The spring bird mart is on Sunday. I just thought I'd mention it in case you didn't know. Here's the flyer: http://www.astbirdclub.org/forms/2015-04flyer.pdf

Meh, looks fun. I don't think we have anything like that around here. We have 2 bird shops and a parrot rescue, but no conventions or anything like that.

Oooo!

Stephanie, if you're anywhere close to a reasonably large city it's likely that there's a bird club in it that holds a bird mart/fair/expo at least once a year.

The bird show was neat, almost as large as the fall one. Saw tons of cool birds (again, sooooo many types of finches! So cute) including lots of IRNs. There was a green IRN that was climbing all over his cage, talking, looking people up and down in their cute way and clowning around in general. I wanted to bring him home so much along with one of the baby pineapple conures and turquoise green cheek conures. There were some pretty cockatiels too including pastel or yellow cheek ones, I can't tell those two types apart.

The prices at these shows are amazing, especially when you compare it to PetSmart. For example, the most expensive cockatiels were like $75 or so (for the pastel cheek or yellow cheek mutations) and when I stopped by PetSmart on my way home to see about donating some stuff to the rescue organization there, I peeked at the birds like I always do and they had a split pied (I think, maybe very light pied?) priced at $150.

I bought bird seed, some egg food because it seems like someone is always molting so I seem to go through it quickly, and a cool swinging mat toy for the budgies. Everything was probably half of what you'd spend buying from a store or even online.

My husband asked about the toucanets I saw last time, ha! He's the one that says no more birds for now (and he's right) so it cracks me up that he seems to want this ridiculously expensive and rare bird that probably needs a crazy diet and whatnot.

Nooooooooooooooooooo!

I have changed my aviary design after consulting Barb (oh no) and I have decided that I would have a wrap around aviary, but be divided into 2 separate aviaries. One for my boys and the other for an IRN, my latest bird obsession. I am sure I have changed my mind about 90 times, but I've been sticking to this one for about a month now, so hopefully I finally have it settled.

Ooo, I hope it works out! I don't know if I'll ever actually get one but I do like them a lot. I think they're just stunning visually and such clowns. Also, their voices are so cute that everything they say sounds as if coming from a cartoon character.

That reminds me, they also had a couple of black headed caiques there that were out squawked by a... what are the birds that are a rainbow of colors and eat nectar and fruit? I can't remember their names, but holy cow, they can be loud. Very pretty though!

Lories and lorikeets. Both are similar and eat fruit and nectar. A lory has a short tail and a lorikeet has a long tail. You are probably describing a rainbow lorikeet. They are really shrill!

There were no toucanets this time but one seller had peacocks. That was a first! A smelly first too, there was a definite barnyard aroma around them. They had straw in the bottom of their cage which was part of it but there was a definite element of stench added to it. This was the same seller who had some rainbow lorikeets in the general vicinity of his black-headed caiques.

He also had eight black-throated magpie jays which were all bought by the seller who had the toucanets last time. Hmm, I wonder what new bird they're going to start breeding. They're fairly large birds, sort of roadrunner sized.

I saw the peacocks! I forgot about those. Also, there were some chickens there too or some chicken-like birds, which I don't remember from the fall show. The magpies must have been sold before I got there, I don't recall seeing them there. That seller seems to do a lot of business though, their area was busy at the fall show and at this show.

I appreciated the sign about not buying unweaned babies, since it seemed like that seller or one next to him had a bunch of really young looking babies... some so young I couldn't tell what they were exactly.