Hunting Beetles

Sammy has become quite the hunter during the past couple of days.  He has been flying down from perches catching and eating grasshoppers on the ground.  He holds one in his beak for a couple seconds at a time, then drops it, picks it up again, shakes it a bit, holds it, drops it and repeats this process until he decides it's ready to be swallowed whole.  He seems to prefer the smaller, green grasshoppers over the bigger brownish ones.

He has caught a few moths in his aviary either on the ground or on his feeding platform, holding them and dropping them as well before he eats them.  I catch moths at night under the porch lights and release them in his aviary in the morning. And, of course, he stills loves his mealworms!

And new for him, he now "hunts" black ground beetles.  These I find under rocks for him and place them on his feeding platform or on the ground for him to hunt.  Today, he saw one on the grass, flew down, caught it and beat it up before he ate it.

Here are a couple of videos showing off Sammy's beetle hunting skills.

So although he is becoming quite the little hunter, he is still quite the little beggar!  When I enter his aviary, he quivers his wings, leans forward, cheeps and gapes wide open for a free meal.  What a cutie!

Sammy is still enjoying his baths, he gets himself totally drenched and then meticulously preens his feathers.  He's also been drinking water during the day.

Sammy relaxing on my shoulder

Cuddle time before "bed" happened again last night.  His choice, and I still believe if that is what he needs/wants - company, companionship and comfort - then who was I to deny him?  He nestled right in against my neck and sat there quietly for about 15 minutes before I put him to bed for the night.

I put a sideways kleenex box, with the "entrance" side completely cut out, in a corner of his indoor cage, lined with a few kleenexes.  Eastern Bluebirds are known to roost in cavities and even nestboxes, and I thought he might like sleeping in it.  I placed him in it at lights out last night and this morning, he was still in there when I uncovered his cage.  Sammy had a good long stretch before he hopped out of the kleenex box, then he perched on the opening of his cage for a few seconds before flying out and landing on my shoulder.  He must have liked the kleenex box to roost in, maybe the shelter it provides him, it gave him a feeling of security too.

Today, Sammy is 33-34 days old.