January 1, 2009 [LINK / comment]
This is the first New Year with Luciano, who has been with us for 11 1/2 months now, and the eighth New Year with Princess. The age difference between them give rise to occasional tension. They will often "kiss" and make soft chirping calls to each other, but she is usually not ready for his "amorous advances." Because of the injury she suffered to her right wing, she has been unable to fly since last March, more or less. That compounds the difficulty from her lame right leg, stemming from an injury on the day we bought her in April 2001. It's a pitiful sight to watch her try to move around, and so we go to extensive lengths to make it as easy as possible for her. These days we keep everything Princess needs on the floor, from her food to her sand box to her water dish to her nest basket, with a soft towel underneath for maximum comfort. Sometimes she will put her head in the water to wash her face, but she is too afraid to take a full bath any more, so Jacqueline takes care of that for her, very gently. Every few days we put her in a semi-enclosed spot on the window sill so that she can watch the birds outside. On Wednesday we brought her to the living room for the first time in several months, and she seemed to enjoy the change of "scenery."
We keep a very close eye on both our canaries, but especially with Princess. She seems to be as content as can be expected given her severe physical handicaps, and we will do our best to make what remains of her life as pleasant as possible. She, Luciano, George, and Goldie have certainly made our lives much more happy and pleasant, and it's all we can do to return the favor.
Princess next to hear nest basket.