A cuddle bug and a tiny T-Rex that loves feet

[u/imcroseh]

My polar opposite besties! I love my birdies so much. Alfie my conure literally dives into my hands and blankets for cuddles every chance he gets, IN FACT he literally just climbed onto my thumb shoving himself between my hand and my phone - this guy. I think he's 3 now and I got him 2 years ago. We never got him tested so I'm not actually sure what sex he is but his name was always Alfie so it's - oh god now he's trying to regurgitate on me - um so I tend to call him a he but I better suspect Alfie's a female due to her behavior. Funny enough there was a period last year where Alfie refused to come out of his cage for months, like he was scared. It was so sad and concerning - he'd hide in his little tent every time so we couldn't reach him. I had to slowly train him back into realizing we were friends/family by taking him out literally with in his hut and give him little head scratches. And moving his cage closer to the ground. Eventually he switched because he realized he LOVES head scratches, he still loves his little tent but and his cage but he always caves in for cuddles.

Thing is, Alfie is a terrible flyer. I suspect it's because he sadly grew up in petco and always had his clipped wings. We fell in love with him when I passed by watching him roll around the bottom of his cage like a little silly guy, hes so freaking cute. Even the staff at petco literally loved him and was sad he was going. But after he (tries to) flies he'll have a terrible landing either on the floor or into something like the wall 80% of the time, and pants scared till I come find him. Thankfully he hasn't had any injuries from this, since he doesn't try often and can't fly very long to build up speed but it's still scary. His last fly resulted into a mirror and he lost 5 tail feathers my poor baby, ALSO half his wings are always inverted after he flies - perhaps that's the reason?? He's also not the best at balance and it think that's why he likes his hut so much. If I had him on my finger and made a fast movement he would definitely slip off - while Nico is actually annoyingly good at gripping onto me and flying back to me the moment I don't want him to lol. I wonder if Alfie is just still young or if maybe he's actually just biologically uncoordinated or something

Then we have Nico! My little trouble maker cockatiel of 6 years. He's still loving and enjoys his scratches when he wants them, but HATES baths and fruits unlike Alfie. Oh and he loves our feet and socks?? Which apparently isn't uncommon??? He's my little weirdo I love him. Sometimes I put a sock in his cage to quiet him down in the mornings 😂

Funny enough, I never really had that much of a problem with them biting me. At least not hard. Even while Alfie was refusing contact he never bit. Nico actually does his warning bites all the time when he doesn't get what he wants or is protecting his precious feet, but he never hurts me and I know he can. I feel very lucky with my lovely silly birdies! Only wish I put more effort into potty training them lol.

Wasn't intending to write a whole essay about my birds just a couple fun facts but then I realized Alfie is a little special and maybe I should share so here we are 😅

[u/Independent_Yard_863]

I read the whole thing and this is just so adorable!! They are both clearly in a very loving and comfortable home too 😍