I'm having to have pest control services because some of the neighbors don't keep their places nice and I get the occasional roach spreading from their unit, always seen in the bathroom. Not often, and they get killed immediately upon detection, but I still have to have the monthly intrusion.

They want to spray my unit and I forbid it. Bird respiration is far too delicate to take the chance on Prax getting poisoned. They have to use a gel bait in my unit and even then I have to supervise where they put it so they don't place it anywhere Prax likes to perch.

This last time the pest control guy was clearly annoyed by my insistence upon no spray. I told him that sprays are dangerous for birds. He told me that the problem would never resolve if I didn't let them spray (I called bullshit). Then he told me he used to have all kinds of parrots, including blue and gold macaws, and that he never had any issues.

Really, my dude? Macaws are very long lived birds. You don't look to be more than 50. If you used to have a bunch of birds but don't any longer, what happened to them? Did you just re-home them all or did they die prematurely, likely because of your insistence that sprays are OK to use around them?

I didn't ask him that, just stubbornly stood my ground and refused the spraying. Let them think I'm some crazy old woman. I'm not risking my best friend's life with aerosol poison, your job experience be damned.

#Birds #Budgies #ParrotsOfMastodon #PestControl

I always feel like somebody's watching me ...

#Birds #Budgies #ParrotsOfMastodon

Speaking of birds ...

Parrots will pick up on sounds they really like and repeat them, whether they have anything to do with you or not.

Praxis likes water sounds. He imitates the sound of pouring a glass of water out of the Brita pitcher, most times I'm opening the refrigerator where the pitcher lives.

He also imitates the sound of our sink draining. After they took out the defunct garbage disposal, it makes a loud dripping noise as water is draining. Praxis loves that sound and will make it randomly throughout the day.

I tell him we need to call the blumber (the bird plumber) but he insists on leaking anyway.

#Birds #Budgies #ParrotsOfMastodon #AnimalCompanion

Did you know that parrots are the only creatures that are considered tripedal? Their beaks are used for climbing like a third limb and they produce the same force as a limb does in other animals.

I think that's kind of cool to think about and wanted to share.

#Birds #Parrots #ParrotsOfMastodon

Praxis loves to sit on the ceiling fan but doesn't understand the physics of the whole thing. He'll land one one of the blades and start it slowly spinning. He wants to look in a particular direction so he hops to the next blade and runs to the end, which makes it rotate slightly faster. It's quite fun to watch. Silly bird.

#Birds #Budgies #ParrotsOfMastodon #AnimalCompanion

I love to listen to talking parrots, especially #budgies. This one is speaking German so I can only understand a little of what he's saying.

And you can always tell a bird is well-loved by all the kissing sounds.

#Birds #ParrotsOfMastodon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Hk9JrXDBIo

About my bird's gender, since this has come up several times now. And this is for the purposes of explaining it to someone new without having to write it all out again.

Our family knows that Praxis is a female bird. But he uses he/him pronouns (we use them for him).

This is due to the clerk at the bird store when we brought him home. I kept saying I thought then-baby Praxis was female. But the clerk insisted, swore up and down, that Praxis was a male. I should have listened to myself but let a supposed "expert" dissuade me.

At any rate, we started calling Prax "he" and by the time his cere had settled into adult color, the pronouns were engraved in our minds.

Prax doesn't care either way; he doesn't know what a pronoun is.

So my bird (and my family) says: Trans Rights.

#Birds #Budgies #ParrotsOfMastodon

Someone either had a bath or trampled his enemies into the dirt. Unsure which.

#WetChickenWednesday #Birds #Budgies #ParrotsOfMastodon #AnimalCompanion

Jan 13, 2026 @ 13:01 God afternoon family & friends❣️ It looks gray outside, haven't checked the weather. Been, of course, working on this site since I got up a couple of hours ago. Pete is at another appointment, getting tests. My excitement for the day is that I'm going to try making mayo out of HB eggs. Lots of videos online about how to do it. Mayo has gotten crazy expensive, especially the kinds without seed oils (which I've been avoiding long before it was trendy to do so). I want to play my keyboard and work on some more of the songs from the Rejoice Hymns (Hamilton) which is the first of the modern hymnals I bought last year. As you can see by yesterday's music I shared, I'm still in the C's in the index, so I have a LOT more to work on in this book alone. Of course the PoiBoiz have been keeping me company all morning, especially Maxwell who loves to fly back and forth from me to various other spots. Elliot is more sedentary (and also older) and would rather stand on top of his cage and call for me to come and get him hahaha! He's a good flyer but not as much of a smooth land-er anymore...failing eyesight perhaps? In October he will be 28; most sources give them a lifespan of 25-30, but some claim they can live up to 40 years. I hope that's the case with my boiz... Anyway, I guess I will go get on with my day, and will see you later❣️🙌✝️🎶😆🥩🌿💐👴👵🐕‍🦺🦜

chia.owly.net/aint-that-the-truth ~ chia.owly.net/video-of-the-day

#BirdsOfMastodon #ParrotsOfMastodon #parrots #PoiBoiz #birds