Poor Adira has been having some problems lately with her tailfeathers. In the last couple of days, she’s broken off all the tailfeathers on the right side — which is the same side as her injured foot and the bad wing.

She doesn’t seem to be plucking, she does seem to be terribly rough on her tailfeathers in particular: mauling them in determined preening sessions until I can hear the feather shaft cracking. It’s honestly freaking me out. After losing both Lyta and Vir so recently, my head is not in a good place. So, not only does Adira have an appointment with her vet on Friday, but we’re going to take her to Kim’s father tonight for a quick check-up.

I’m ridiculously lucky in that not only is ‘Grandpa’ an avian vet, but Grandpa’s best friend (and the gentleman we got Ivy from) is an actual avian expert. Her current avian vet is awesome and she’s been seeing the babies along with Grandpa for the last seven years. So I know that Adira is in good hands.

Kosh has picked up that I’m worried and is refusing to leave me, which is making typing difficult but I am incredibly grateful for the kisses. He usually saves preening for Kim, who he has strongly bonded to, but the little guy keeps preening my eyebrows, which is a sensation I am not quite used to.

Speaking of the boy, he’s been spitting out new phrases like crazy in the past couple of days. He just said “Oh, I think so.”, which I’ve never heard before. And I got “You are the BEST boy!” an hour ago, which was something I said to him for the first time (and only once) this weekend.

It honestly amazes me how quickly he picks things up. His vocabulary is huge and he seems to learn phrases most easily if they are said with affection. Excitement helps, but it appears to be affection that makes the difference.