"Happy New Year - It's a girl!"
Happy New Year!
Well, it's official. Quimby is a girl. Dana had scheduled an appointment for next Monday to have DNA sexing performed for Quimby and Binkley... but Quimby decided to make the confirmation easier by laying an egg in my lap tonight at about 7pm, New Year's Eve.
I guess we'll have to teach her to say "good bird!" instead of "good boy!" when she asks to go to the stand to poop. Since Binkley already says "Hi, Bee!", we're thinking of morphing the name Quimby into "Queen Bee". Well, it's a start... ;)
Earlier tonight, Binkley got jealous while I was hooking up Dana's new clock radio with my back turned toward him, so he flew over and immediately bit my ear without warning. Both birds have been hormonal as the change in seasons has triggered their breeding instincts. Suffice it to say, tonight has been quite a night for the birds and us. Charlie was his usual perch-potato self.
Cockatoos are supposed to reach sexual maturity at about 8 years of age, and Quimby (er, Bee) will be 8 on February 8th. Binkley turns 6 on January 12th. It will be interesting to see whether Binkley is also a female. He behaves like a male, but I've always had some doubts.
We were quite relieved when Quimby (umm.. Bee) calmed down within half an hour of laying the egg and proceeded to her usual sleeping spot on my shoulder. She settled right down and commenced "scritching" (the noise that they make with their beaks ONLY when they are content). That is an excellent sign. :)
I'm hoping that she gets some rest tonight without getting disturbed by our inevitable neighborhood fireworks at midnight.
Happy New Year!
Well, it's official. Quimby is a girl. Dana had scheduled an appointment for next Monday to have DNA sexing performed for Quimby and Binkley... but Quimby decided to make the confirmation easier by laying an egg in my lap tonight at about 7pm, New Year's Eve.
I guess we'll have to teach her to say "good bird!" instead of "good boy!" when she asks to go to the stand to poop. Since Binkley already says "Hi, Bee!", we're thinking of morphing the name Quimby into "Queen Bee". Well, it's a start... ;)
Earlier tonight, Binkley got jealous while I was hooking up Dana's new clock radio with my back turned toward him, so he flew over and immediately bit my ear without warning. Both birds have been hormonal as the change in seasons has triggered their breeding instincts. Suffice it to say, tonight has been quite a night for the birds and us. Charlie was his usual perch-potato self.
Cockatoos are supposed to reach sexual maturity at about 8 years of age, and Quimby (er, Bee) will be 8 on February 8th. Binkley turns 6 on January 12th. It will be interesting to see whether Binkley is also a female. He behaves like a male, but I've always had some doubts.
We were quite relieved when Quimby (umm.. Bee) calmed down within half an hour of laying the egg and proceeded to her usual sleeping spot on my shoulder. She settled right down and commenced "scritching" (the noise that they make with their beaks ONLY when they are content). That is an excellent sign. :)
I'm hoping that she gets some rest tonight without getting disturbed by our inevitable neighborhood fireworks at midnight.
Happy New Year!