Birdie's a GIRL!!! and other cute realizations!

Hello out there to all of Birdie's fans!
Sorry I have neglected posting about sweet Birdie... but life seems to always be too busy and complex.
I have started this update so many times, that I think I will just post it unfinished, and add to it later, as I feel so bad I have not shared about sweet Birdie recently!!!

Birdie is doing absolutely GREAT, and entertains us, amazes us and cracks us up daily!

Here's Birdie perched outside her cage, on top the flag
which serves as the background behind her cage

And sooooooo.... with a bird chirping drum roll.... the long awaited "baby gender announcement" is... Birdie has definitively revealed to us that SHE is a GIRL!!!! For a month or two we watched her baby feathers fully come in (May and June), then at about 3-4 months old (July and August) she began molting out! All her soft downy baby feathers fell off, as well as her main flight and tail feathers. I think she actually molted out all her baby feathers, as the adolescent feathers pushed through! Thankfully not all at once, as she always had the warmth of her feathers!

Here SHE is with a combination of her baby feathers molting off 

and her new feathers coming in

 Here's a great picture of Birdie admiring herself in the fireplace frame-

and you can see her new feathers coming in.

The tail-flight feathers are still quite short here.

I think Birdie has found all the reflective surfaces in the entire house!

As she lost her baby feathers, her adolescent feathers grew in, revealing the soft tan, brown, grey, blonde colors of a GIRL sparrow!!! Finally we can refer to Birdie as HER and SHE!!!
I didn't reveal her gender definitively previously, as I read somewhere that you can't be certain of their gender around 6 months. 

Here's Birdie showing off her pretty feathers a few months ago

Just look at those beautiful and perfect adolescent feathers!

Ah Birdie, you are so very perfect!

Never ceasing to amaze us, especially since 

you were so close 

to not being here...

Such a perfect little girl sparrow you are!

Birdie has been part of our lives for a little over 6 months now (May - Nov) and how she's grown and changed is nothing short of a miracle. We still marvel about her fateful fall from the nest and that we just happened to find her on the front porch, cool and almost lifeless that cold May night.... and then discovering her twisted, sprained neck situation in the next several days, which caused us to be very tentative about her survival chances.  But Birdie had an amazing will to live and she is now so perfect in every way, and just an amazing delight daily!

Since moving into her "big girl" condo-cage, Birdie has developed quite the daily routine. We keep endless supplies of seeds and treats in her cage always, but still prepare her "baby food" for her (moistened small dog kibble) daily. I had read that as birds wean themselves from "parental" feeding, they will often stop wanting to be hand fed from their humans. Not Birdie! She looks forward to us feeding her by hand (still with the original tweezers!), and she even expects it! How do I know this? She flitters and  flutters and chirps around her cage, until we prepare and bring her softened kibble to her.

Birdie has become so integrated into our family routine, that she knows the various kitchen sounds of foods being prepared that she likes.
She knows the sound of when I open the Biscotti canister in the morning
She knows the sound of us putting a few dog kibbles in her dish
She knows the sound of us running the water in the kitchen sink
She knows the sound of breakfast cereal being stirred in the bowl... and if Birdie is out of her cage... she flits over to us at the table and "demands" to share!

 She has so many recognizable traits now, that let us know when she wants to be hand fed, when she wants her water changed, when she wants to be let out of the cage and when she's ready for bed and wants her cover on. She's so smart now, that it's not easy getting her back in the cage. Birdie no longer wants to be held or wants to perch on our fingers. But she will, by her choosing lol, land on our shoulders or hands.
She loves exploring in the kitchen and her newest spots are the refrig, oven handles and microwave. And guess why??? Birdie can she her beautiful reflection, and loves to see what she might think, is another sparrow. (Not to worry, I antibacterialize all her spots she's perched on, after she is back in her cage!)

Here's Birdie hanging out on the refrigerator water dispenser!

I just wish I could post her cute videos here. I guess they are too long and detailed and this blog venue doesn't allow for that amount of data bytes???

No doubt, Birdie entertains us daily with all her funny antics and bird behaviors! But as much as she is still showing "wild" sparrow characteristics, she is so human imprinted and so entirely used to and comfortable in our human environment. She knows nothing else but us and our house.
Recently on nice days, we take her cage onto the sunny porch, ironically right near where she fell out of the nest, and let her bask in the sun. I think her bio-family has come back to the front bushes, and I think I have heard them chirping to her... funny, she doesn't seem to care... or this is all my imagination and me "anthropomorphizing"...

I suppose all things Birdie does is just natural instinct for her, but since she is living in such an "unnatural" environment for a sparrow, the things she does, are just so funny to us... as we are your bird family and you know nothing different!

I will try again... and again to post the adorable videos I have of her sitting on my hands as I type on my laptop, eating various things with us, and taking bird baths!!! Just so adorable and precious. But until then, I will post this, so the blog-o-sphere can enjoy Birdie's beauty and miraculous survival story!!!

I will end with this hilarious picture of Birdie hanging out with her human family in pictures. This has become one of her fave activities... hopping around our family pictures on the bookshelf.. and of course... leaving us her little poop presents!

We just love you so much Birdie, and we know you love us!!!