I realised I have not yet written about our newest addition to the household, a Rainbow Lorikeet named "Storm". Almost exactly a week before the fires, we had a large storm with heavy winds and some showers. It was in these storms that our little feathered friend dropped in to our life, literally.
We had just left for work on a Friday afternoon, when our neighbour across the road noticed something in our drive way. He was watching it hop around, thinking it would just fly back up after a few minutes. However, minor birds soon found the Lorikeet and began swooping and squawking. Our neighbour ran over and noticed that it was a small baby, not more then three weeks old. He scooped it up and put it in an esky to keep it safe. Once we arrived home he came and told us what happened, he already had a bird and had no clue what to do, so naturally e volunteered to take on the challenge.That night we kept him warm and looked up what types of things we could feed him until we could go to the vet the next day.
The next day at the vets he was deemed 100% healthy with no lice, which meant he was safe to touch/handle. We hoped to find out "his" sex, but with Lorikeets, the only way to tell is through a DNA test! Which of course costs $$$, so instead we have decided on calling it a "he", unless one day we find an egg in the cage.... We asked the vet what happens next, in regards to either returning him home or keeping him. She said that due to the fact he still cannot fly, it is best to hang onto him so cats cannot get their paws on him. His parents may show up, but unfortunately until he can fly he is grounded. She also said that we have the option of keeping him if we wish or his parents don't return.
Once returning home with him, we fell in love. After handling him, buying Lorikeet food and feeding him, there was no way we could give him up! We decided to see if his parents returned, and go from their. On and off his parents came to the window where his cage was, however, they have not returned for about 3 weeks now, but I believe he is very happy with us here now anyway.
He is a very, very tame bird. To the point where it makes you think he was hand raised! He loves to nibble on your ears, prefers gold jewellery over silver, go crazy when you remove his food bowl to give him more, has a bath once a day (by himself it is the cutest!!) and really enjoys climbing through my hair - he literally starts at my neck and climbs up through it (very annoying! ha).
The dogs love him and are very, very gentle. They have not harmed him in anyway and are very curious when he approaches them (Storm has no fear!). I will have to try and get a video of their interactions to upload, it really is so cute. Storm fits in to our house perfectly!
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