First full day...Birbs have names!

After much debate and deliberation, each bird now has a name! My original hope was to name all 4 of them after the Golden Girls (I'm a Golden Girls fanatic...best damn show ever written, and I especially love Bea Arthur & her deadpan comedic genius...but I digress). My husband & sons shut that down as soon as I proposed it. Many names were proposed & rejected until we arrived at the following:

Meet George:

George is so named because my husband suggested it as a joke and my 8 year old (a  huge George Harrison fan( grabbed hold of it (like any good mother, I raise my kids to love the Beatles).

George is in the best condition out of our quartet. He has no big bald patches and he's the only one with a fully intact tail (the others have broken and/or missing tail feathers). He's just a bit dirty and skinny. He's also got the biggest mouth & likes to instigate whistle-offs that get the whole House of Birbs going.

Meet Winston: 

Winston was named by my 12 year old, who is a WW1 & WW2 history buff. I'm sure Churchill would be honored. 

Winston is George's cage mate. These 2 are very active-always climbing & chasing each other around. Winston is also fairly vocal, but usually it's in response to George's hooting and hollering. 

Meet Ouiser:

Pronounced "Weezah," I named her after one of my 2 favorite characters in Steel Magnolias (a movie I love so much, I can recite it word for word...I've only seen it a few zillion times.) 

Meet Clairee:

Clairee and Ouiser are cage mates. Clairee is my other favorite character in Steel Magnolias. Clairee and Ouisee are best friends who live to needle & nudge each other, which is exactly what these 2 birds do. They preen each other and cuddle & huddle to together, but they also do things like push each other off their perches (just like when Ouiser pushes Clairee off her bench after Clairee begs Ouiser's forgiveness for offering her up to M'Lynn in the iconic "Here hit this" scene). These 2 birds are fairly quiet and they're in the worst shape--neither of them have any tail feathers, they're both missing feathers on their faces, and their crests are ragged. Still, they're fairly active and playful and they both have good appetites.

The first full day with the birds was pretty easy. The birds, while cautious, are not hostile to my presence. When I was changing their paper and giving them fresh food and water, they didn't hiss or do the classic cockatiel "I'm about to bite" stance with the open mouth & the flattened crest. They backed away when they saw me open the little doors to their food and water cups, but that was it. I assured them in a soft voice that I didn't want to hurt them and I told them what I was doing the whole time. 

My hope is that frequently talking to them calmly will help put them at ease. I am happy to see they don't back away when I approach the cage and I love the way they sort of just check me out and tilt their heads as I talk to them. It's only when my hand goes beyond the bars of the cage to retrieve the cups that they get a little nervous. I just want them to feel comfortable with people moving and living around them and so far, they are. They dont seem to be angry or inherently grumpy little birds, they've just been through a lot and they need some TLC to get over that.