Welcome to our page for Piper and Hubble.

We love parrots because of their personalities, natural curiosity and playful nature. When our Cockatiel of 10 years died in late 2004, we began looking for another parrot. Because of Mark being in school and us living in an apartment, we wanted another smaller parrot. Laura studied and learned of Parrotlets, a high octain parrot in a small package. They have personalities like that of a large parrot and yet they are very small so they are an ideal pet for us right now. We first decided on a male Blue Pacific Parrotlet that we named Piper. While visiting Piper, we met Hubble. Both have great personalities and they will be great companions for each other when we are not at home. (Parrots are strongly social and love to play, so having two is ideal.) Feel free to email us about our birds if you are curious or have questions. The aviary we chose was Eggcentric.

Date

Description (click on small pictures to see larger ones)

We are very sad because Hubble was very sick this morning and died by this evening. It was very fast and he did not appear to be in pain. He seemed to have trouble climbing the cage, and became weak very quickly. He seemed less mobile by the hour. We do not know what caused this, but we will sure miss him.

Piper is fine but we are paying LOTS of attention to him as he will be mourning the loss of his brother. He was showing signs of anxiety and tried to be with Hubble as we were hand feeding Hubble. So we recognize the importance of keeping him with us and keeping him reassured that he is in our flock.

Hubble and Piper are behaving quite a bit better, which is saying a LOT for such curious and active brains. They are staying off the floor (we were having a disobedience problem about this issue) and are more likely to be cooperative. For example, I've had a problem with them biting the keys on my computer keyboard. I had to repeat "no" (and move them) way too often. They are now MUCH more obedient about it, even though it does not involve flying. I said "no" only twice this morning and they stopped (and I did not have to move them.. they remained on my desk playing with my pens and paper shavings).

We look forward to allowing them to fly at some point, but for training, they must remain clipped for a while. They are SO cute and it's more fun to have them with us because they are more obedient.

We have let Piper and Hubble fly freely for quite some time, but recently they began to resist obeying. We are well aware that the ability to fly well can often cause birds to have bad attitudes (sassy, disobedient, etc., depending on the bird's personality). So regretfully, we clipped their wings (that does NOT hurt them... it's like clipping your fingernails).

It took a bit of training for them because they are accustomed to flying to our shoulders, etc. But now they cannot. They must depend on us to get them. They had to learn that they cannot fly from the window sill to the cage, but rather, they must walk to a small ladder that we provided. Within two hours, they were aclimating well.

Piper and Hubble help themselves to our sandwich.

Hubble and Piper are beginning to understand a few words. "No" was understood fairly early. But their understanding of a few others is surprising me. It often helps to repeat the word several times when you want them to comply. The words that they are understanding include:

• Stay - meaning do not fly away right now. They don't always obey, but they seem to understand the meaning and are beginning to obey
• Quiet - especially useful when one is on my shoulder and the other is elsewhere. They peep to stay in communication with each other. But sometimes it's very loud in my ear so we try to keep the volume down. It's working, but they need frequent reminders.
• Up - This is when they are are on something that they should not be on (including the floor). They will generally fly off the object and to a better location. This is sometimes for their safety (e.g. the floor is dangerous because they are so small and easily missed) or for the safety of the item that they may chew apart. :-)

I'm trying to teach them to say the word "Chirp." I think that would be cute. :-)

Soichi and Aiko came over for our Thanksgiving dinner and the birds liked them.

Hubble (green) and Piper (blue) very quickly felt at home with Aiko and burrowed in her hair as they do with Laura.

Hubble and Piper flew to Mark's cereal bowl and began eating.

This morning the birds wanted to be on our shoulders. It's rewarding to see their bond to us growing. When one of us comes home from work, the birds become excited and want to be with us. Yet, they have a great bond with each other too, so they are happy during the day when neither of us are home.

Piper and Hubble continue to display more of their personalities. Hubble is still more reserved with people. They are both very curious. Piper is more aggresive than previously thought. It isn't clear which is dominant. They fight periodically, but are great friends. The pictures below are still good representations of how they look, however, I will post more as I have time.

They are learning a lot. They clearly know what "no" means. They also learn what we do and don't like such as, we do not allow them to be on the floor. They're going through a time of testing with the floor, so we have to be extra watchful. They clearly know that they are not supposed to be there. But they don't always obey when we are not looking. Given persistence, they will learn though. They already quiet down when we scold them for being too loud. Their learning capability is very interesting to watch.

Piper and Hubble both welcomed the relaxing time with Laura and I (respectively). Hubble now is in the habit of burrowing while Mark is holding him and he does a slight wing flutter (what seems to be a sign of trust and enjoyment. Piper has done this from the beginning, but it took until this time for Hubble to feel a bond enough to do this). We need to get those toys that allow them to crawn through cloth tunnels, etc. We are enjoying having Piper and Hubble.

Hubble began warming up to Mark more than before. The bond between the birds was clearly strong, but being separate did not take as much insistence.

Each night we are holding them in a very relaxed position and spending time "preening" and petting them. Piper loves it, but Hubble does not. We had to be insistent with Hubble that he could not go back to Piper whenever he wanted. He had to become accostomed to being handled separately. This was likely just a period of getting to know us. He was clearly not afraid. He just wanted to be with Piper. The bond was there, but was not with us humans.

To our surprise, Piper is the one who tends to go places first, and Hubble follows. It appears that Hubble didn't feel as part of "our flock" as Piper did. I'm not sure all the reasons, but Hubble doesn't like to be apart from Piper.

We came home from the beach and went immediately to pick up Piper and Hubble. The first night was fine. They didn't act frightened, but they didn't know us, thus didn't seem to have a great drive to be on us (as expected). Often birds are frightened the first day so we felt good that they didn't act frightened. They didn't act very bonded to each other either.

Piper and Hubble seem very relaxed for a first night in their new home.

We agreed to take Hubble too.

The Visit to see Piper

We visited Piper and met Hubble too. Here are some pictures. During this visit we began considering taking Hubble too. Later we decided to do so. They are only one month apart and they are brothers, although from a different clutch.

	Piper gets his head scratched
	Four birds are on Mark. The two on top, Pip and Hubble, flew there.
Piper's parents: Mother Wilma (green) & Father Fred (blue). Yes, Fred and Wilma. :-)
	Hubble and Pip on Mark's head
	Piper is on Laura's head while Hubble reaches for him
	Mark and Laura with Hubble and Piper

A growing Piper

	Piper plays in the Bird Gym
Piper shows his wings

Hubble as he was maturing

	Hubble is at home in this basket.
	Hubble is in front of his siblings, Pip and Sprout.
	Hubble is nearest the white cockatiel
	Hubble's beautiful wings are showing here.

Piper was Hatched

	Piper is the third one in these pictures.
	Piper is in the middle
	Piper is on the right

Hubble soon after He Was Hatched

Here are some pictures from when he was very young

		Hubble has fewer feathers and is on the right in these three shots.
	Hubble, with his head poking out, is under the White Cockatiel