Benji meets Jonathan
Benji's introduction with Jonathan
went well. They ran around the floor chasing each other, until
they came face to face. I watched closely not wanting any injuries
to either. Jonathan was not afraid of Benjamin's size or his
boldness.
Within a few days they became
extremely close friends and soon were so bonded you couldn't see light
between them when they sat together. They were as one.
Their cages were next to each other
and during the day each cage was open to come and go as they wished.
Neither had a problem with the other being in *their* home cage.
Each night I put out separate veggie
dishes, but they insisted on sharing the same one. They didn't
care they were not the same species or for that matter the same sex, they
were as close as two parrots could be without reproducing.
They spent hours chasing, preening,
playing and sharing food with each other. Benji was much more
playful than Jonathan and it was obvious he had more energy.
Lovebirds are known for their devotion
to their mate and Benji was no exception. He looked over his parakeet
friend and I believe sensed Jonathan's illness way before we knew.
Read of his devotion to Jonathan during
his illness
When Jonathan passed away Benji became
more attached to me. He didn't care if my hand was in
his cage as long as it came with tons of scratches. He came
to me and although I knew he was suffering Jonathan's loss, I was proud
of his accomplishment over the fear of my hands in his domain.
We had something in common, the
horrible loss of our little green parakeet. Through this loss barriers
were broken to comfort each other.
Benji's Curiousity To Charlie
Benji held no fear of Charlie our Red
Lored Amazon. When Jerry was holding Charlie, Benji made his way
from his cage, across two rocking chairs, where he jumped on to the foot
rest of the reclining couch.
He was a bit secretative about his
approach up and around Jerry's shoulders hoping to find a friendly parrot
on the other side. But with the difference of size...beaks
especially....Charlie was held at bay as we watched closely.
Jerry held Charlie's head carefully
as they sniffed each other out. Benji was all for the new green feathered
friend, but Charlie had different ideas. Charlie didn't mind
a quick preen on the end of his tail feathers, but he chose not to accept
Benji's forward advances where he was completely visable.
I'm sure Benji saw Charlie as an overgrown
duplicate of himself. After all they shared many of the same colors.
But Charlie saw Benji as a little pest who moved way to quick for her.
But Benji, being a bold lovebird, never took the hint and always took advantage
of getting closer to his older sister.
Within the next few weeks it was obvious
my scratches and love for Benji was not enough to fulfill his day.
He needed a feathered playmate to chase around in and out of the play area.
A playmate was in the near future, but I also knew, this could change
the closeness I was enjoying with Benji.
I missed Jonathan as much as Benji
did so my thoughts turned to another male parakeet for Benji's playmate.
It seems parakeets, at that time, were predomiately female.
While Jerry and our oldest daughter
were shopping for toys, they found 2 beautiful yellow male parakeets.
The breeder brought them out earlier in the day.
Without a second thought we decided
on a beautiful yellow parakeet. He was so crisp and adventureous
of course it was only natural to name him Christopher. :-)
Click on next to read about Christopher's
homecoming and his meeting with Benji.
