At the Refuge - Mikki

I have taken a whole lot of bites from birds at the Refuge. Sometimes I even deserve it. Mikki once bit me while I was feeding him. Badly. When I would try to clean his cage he would try to bite me. I would try to give him a walnut and he would try to bite me. I avoided Mikki.

My friend Jose swore that it was only because he was cage-agressive and that if I got him away from the cage he would be nothing but kisses.

Great, Dude. You take him out.

Last week, Jose brought Mikki out and nobody died. I didn't hang out over there, but Mikki seemed very pleased to be out and about and having the attention.

Tonight, I went to the Refuge to put the birds to bed. Check in on everyone, cover them up, turn off the lights. I do a round first, giving each bird a nut of some kind. I got to Mikki. He was on the floor of his cage looking menacing.

(sigh)

I knelt down and slooowly offered him a walnut.

He took it from me. Didn't try to lunge past it and bite. Didn't throw it on the floor and try to bite me. Took it and opened it up to eat it. I told him he was a good bird and moved on. When I got back to his cage to cover him up, he was dancing around on the floor, like: "Look at me! I took the nut! And ate it! I'm a good bird!"

I gave him another one.

Mikki the Good Bird is available for adoption and you can read more about him here.