Moonie is a Star... in the Toronto Star

A series of events lead to this below.  Moonie and myself making it into the Toronto Star on Friday February 15th, 2013.

It's a bit of a lengthy tale that I am not sure I feel like keying out right now.  I'm home sick with some kind of cold bug and my eyes are feeling pretty heavy looking at this screen.  Plus, since this story involves a few other people, I'd rather get approval of using their names beforehand.

I can jump ahead to the latter part of the tale, where at the end of an hour or so telephone interview with a reporter from the Toronto Star has her asking me if I'd be okay with a photographer coming out the following morning to take some photos in my backyard.  To which I replied "absolutely!"

The article was about the Great Backyard Bird Count that was happening across the world on the Family Day long weekend us people in Ontario get to enjoy each February.  So the idea of pictures from someone's backyard seemed right; although great backyard means anywhere and everywhere outdoors.  It is encouraged for people to get outside and enjoy the birds this particular weekend.

The online edition differs from the actual newspaper in way of the photo they used, see here.

So, this photographer shows up on Thursday morning.  He was a very pleasant man, we had some good discussions during his time with me at the house.  We spent 40 or so minutes out back waiting for some birds to come to my feeders.  A day earlier, the yard was full of birds, and even my buddy Pierre was around...  and I silently asked him to be sure to come today, and early.  But nobody was out back for much of the time.  He began taking photos of me by some of the feeders.  I was honest and said it was odd to me, hard to smile, and I'm just not a guy who likes to be in front of a camera (centre of attention).  He told me to not worry about it, don't smile if I don't want to, and to not look at the camera.  It sure made things a lot easier for me. 

Suddenly a couple Starlings flew in and as quick as they arrived, they flew away again.  Same thing seconds later with 2 Pigeons.  I told Colin (the photographer) that the birds know of something we do not.  I put my "bird sensors" on and tuned in.  Soon enough I spotted a Coopers Hawk hanging out in a neighbour's tree focused on my yard.  I pointed him out to Colin, saying "that's why there are no birds at the feeders".  Colin pondered going out to his car and getting a big lens to grab a shot of the Hawk but didn't.

We decided to head into the house for a bit, warm up and see if the Hawk will move on and birds start returning.  We got talking about the Budgies, Misfit and Moonie, and I told him, as I did the reporter on their tales of how they ended up here.  Both being backyard rescues, coming here from who knows where, because of the other birds and the feeders.  Colin thought it might be fun to use one of them for a bit, just to shoot something.  Moonie is the easier going of the two.  I don't know how many pics he took of Moonie or Moonie and I, and Moonie was getting tired of the attention and especially this camera pointed at him.  So we put him back in his house and tried out back one more time.  Still no birds and the Hawk was not to be seen either.  About 15 minutes later he had to leave because of another appointment.

I went about the rest of my morning before work, wondered about what the article was going to look like and so on.  A couple hours later Colin phones me and asks me for the correct spelling of Moonie's name.  I told him, he thanked me and said "have a great afternoon".  So in the back of my head, I'm thinking Moonie is going to make the paper, but also thought that was just crazy talk.  I knew a lot of photos were submitted for this article from various people.

That evening I'm working away and suddenly I get a notice on my mobile that someone tagged me in a comment after reading the article online already.  I wasn't aware online editions came out that early.  It took me forever to load the page in my phone but finally I did and saw the one linked above with me on the deck looking up at a feeder.  It was too much strain on the phone to try and open up the article to read it all.  So you can imagine come quitting time that I raced home for a view on the computer.  I was happy with the article and honored that it finished with my 2 cents in a couple paragraphs.

The next morning Angie is phoning the house and texting my phone.  Home line was unplugged, my mobile gets turned off at night, so she couldn't get a hold of me.  Turns out they used a different photo in the paper as you can see.  Basically Angie was on the subway going to work, and she noticed someone next to her or in front of her, reading the Toronto Star, and when they opened up the page to the GBBC article, she freaked and shrieked "that's my husband, and my Budgie!"  I can visualize her doing this and the other morning people around her in transit heading to work suddenly waking up on the train at 7 in the morning to this.  Haha!

I'm sure some out there may be thinking "what the hell is up with a Budgie's photo making this article?"  But I think they tied it in rather well to the story.  Of course Moonie belonged to someone, somewhere in the city and was probably captive bred, bought in a pet store or from a breeder.  He escaped or was let go, and suddenly became a wild bird at a very young age.  He flew to our house and became one of the family.  While he cannot really participate in bird watching with us at this time of year, he does enjoy the summer days out back with us all...  his family and the wild birds around us.

