Dirty parrot

Last night, I was winding down from a long day. I made a cup of tea, and sat down on my couch. As I sipped my tea, my cockatiel got excited. He wavered back and forth on his perch, then climbed down the cage to the couch. Step, step, step, hop! Onto my mug.

He likes tea, but this was more than the usual excitement. This time, he didn't just sip the tea. He got some in his beak, shook his head to throw it around, and then fluffed his feathers up to enjoy the moisture. He looked like he was thinking about jumping into the mug. Our blue-and-white budgie came over and wanted to do the same thing. Poor dirty parrots - I've been working so much I haven't bathed them.

Today, I brought out the casserole dish. I filled it halfway with lukewarm water. The budgie jumped in and splashed around, beating the water until he was at least damp all over. The cockatiel likes to have help from a spray bottle - he gets really soaked. Afterward, they preened. And preened. And preened some more.

Now we have good, clean, happy parrots. It was a fun day.