Arika's world, from the beginning

Just wanted to kick off a running compilation of photos and videos of Arika's life.

As new photos and videos are available, we will update. This is the first try at embedding a video from YouTube. Lets see how it goes.

Lets try fixing a broken video link. Nice to have the ability to edit old posts now !!!

Arika was 11 weeks old and still at the bird farm. She just returned to the nursery after our visit. She was getting acquainted with her mentor (who is a little older) and she just decided to step all over her buddy, flap her wings and chase her friend off.

Thanks
Kelly, Karl, and Arika

Trying to catch up on some of the videos we took while we were visiting Arika at the Bird Farm. She was just 13 weeks old and we didn't even have a name for her at the time we took this video.

She was exercising her wings a lot and just caught it in slow-mo.


We hope you enjoy.

Kelly, Karl, and Arika

I am going to love this thread! The first video cracked me up, the subtitles were awesome. The second was so cool in slo-mo, looked like she was going in for a kiss at one point!

Another precious moment one weekend while we were visiting her at the bird farm.
She was fed before we arrived, we had her out for about 2 hours and she was ready for a nap. She's about 12 weeks old here.

Kelly, held her, talked softly and she started dozing off in her arms.
Yes, she had already stolen our hearts



Thanks
Kelly, Karl, and Arika

She’s so beautiful! Looking forward to more photos and videos

Arika's World
So you have seen some early pictures and videos of Arika and hopefully had a few Awwws and laughs.
But we need to go back even further, when she was first hatched.

At the time, we did not know that it would start on May 10, 2017.
Arika hatched in Florida and was introduced to this world.

We didn't know her, and had no intentions at looking at another feathered friend.
We were also unaware that what was about to happen, would change PJ's, Arika's and our lives forever.

When Arika was hatched, PJ was still with us dealing with his illness.
Little did we know that 1 day after Arika came into this world, sadly PJ would be leaving to fly across the Rainbow Bridge.

So began a period of emptiness, pain and sadness for Kelly and myself.
Meanwhile Arika was being well cared for and learning the basics of survival (fortunately in very good hands).
It took a while but Kelly and I realized that it was too quiet in the house and that our triangle was broken.
We started casually searching for a new feathered friend.

We called several rescues and for various reasons, that we won't go into, it just wasn't meant to be.
We called a few avian shops, and came upon a place on the Eastern Shore in Delaware.
One weekend we drove 3 hours to meet the owner and visit with some feathered friends.

We were very impressed. Kelly was visiting with a Catalina Macaw and I was making friends with a Ruby Green Wing Macaw.
Both were less than 1 year old and that was the first time we handled a bird larger than our Sever Macaw, PJ.
We left the shop, we cried happy and sad tears, and decided to discuss a future feathered friend in more detail.

After much more research, we decided on a Blue and Gold Macaw.
We made another trip to the Birdfarm searching for more information.
They didn't have any Blue and Golds there but were making a trip to Florida soon to pick up many new birds.

We decided to place a deposit and wait patiently.
Several weeks later, we were informed that they picked up several Blue and Golds and that we should come to the shop to meet our new baby.

So it began, weekend trips to the Eastern Shore to visit and to establish a bond with our new family member. We did not miss one weekend. We've shared many of those beautiful moments with all the members here.

One of the first pictures of Arika



Finally, September 8, 2017 came. She received lots of love and attention from us and the people at the Birdfarm.
It was time for her to leave the nest for her new home.
She did well on the the 3 hour trip and settled in to her new condo with no problems.




We took her to the vet several days later, she got along great with her Doctor and received a clean bill of health.
The wall poster couldn't be more true !



Our little girl is now 8 months old, full of life, love, surprises and mischief. She is vocalizing well, laughing, and her weight has increased from 770g to 941g.

She is going through a molt and is experiencing some grumpiness, but its not too bad.


Our triangle is back and stronger than ever. Life is good.
Now you know how it really started, from the very beginning.

Spoiled Mush Mac

Thanks
Kelly, Karl, and Arika (Mush Mac)

Thanks Kelly and Karl! A wonderful thread, looking forward to the adventures of Arika for many pages!

Just wanted to share a very short video of her "Using her Stepper" on the front of the condo.
She has no problem gripping the bars when she wants to.
I think she just gets a kick out of sliding her feet on the bars.

Arika enjoyed some snap peas, peppers, cauliflower, broccoli, kale, collard greens, applesauce, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries this morning. She loved her gourmet breakfast but was a complete mess by the time she finished.

Since she does not like the water spray bottle and has even more dislike for the shower, this is the only way we were able to get her to enjoy a bath and actually have fun while doing it.

We use a large plastic tray from a restaurant supply house filled with warm water, she has no problem hopping in and we drizzle the warm water over her like a rain shower with a paper towel.

