Three weeks!

The new baby cockatiels are three weeks old this week, and want to crow about it. The bigger one looks like he is yodelling while his sister watches. I don't actually know if the grey is a male or female, but the cinnamon is a female, as it is a sex-linked gene. Her name is all picked out - Primrose. Teasing and tail pulling - siblings are the same in all species, I guess. I can hardly believe how big his wings have gotten in the past week. Once the feathers start to come in, watch out! In this picture, you can just barely see the very dark spot under the wings - that is the "breast meat" or flying muscles (pectorals, I assume). The stripe of white feathers on his side (not on the wing) is down. My favorite thing about the babies is their stubby little tail.

They are both perching, flapping, stretching, standing on their feet (instead of balancing on their bellies), preening and tottering around. The grey will be up for adoption / sale in a month or so (when they are weaned). I handle them every day and they are sweet, calm and outgoing. The gray (if a male) is split for pied, cinnamon, pearl and whiteface. If it is a female, she is split for pied and whiteface. He is really, really dark gray and very well feathered (unlike his sister who has quite the bald spot!).

No sock knitting today, but I did knit a little on a pair of wristwarmers and tackled a few more pages of _The Moonstone_ at lunch. Long days at work for the remainder of the week, but that is means more overtime so I will roll with it. Tonight's entertainments included cleaning the rabbit cage & clipping nails. And parrot snuggling, of course!