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The Finster Log
Harley Enrichment Unit #2
Posted on: 01/30/08, 20:56:00
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.
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.
Comments
02/04/08, 10:25:05
The picture you've captioned "Harley studies the effects of Mr. Gravity"--boy, do I know that parrot facial expression/body language! At our house we call it "the pointed look". It translates to, "Have you noticed that I threw something on the floor so that you can entertain me by picking it up?" That usually means Rembrandt's towel, a small tea towel in red! and yellow! under which he sleeps at night, has slid off to the floor after being folded for the day. The more fuss you make over the catastrophic fall and effortful retrieval of the towel, the better. :)
02/04/08, 17:27:21
Although it isn't a perfect photograph, the Mr. Gravity picture cracks me up. Dogs don't know a thing about playing Fetch. They need to learn that humans are supposed to do all the work, picking up the toys and handing them back. Harley likes this game, although come to think of it, we haven't played it lately. Must rectify that.....