While we were at the restaurant supply house we looked at some large roaster pans thinking that would be a little deeper and possibly better but somehow putting our loved feather friend in a roaster pan just didn't seem right even if it was just for a bath LOL

After her bath, we moved to the hallway where she received a nice warm blow dry (no teflon in the dryer). Kelly held her and she rotated around so we could warm her up and get her nice and dry before joining us in the living room to watch some TV. We are very proud of her, she did excellent. A little eye pinning, but not too bad and no injuries

For any of those that have feathered friends with a dislike for showers, this may be worth a try.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2HILrFJDpg"]Arika Bath Time - YouTube[/ame]

Enjoy..... we did

Thanks
Kelly, Karl, and Arika

She’s adorable. :heart: Great thread thanks for sharing. :smile049:

I would love to see Arika getting a blow dry! That video was so cute. I’m glad you’ve been able to find what she likes. All the berries are super messy! Sunny guts them then drops the skin and leaves them all over the carpet!

Looking forward to more Arika videos!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I thoroughly enjoyed myself! Thank you!
The Rickeybird loves the blowdryer, too, and I'm glad, way up here in arctic Cleveland winters...
Congratulations on how well everything's turning out!

Sunnybirb said:

I would love to see Arika getting a blow dry! That video was so cute. I’m glad you’ve been able to find what she likes. All the berries are super messy! Sunny guts them then drops the skin and leaves them all over the carpet!

Looking forward to more Arika videos!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

We will work on another bath time video and see what we can get for her interaction with the blow dryer. She looks nice and her bath.

Much thanks for all the nice compliments.

Kelly, Karl, and Arika

Tami2 said:

She’s adorable. :heart: Great thread thanks for sharing. :smile049:

Click to expand...

Thank you for your kind words and we are very proud to share.

I was at the eyeglass store with Kelly and while she was looking at new frames and I chatted with another couple about our baby Arika. I showed them some photos of her and they paid me the compliment that I was obviously a proud Daddy! I guess I was bragging a lot

Tami, we were looking at your photo album and your photos are fantastic. We hope to break out the pro gear soon and spend more time on better photos of Arika.

Thanks
Kelly, Karl, and Arika

GaleriaGila said:

I thoroughly enjoyed myself! Thank you!
The Rickeybird loves the blowdryer, too, and I'm glad, way up here in arctic Cleveland winters...
Congratulations on how well everything's turning out!

Click to expand...

Thanks and glad you enjoyed the video. That day was her second or third time with the blow dryer and she did really good. She was a little wary of it the first time but the nice warm air changed her mind quickly.

Glad to hear Rickeybird likes the blow dryer too. We watched a video of other birds getting a blow dry after a bath and decided to try it. Glad we did!

Thanks
Kelly, Karl, and Arika

We'll be working on another bath and blow dry video tomorrow but wanted to post this older video from when she was only about 11 - 12 weeks old. Posted with Terri's permission.

She was still in her little basket from the nursery, and we just finished our visit with her at the birdfarm We gave her back to Terri so she could return her to the nursery. Terri just couldn't resist giving her some love before returning her to the rest of the babies. It was so hard to leave after our visits, but we knew it would make a difference later. We are so glad we went there every weekend to see her.


Enjoy
Kelly, Karl, and Arika

Arika is becoming a little more vocal lately. A few more "Hello's", "Hi's", and we think her attempt at singing or trying to say "la la la". We've yet to capture that on video but have a plan ! We'll let you know how that turns out.

She is recognizing our vehicles from her window when we pull up to the front of the house. If I'm home before Kelly and she parks in front of the house, Arika will let me know.

We just uploaded another Arika bath video that we did last weekend.
Also, per request, the best we could do at capturing her getting a blow dry.
Everyone had a lot of fun and she looked so fluffy and clean when we were finished.

We hope you enjoy and have a few laughs. We sure did



Thanks
Kelly, Karl, and Arika

Love the videos, Kelly and Karl! Arika is beautiful and so well adjusted. Bonding early paid off!

I so love the bathing and blow dry videos! Arika is such a beauty, wet or dry.

Scott said:

Love the videos, Kelly and Karl! Arika is beautiful and so well adjusted. Bonding early paid off!

Click to expand...

Thanks very much for the compliments. We believe the weekly visits while she was at the BirdFarm made a huge difference. She had a lot of socialization while there but seeing us every weekend made our bond stronger and was definitely the highlight of our week.

She is doing very well, and starting to show a little independence too.
We had her out with us for a few hours in the living room. She was on Kelly's lap when she suddenly took off. She didn't go far and landed softly about 8 ft away on the carpet in the hallway. I got up to retrieve her and noticed that she was waddling towards her room so I decided to see how this would unfold. She walked into her room, all the way over to her condo, lifted herself up on the door and stood on the bottom grate. She turned around and looked at me so proud as if to say "Look what I did". I guess she was finished visiting us and decided it was time to chill out in her room. Sigh...... They grow up so fast LOL

Thanks
Kelly, Karl, and Arika (AKA Princess Poops A Lot)