My 7 year old son named our pet lovebird "Sunflower" (better than his first title - "Squawky") and while he thinks that Sunflower is a "she", I believe it's a "he". I have no idea how old it is but for sure it is already of age.
He came to us literally from nowhere as my mother-in-law discovered him flying about in our garage one day. Now, I'm actually a fish-person, having owned about a dozen koi fish that came and went for a good 5 years now (right now I have only one small one in an aquarium). So, I was not too keen about catching the lost bird but I thought it better to capture the li'l critter first before the stray cats help themselves to a fine feathered dinner.
And it was not a difficult catch either. He was obviously uninterested to be near a pot-bellied monster a hundred times his size and I was oblivious on how to go about handling the nervous bird. It hid under our jeep choosing the axle as its perch and eluding my attempts to corner it. I tried leaving a trail of sunflower seeds (I guess that's where my son got the idea for the name) for it to follow into the security of the house but, while he showed interest, he would not stay long on the ground. Eventually he flew out and landed on a laundry clothes stand. That's when I had the crazy notion of putting sunflower seeds in an empty laundry basket nearby and then left it on top of the washing machine near the stand.
I then took a picture of the lovely lovebird with my cellphone because I thought, "Chances are it's going to fly away anyway". As I stood by the back door to the laundry area, the lovebird posed crouched on its perch, wings at the ready, and sure enough it launched towards my direction. I was taken by surprise by this creature which started to loom bigger and bigger in my view. Instinctively, I ducked my head which in hindsight I think made the bird change its course landing by the doorway. Looking back now, if I only stood still he may have actually landed on my shoulders and he would be more trusting of me now.
Anyway, I stepped back and thought of my next move. I looked for something to subdue him with, a net, a bed sheet or something like that. I found the cover to the laundry basket a few feet away and when I turned back to the sweet thing, I saw that he already made his way into the basket and has begun to enjoy the seeds. I quickly approached the basket which may have alerted it and made it fly up the edge. I stopped in my tracks. Then for a good part of half a minute, we were locked looking at each other -- I, confused like hell at what to do, and him -- well, I could only speculate but maybe he was saying to himself, "this guy's a moron!"
I finally managed to sweep the basket cover over the bird leaving him no choice but to fly back into the basket. And that is the story of how we now have a lovebird in the family.
Sunflower is in a proper cage now. Although it is a hand-me-down round bird cage it is definitely more homey for Sunflower than the laundry basket that originally housed him. He is a peach-faced lovebird, about 5-6 inches long from curved beak to pointed tail (a feature which I read somewhere may indicate being a male). He is definitely flighted and I would prefer him to stay that way. He's been with us for almost a month now. I'm trying to tame him now by keeping his cage near me when I work and eat. And while I find the process frustrating at times I'm determined to befriend Sunflower enough so I can finally let him out of his cage safely without him flying off in fear. I hope that this forum can be of help to me in keeping and raising Sunflower.
Thanks.
