa, although he much preferred the easier, sharper angles of the triangle! He's also a fan of leather, and likes to chew on the knots to untie them. So far, birdie bagels haven't appealed to him much. These bird-safe paper concoctions come in many different colors and sizes, but so far Harley just drops them, and watches them land on the ground. In all, though, this balsa bagel, which I got from ParroToys (where Harley is famous!), is a real hit. Was a real hit, I should say. Although the size was almost too big for his dainty foot, the balsa made it light enough to hold and destroy.

The toy below is a fire cracker from Chopper's Toys (scroll down on this page to find it):

Not many bird stores seem to use cellophane. The truth is, ANY material a bird swallows can be dangerous, and I'd expect plastic to be more dangerous than the bird-safe type of cellophane that Chopper's uses. But I guess most people figure they'd rather be safe than sorry. The thing is, Harley loves the cellophane! It's just the type of easy-to-destroy material that appeals to him the most! Since he doesn't seem to swallow things (and don't worry, I watch), I figure a fire cracker every now and then is a nice treat. While the cellophane is the best part of this toy, Harley also likes the paper tag. Of course. I find the squares of woven cane (like the seat of a chair) to be much more interesting than Harley does.

So far, the caterpillar has been Harley's favorite toy:

This brightly-colored plastic toy can be torn completely apart: all six legs come off, the body pieces can be ripped apart, and the face snaps off in two pieces! Harley grabbed it right out of my hand, tore all the pieces off, climbed down from his perch to get to the bits, watched me put it together again, said "Here Harley" while he waited impatiently for me (something he usually only says when he wants food), got back up on the perch and tore it all apart again! What a great toy! It kept his attention for about two days, but now he's back to ignoring it. I'll hide it for awhile, and try it again.

The only "bad" thing about this toy are the antennae — which Harley can chew off. He's already done that in this photo. I watched carefully; he didn't swallow the bits. But once he taught me how to rip the face off, I trimmed the antennae down to the nub, so I wouldn't have to worry about him playing with it. I got the caterpillar from ParroToys.

Of course, almost anything can be a foot toy, if Harley is in the mood. A regular is a small piece of paper, like the paper wrappers from some tea bags, twisted up a bit. Food also works — remember the piece of sweet potato (picture pops up)? And here's Harley from a little while ago, eating a snap pea:

Of course, he really prefers food if a human holds it for him, but that's a different story.

You'll notice that in all these photos, Harley is standing on his right foot, and holding the toy with his left foot. Does this means he's left-footed, or right-footed?

Harley is a very curious bird, who leans us around our small apartment periodically, looking at things. He was always very interested in the items in the Peanut Memorial Shelving Unit — you can pop up a photo here. Recently, we decided to give Harley a cube of his own.

We went back to Ikea to get an extra box to line his shelf, so we wouldn't have to worry about poops.

At first, he was much more interested in everything around him, than anything that was inside his own box.

After a little while, he started throwing things out of his box, and watched them land on the floor. Best Game Ever.

But sometimes, he actually gets interested in the things inside his box. There is a fine line between "Plenty Of Things To Play With And Throw Out," and "So Many Things A Bird Can't Fit Inside." I'm sure you've discovered this in your own lives. Clockwise from top left we have:

1) The ever-alluring pink pony bead. (Why are pony beads so very interesting to birds? If Harley is in the right mood, he'll play with one of these — one of these — for minutes at a time! I just wonder what Peanut would have done, I don't think I ever gave him a single, lovely, pink pony bead.)

2) King Of The Box!

3) It almost looks like Harley is playing with that red and orange plastic nut-and-bolt, but in fact he's about to grab the orange and yellow football behind it — a happy legacy from his former owners. We toss this into the back of the box, Harley screeches, grabs it, and throws it back out at us. Good times!

4) The King Of The Box attacks the nefarious Empty Vitamin Bottle. No, actually, if you look closely, he's got a nut in his beak. Because every single spot in the entire apartment has to have a snack hidden in it, at least once. Harley lives in a continual Easter Egg hunt.

Harley isn't always interested in going inside his shelf box. But since he can't get out of it by himself (short of falling out, struggling with Mr. Gravity, and hopefully gliding to a moderately safe landing), I've been known to encourage him to go inside (with snacks if I have to) when I'm trying to finish cleaning his house and he Just! Isn't! In! The! Mood! To! Be! Any! Where!

Yeah, don't worry, I'm quick about it. This is cleaning we're talking about, after all.

It isn't every day that you can hand a soiled piece of waxed paper to a complete stranger and have them say "Thanks! I'll take that!"

Although vets do this test on dogs every six months, they only recommend it for birds once a year unless they see other birds frequently. Still, since the Finsters are new to Harley, I figured this was an easy way to do a quick health check. No parasites here!

(Aren't you glad I didn't post a picture of bird poop?)

A remote control is hardly a proper toy for a bird, but for some reason, Harley loves them. He is drawn to any remote in the house, and as soon as he gets close to one, he screeches at it and eats the buttons. Oh, don't worry, he doesn't really eat the buttons, but he chews them off. Very quickly. In fact, I'm pretty sure — if given a choice — he'd go for the soft, squishy buttons on a remote control even before he climbed circles around an awkward set of small vertical dowels to get to half an almond wrapped in a piece of paper in the lower box of his Art Project. Well, the remote is often left out in plain sight on the Eating Couch by forgetful people (um, that would be me).

And, since Bruce is something of a gadget guy (to put it mildly), and this is the 21st Century, there are lots of remotes for Harley to choose from. From which Harley can choose. (Don't tell Bruce, but the XBOX controller, although shiny and very attractive to birds, seems impervious to Harley's Beak Of Biting. You know, so far.)

Best. Toys. Ever.

TV remotes have been gotten the most abuse. The old bedroom TV remote is now missing 3/4 of the volume down button, the right third of the number 7, the left third of the number 9, and the entire number 1. Here is Harley trying to climb from the bed to my nightstand, grab the remote in his beak, and gleefully remove all the buttons from its face.

(In case you were wondering, the loss of the remote buttons is not the reason we replaced the TV in the bedroom. But one of the selling points for the new TV is a second, mini remote that doesn't have soft, squishy buttons suitable for chewing off. Instead, its buttons are hard and can be pried off like the keys on a computer keyboard. We'll see how long it lasts.)

The cable remote has suffered the most losses, in part because it has more buttons to lose. Until Tuesday night, the affected buttons weren't ones we use. The SWAP button (recorded here in old camera mediocrity) was one of the first to go, but since it's in the "Picture-in-Picture" section, we don't miss it at all. There are two (of five) buttons now missing in that section; I have no idea what the other missing button said. The "On Demand" section also has a couple of losses: the right third of both the fast forward and the pause buttons. Again, not a problem since we don't use that section.

Tuesday's losses, however, were more serious. Now missing are 2/3 of the ALL ON button (was that what it said?), plus most of the small "on" buttons: AUX, TV, CABLE and SETUP. Only the small "on" POWER button is mostly intact. ("Mostly" counts.) The loss of these could pose some real problems, although so far I've been able to turn everything on and off. We'll see what Bruce says when he gets home tonight.

Do cable companies replace remote controls? Surely Harley isn't the only pet/child/destructive person that's picked off those wonderfully squishy buttons.