[ShleeTheRat]

Sweety loves when I take his cage out on the deck and sit with him out there. I have many squirrels and crows around, who I used to feed before I got my birdie. So they are accustomed to coming around my deck. Sweetie loves them all and gets so excited when any other bird or animal is around. None of them come onto my actual deck, they hop around in front of it and climb the tree that’s right there.

It’s sometimes hard because he wants a real bird friend so bad. And as a parent of a single bird I want to give him all the companionship he needs so he will be as healthy as possible. But he can’t help wanting to make friends with the crows and squirrels.

Its been too cold to take him outside for over a month now so he’s adjusting to life with only a window to see his crow and squirrel friends. He’s doing well but he sometimes gets mad when I go out on the deck but don’t take him with me, since I used to take him out daily in the summer and it was his favorite enriching activity.

Just curious about others and if you take your bird outside, how they behave and if it is overall a healthy and happy thing to do.

A couple notes, he’s never out there unattended. My body is between the outside and his cage when we are out there so I know there are never any animals close to his cage or on the deck.

But some of the crows have taken a curiosity with him and watch us from above on wires. He calls to them and flits around his cage to get their attention. It’s so cute but …. Sad too?

It's only natural for him to want to make friends, budgies are very social, community driven animals. I think anything that gives your bird a new, positive experience is one worth doing. They need more mental stimulation than most common pets just because of their intelligence alone. As long as he doesn't seem stressed, aggressive or afraid, why not let him enjoy a little outdoors time? It's also great for their feathers! Perhaps your birdie might enjoy videos of similar creatures he's seen, I know my guys really love watching song bird videos! And that dancing birds series on Netflix is a hit too. They also really enjoy videos meant for dogs/cats of squirrels, pigeons, mourning doves, chipmunks, etc. Just some ideas to get the visual and audio stimulation enrichment ideas flowing.

 

[ShleeTheRat]

He used to enjoy seeing videos of birds and small animals, but it’s almost like once he made friends with the crows outside he no longer cares about the “fake” TV animals.

Sadly it will be too cold here to take him out again until probably late March, the poor little guy. But he sees the crows and squirrels out the window and it always cheers him up.

Tomorrow my daughter is bringing her two small very well behaved dogs over and Sweety will get to see another animal a little closer up for the first time. So that will be a treat for him. If for some reason he is afraid of them we will put them in the car while we visit but I’m pretty sure he will not be afraid as they are both so sweet and gentle and he will be fascinated by them.

That sounds fun! I hope he enjoys the novelty of seeing something new. My last suggestion was since he's stuck inside due to weather, why not take him to other places in the house or other windows too? I take my boys all around my small dwelling. They seem so full of energy after a little safe exploring, like they got inspired by even a change in scenery. Recently I brought them into the laundry room while I had to get some things out of the dryer. You should have seen those corndogs! Complete captivation. They also seemed to enjoy seeing me folding clothes in the living room recently, I usually do it on my bed but I had just washed all the bedding hahaha.