Encounters With Some Citizens of the Bird World End In Tears

Lyra, with the aid of Eloise, today picked up her own chicken for the first time, and was very pleased with herself.

All went well until Eloise tried to take young Amy the Chicken away, whereupon she took fright, flapped her wings and scraped Lyra's cheek with her feathers. Lyra wasn't really happy about that, and expressed her displeasure in predictable ways. Cuddles and the administration of her favourite drink soon brought the pain under control, though.

She now has a pretty good scrape mark running up her face, which will be interesting to explain at childcare tomorrow.

Later, in a similar incident, we were visiting some friends who have taken in a stray parrot. Whilst trying to tract down the owners, the parrot is confined to the bathroom. It's a Quaker Parrot, also known as a Monk Parakeet. Eloise was very happy indeed to have the bird perch upon her shoulder.

Her happiness was also short-lived as the damn bird shortly decided to explore the contours of Eloise's collarbone with its beak, in not a very gentle way. Eloise expressed her displeasure, also in predictable ways. Cuddles and the application of a Calamine placebo soon had the pain under control, though.