Animal Diaries Archive

Flip and Caesar team up

29 September 2006

Well, after the chaos of last week in the Bird Show Department, things have started to get back to almost normal this week. Due to some of our birds being really close to the end of their training, we have been able to select the next group of birds to go through their preparations for the show. The birds we have selected include Tully (Major Mitchell), Jasper and Lava (Eclectus Parrots), and Caesar (Darter).

This week has seen us introducing two of our birds so that hopefully they will be able to perform together in the daily show. Flip the Pied Cormorant, who is a veteran of the show, has been trying to show Caesar the newcomer how things are done. The introduction process is a tricky one because both of these birds have fairly impressive 'weapons', so we do need to exercise some caution when it comes to putting the two together.

We decided that the main show pond was the one to use, as it allows the birds plenty of room to get away from one another. On the first day we let them out together, Caesar actually chased poor Flip out of the pond. The second time, Flip stayed in and they allowed each other to come closer on a mutual level. On the third time, they swam together pretty well, although there was some competition coming home. Gradually they are getting to know each other better and are allowing themselves to get closer to one another. Hopefully they get on and we can eventually house them together, and may they swim happily ever after in their nice heated pond for the rest of time!