Hopping Up

Today felt like summer, so the flock's been taking advantage of the good weather. B's quite good and still affectionate. Where C will be taking a birdnap, B hops around trying to preen everything on me, including clothing parts like zippers, ties, as well as the usual preening targets. A bit scarily, he likes to go for my eyes. Actually more than a bit scary, since he's not the most gentle bird, and he's liable to get very excited and vehement. He was being super cute today, trying to angle in closer to hop from the branch perch onto my knee, with his tail getting caught in the branches.

I think the wild birds have their eyes on B. A few days ago, B flew around for some exercise and landed on the roof. He was being coy again about flying back to me and C, when a mourning dove promptly landed next to him on the roof. The dove eyed the cockatiel, then fluffed up a bit and approached my B. B looked a bit nervous, and when the dove got even closer, B quickly flew back down to us. I don't think he welcomed the dove's advances!

Then, while we were hanging out today, I saw a blue jay land in a nearby tree, who I also think was eyeing B. In the past few months, B has landed in the big spruce out back a couple times, and both times, I saw a blue jay join him there as soon as B landed. So I think it might be the same blue jay curious about who B is, and why B's crest is yellow and not blue. He seems to be just friendly though, and not as amorous and intimidating as the dove!

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I've been a bit sick lately -- I think it's the flu -- so I have been trying to self-medicate. Tried the olive scallion tea again, but that didn't do much, so I tried a stronger Chinese herbal medicinal tea. Also got some Echinacea capsules and Vitamin C capsules (Ester-C) to help out my immune system, and while I think the Echinacea helped a bit, I don't think the Ester-C did much. But, I'm still not feeling great. So just now, I went for some Prednisolone, and I'm hoping that will work on my sore throat and coughing. I also have some Dextromethorphan handy to suppress my cough if I need it, but apparently, it may cause drowsiness and happens to be classified as a "dissociative hallucinogenic drug" at higher doses, so I think I'll try to avoid that one. Sounds like fun -- clearly not my style.