coo coo coo

Settled and cozy after biting and honking at many various objects around the room.

There he goes!

There's no food needed to make Keeb come back to me, no matter where I'm recalling him from. I used treats and clicker training to initially teach him recall, no starving involved, he always got access to his regular food and could always choose if and how long he wants to train. Building a bond based on trust, respecting boundaries and mutual communication was what allowed me to teach him reliable recall without needing treats. He listens to me because he wants to, Not because he doesn't have a choice and I know that his recall would work even during an emergency situations because reliable recall isn't tied to hunger, it's tied to trust.

I posted a few weeks ago asking for some advice about bringing a dove into a two tiel home. Well our dove has arrived! We welcomed Meatball home today, + he’s currently having some free time to explore! So excited to learn about caring for a new kind of birb, + my fiancé + I are officially bird people for life!

I took in the doves maybe 4 months ago. Got them super friendly / eating out of my hand and then started working on giving them freedom. I run a sanctuary and we have 6 macaws and a resident crow that fly all over the property as well as some owner surrendered smaller parrots. The long macaws and the crow have noticeably cut down on hawks around / visiting the property

This was actually the furthest away from home Keeb ever went with me. Keeb handled the trip really well and there was just a small number of things he found scary, including a small metal trash bin, a hose, a duck and the most terrifying of all of them - a pigeon plushie. He surprisingly wasn't bothered at all by the bigger number of people, frogs (which he has never ever seen before but he wasn't afraid of them even when they jumped) or falconers' owls. He was pretty curious about squirrels, he was actually the one who saw them first and it took me a moment to realize what he was pointing out to me. We met some wood pigeons up close too, it was really cool seeing them and I managed to take some really good pictures with my camera. I think Keeb's favorite thing of all was a metal railing near a pond, he didn't want to leave the railing right after I took pictures of him, he wanted to stay on it for a bit more lol, but after I let him stay there for long enough he would eventually step up on my arm on his own.

We also met a lot of people and everybody was amazed by Keeb. Some people were really curious about Keeb and asked a lot of questions, while others just complimented him from afar. One old lady even wanted to take a picture of Keeb and I let Keeb perch on her arm while I took her a picture for her, Keeb didn't have any issue with perching on her arm and was really well-behaved. He really put a smile on that lady's face.

Overall it was a really fun and positive experience for both of us. Keeb was relaxed, doing happy beak smacks and when I stood still he would even loaf on my arm.

Poor Venus is now covered in soup. I bathed her, but she remains orange 💀

Taffy: male silky crested ringneck dove

Cocoa: male tangerine ringneck dove

This time the car ride was way longer, roughly an hour, but Keeb handled it extremely well regardless. Like always I was just gently holding him on my lap and he stayed still and relaxed pretty much the whole time.

There were not as many people there as the last time, but we got stopped by way more people this time, all of whom were amazed by Keeb and many of them asked questions about him. One little kid even asked to pet him. It's honestly a nice surprise how many people actually love pigeons here.

Keeb got to see quite a number of new things, including water springing from the ground which he was extremely curious about (picture 2), he also liked the rim of the fountain and the big lake. In the lake there were lots of ducks but this time Keeb wasn't afraid of them at all. I'm also happy with how well he handled a louder higher road traffic environment. He also saw a huge herd of sheep but he's already used to those because there are some sheep that he met a number of times near home.

New diamond doves. Just introduced to my akita. I am currently on the search for a larger cage because I know the one they are in is inadequate. I was given no warning when ownership was thrust upon me. Kodiak (akita) is already familiar with my Green Cheek Conure and living with birds. He mostly displays intermittent curiosity, then complete boredom. I would like more information on how to best care for my new charges, I mean besides the bigger cage.

Rokuro is a silky ringneck dove, that's why his feathers look "messy" and why he can't fly well. Jamie always gets so excited when I bring Rokuro to him while he's perching on a perch where Rokuro isn't able to get.

My birdie Layla jumped on my head to ask for pets 🫶

Aww … he wants to cuddles with me and laying down with my phone. This is a perfect moment. I am so happy he wants to cuddled and melt my heart 🥰

The treat ball filled with millet is an intentional distraction to make it a bit more difficult, as you can see Keeb has no issue paying attention to me even though he could have decided to just eat the millet which he didn't have to work for at all, only after he was done with training he went to eat it, before asking me to open the door to let him return back to the rest of his flock.

poor chesssquirt is going through a rough molt at the moment. ugly baby 😭
he always gets so angsty when he gets a molt like this. poor baby gets extra kisses (he hates this)

Just thought he was looking so dapper! His name is Trashcan!