Mr Cotton's rope perch in and out of his house broke when I wasn't around, he fell, and went walkabout across the room to somehow climb Opie's vertical cage posts then the side of Opie's cage to the top.
He has 3 ladders in different places on his side so he must've been pretty freaked out to choose to climb with Opie's face sticking out at him - there's NO way Opie wasn't being a goof with his whole beak poking out since he does it on his own without his man crush right there! SO glad Opie isn't cage protective yet!
Cotton and Opie talk back and forth a ton throughout the day. Cotton does NOT want Opie too close - if he could fly away it would be different but he loses his balance when Opie lands next to him. Opie is slowly learning to respect Cotton telling him to back off which is really neat to see.
Opie wants to be BFF with Cotton and is like a Golden Retriever puppy trying to make friends with a stoic adult Doberman. It's pretty adorable all around.
I moved some things around Cotton's space and hung some perches/boings from the ceiling but he's not using it fully yet. I can't quite tell if it's because it's winter or if he's just annoyed at my plans
At this point he's a chronic plucker - it would be really sad to see him start to lose his flight ability and adventurous spirit
The few times he's fallen he takes longer to start hopping from place to place again and regain confidence - when six months ago he was scrambling up to the top of the window and swinging around like a monkey.
I hope I can keep tweaking his setup to find something that works for him to be able to climb all over while keeping him safe and allowing for gliding during the few weeks he does still have feathers after molting