30 Birds Get Soaking Wet

Our monthly group bath

Max wants to get wetter

Bright eyes focus on me. I alter their morning routine by yanking up the poop-covered newspaper lining the floor and wiping down cages. I lay down plastic sheets on the floor and their excitement increases. It is bath day. The sight of a water-filled spray bottle in my hand confirms it.

The Amazons push to the front. They insist on being first. A beak thump on my head tells me to stop fiddling with the nozzle, and start spraying warm water on them. I comply. Satisfied cries, spreading wings, and tail feathers urge me on. More, more. The water bottle needs many refills.

Wet all my feathers.

Please soak my upper back.

A dripping, happy Ziggy

I move on to the doves, parakeets, and cockatiels. The smaller birds do not stay in one place. They spread their wings for a spray and then they fly off, returning in seconds for another spray. The small birds give me a workout.

Female cockatiel waiting her turn for a spray.

A very wet Ollie.

Bath day ends with puddles, dripping perches, and a room of content birds tending to their wet feathers.