This is the only one of three chicks that our resident magpie couple raised this year that survived and is the same bird that I had a close up of a couple of weeks ago. As you can see, his grey feathers are now starting to go black. There is quite a story associated with him/her which I will tell you about as a comment
If you look at his left leg you will notice that there is a distinct break about half way up and that the leg is about twice the thickness of the right. About two weeks before we left for Hong Kong, he appeared with what was obviously a badly fractured leg. He was in a lot of pain, the leg was very swollen, and he could not stand very much and would squat down most of the time. We showered him with food so that he didn't have to go hunting for it and to try to give the leg a chance to calcify. We also contacted a bird vet who said if we could catch it, to bring it in and they would see what they could do. Decided against that for a couple of reasons and left maggie alone to see if the leg would heal. By the time we left for HK, it appeared as if he was starting to manage the leg a bit. Held our breath when we returned home and were delighted to see that the break had calcified and he was almost back to normal behaviour. He loves us.
This is such a precious picture, made all the more so with the story details. Bless your heart for doing what you could for him food-wise. He truly looks appreciative of your efforts. The photo's a prize (and a Fav!) — love the background pattern then palm leaves created. Look forward to seeing Junior Maggie in future pictures. (Sad to read that the other two youngsters didn't survive.)
My crazy macaw has not been featured in a 365 pic up until now because he started molting about the time I started this project and has since been covered in pin feathers which doesn't make for a very impressive looking parrot. I've told him repeatedly to hurry up with the preening so I could feature him in a photo. The sun's shining today which added to the design to make today the day! (He's no easy bird to take pictures of. He wants to wave, spread his wings, bow, and try to put an eye up to the lens. It takes about 30 shots to get one that's decent. He's an eternal three year old....)
I love a story with a happy ending Terry! He still looks very young he may have fallen out of the nest, some chicks just can't wait. It is really sad when they lose young, you follow through the nesting to hatching, hear the squawking in the nest at feed time, then are delighted when they finally leave the nest. We had a youngster doing really well and one day saw it had got stuck up high in between two branches and died, it was so sad!! It is so nice to see your youngster is a success story.
My crazy macaw has not been featured in a 365 pic up until now because he started molting about the time I started this project and has since been covered in pin feathers which doesn't make for a very impressive looking parrot. I've told him repeatedly to hurry up with the preening so I could feature him in a photo. The sun's shining today which added to the design to make today the day! (He's no easy bird to take pictures of. He wants to wave, spread his wings, bow, and try to put an eye up to the lens. It takes about 30 shots to get one that's decent. He's an eternal three year old....)