The morning Kiwi gave us a dirty look.
Late April 2000, we planned to go for a short break in Paris. Bird carers were arranged and everything was ready. We woke up an unsuspecting Kiwi and Tovi very gently just before dawn. They had their usual pre-breakfast flying; they watched how day broke for the first time. Breakfast was nice and warm, but somewhat less than usual. While munching delicious beans, they could hear their humans rushing around. After 15 minutes, Midori and Mike came back to their room and swapped the bean mix with a cup of seed. While Kiwi was very excited to get more food, both cages were swiftly cleaned. Then they suddenly heard 'Bye bye, Kiwi and Tovi!'. Immediately Kiwi popped his head from a feeder and gave us a very very dirty look with a 'WHAT?!?' expression. Oh dear, he realized what we were up to.... I don't know how many people have ever seen a Kakariki's dirty look, but I can tell you, it is very effective. We felt very guilty to leave them behind. Nevertheless, once in Paris, we enjoyed ourselves. Of course, we checked with the bird carers whether everything was all right. The story didn't end here. When we came home, we were greeted by their excited calls, 'Come here, Kiwi~~~!!', ' I love YOU!' ' Waaaa!'. We were very touched to be welcome so enthusiastically.

The day Kiwi fancied a strawberry.
One day in April 2000, we found a nice punnet of strawberries while we were out shopping. That evening we decided to have some. Mike put some into a sieve to rinse them. Equipped with his eagle eyes, when food is concerned Kiwi never misses a chance. He flew to Mike's wrist and hurried to the edge of the sieve to grab one, just as Mike was moving the sieve under the running water. