Wind him up

Wuji has decided his new cage is nice.  I can barely squeeze through the door and since there are no other opening parts, I can hardly talk him into coming out if he doesn't want to.  He just inverts his body, climbs on the ceiling and presents his beak.  So I pet him and I wheedle and I tickle.  Spin, spin, spin my finger around his face.  He twists his head in figure eights and bounces upside down in a crazy dance.  "Why did you want me to come out again?" he asks as he slips his beak under my nose. 

"The better to kiss you, my dear." 

Now there's two of them--birds who are nonviolently protesting my requests. 

Wuji waits until he sees me coerce Heyoka out.  What a challenge.  Upside down, she's half baby bird and half ten thousand pounds of pressure.  I have to herd her up in to the corner of the cage.  I wrap most of my arm around her body and unhook her feet.  I wait for her to panic as the wire slips between her beak.  She lets go! 

"Eiiiiigh!  The monster has me!  The monster has me!"
(see this link from a year ago)  http://has20birds.gaia.com/blog/2008/11/heyoka-rising

"No I don't!"  She's practically on my shoulder already,  "See?"  She stands up. 

I preen and cuddle her.  That's some regal position of dominance I've got going on, eh?

The next morning Wuji comes out first thing.  Sunny knocks some wood off the shelf and stretches to see what I'm doling out.  She is calculating whether it's worth jumping in the open bag of yummies to get them.