It has been a few days since the last Phoebe update. The most visible development is that one of Phoebe’s wing feathers is hanging off of him at a weird angle because it’s barely still attached. Phoebe has apparently been chewing at the feather, and I’m sure he’ll sever it entirely within the next day or two. It’ll grow back again, but for now all of Phoebe’s long feathers are on his tail.

Phoebe has been going to his cafe for the past several days. After I get a coffee to go, I give him the cardboard sleeve and he runs around on the tabletop outside to toss it. The past couple of times, Phoebe has had people stop to play with him — mostly his friends who work at the cafe and one of the regular customers who he knows. I’m always worried that Phoebe will inadvertently bite their fingers when he’s in play mode — because he’s inadvertently gotten me plenty of times while playing — but I think he’s being careful to not bite his friends.

Phoebe also got to eat a Patter bar, which is basically a nut bar with date filling. We have a system where Phoebe picks out the nuts and I eat away at the date part to expose more nuts for him.

Even though pet birds should be eating vegetables, Phoebe hates them for the most part. Whenever I make a salad, I certainly offer it to him. But of course, he’s only looking for shredded cheese, croutons, or nuts. Any salad without those ingredients gets ignored or tossed on the ground.

Finally, Phoebe got one of his favorite toys: an empty toilet paper roll. Obviously, they come infrequently, unless we get a large donation from our friends. Phoebe used to enjoy tossing the toilet paper roll and chasing it on the floor. A single roll could last two or three days so long as he was just chasing it. Now, he seems to prefer shredding it immediately. So it lasts all of five minutes and he has to wait another week or two before getting a new one.

One thing I’m trying to do, within reason, is let Phoebe guide us when we’re outside. When we walk down the street, he’ll often make shrieking sounds. I don’t know if he’s just calling out to his flock, announcing his presence, or something else. But I do want to give him some autonomy in what we’re doing. So I stop every couple of feet and wait for him to indicate with his wings. Sometimes, he takes us right back inside. Other times, he’ll point me in the direction of his favorite spots. There’s a lot less vocalizing when he’s getting to flutter and indicate where we should go. But occasionally I need to be in charge when I believe he needs to go be social with his friends, or I don’t have time to spend traveling at his pace.