Yet Another Moonie Update

So, Christmas is less than 2 weeks away and it's go go go around here.

We are quite certain this is Moonie's first Christmas.  We cannot nail down his age exactly but do know he's not a year old yet.  Does he know what Christmas is?  Probably not exactly but I do think they feel the energy about this time of the year.  Take Misfit (our other Budgie) as an example.  Every Christmas season, she spends about 2 weeks waking up at 4:30am on her own, ringing her bell and wanting to get up.  And right after New Years, she goes back to her old routine of sleeping in until 7am.  What's up with those 2 weeks?

How will it be with Moonie?  I guess we will see. 

The past couple weeks he's been getting a feel for it; he's been exploring the decorated living room and placed here and there for my own personal entertainment.  Why not?  It's good interaction for him and I, and I can take some festive pics with my boy in the meantime.  Moonie just might make a personal Christmas card one year.  He's one easy going bird and mostly goes with the flow.

Other than that, he's just doing his thing...  eating, sleeping, and squawking like Budgies do, and his time with Misfit is an adventure on it's own.  You never know how she's going to be with him.  One day okay, another day she's back to her aggressive self.  I still believe they are good for each other as company, even in separate cages, but side by side.  Moonie really wants to be her friend and he mimics her at times.  When she eats, he eats.  When she plays, he plays.  He seldom touches his mineral block unless he sees Misfit pecking at hers'.  And if I move Misfit from their area as she likes to sit on the kitchen table, he gets quite antsy and vocal until she comes back to the top of the fridge with him.  Moonie doesn't seem to care much about being on the table with the kitchen window to look out of...  unless Misfit is on the table with him.  It's funny really.  I mean, Misfit can be pretty aggressive to him but he still wants to be around her.  And while Misfit can be the total b*tch, if I move Moonie out to the living room with me, she too will get quite vocal in his absence.  And Moonie hears Misfit's calls, and suddenly he wants little to do with me and to return back to his cage.  Silly birds.

Well, here's some photos of late, enjoy...

There is a noticeable size difference with these two and I say Moonie is poking fun at Misfit with his "Who's the fat birdy in the house?"  pose.

One of their more peaceful moments.

Moonie exploring the Christmas tree for the very first time.  He moved around the inside of the tree and popped his head out here and there.  The lights do not get hot in case someone wondered.

A close up of a cute moment.

I do wonder what he thinks of all the different shaped/sized and colored ornaments?

He's our little boy and we love him.

Moonie Update

We just passed our two month anniversary since Moonie joined our flock. I blogged about him back in August as some of you may recall.

Clipping his wings during the transition phase of being in this house really helped. Also just letting him do his thing for a number of weeks was essential.

And it was funny how a number of people told me Moonie was a girl. I had no clue. Even the guy who clipped his wings said he is a she. All I knew was that Moonie was really young.

Well, two days after his one month anniversary into our home, I noticed a little bit of blue on his nose area (I forget the actual term); and I was quite excited, immediately posting on my Facebook page "is happy to announce it's a boy!"

Why the excitement over a boy than a girl? Well, this house has 9 beating hearts within and I am out numbered with noise making females. So, having another male around evens it up a bit. Ha ha! Seriously though, male Budgies are very different than the females. They are calmer and easier to "tame".

I should have known from the beginning that Moonie was a boy. His personality and temperment were/are completely the opposite of Misfit's. But I let things be as they were, under the impression he was a she according to the more experienced; and I took his calmness as something due to his very young age.  But upon noticing the blue on his nostrils, I began "working" with him, one on one.  And we progressed quickly...


Here is our first bit of bird on hand training.  He wasn't minding the interaction at all.

A few days later and he was enjoying the higher views from atop my head.

He's quite content hanging on my shoulder in the morning after some breakfast.

And he seems to have no problem whatsoever napping wherever he feels like.  Here he sleeps on top of his cage while I am cleaning out the bottom.

I am hoping for further progress over time with him. He's quite comfortable with me providing his cage is not in view. When he sees it, he wants to return to it. He's not stressed at all when he's out and about; but sure loves his home I suppose. The other morning I stretched out on the couch and he sat on my chest for quite some time, just chilling out with me. I thought that was pretty cool.

I've introduced him to banana with success. I place small bits in his food dish almost every morning and it gets eaten before noon. There is a whole list of fruits and vegetables to try with him, and I will little by little over time.

A bond with him is my reward, as it's something very specialBBudgie, and eternal.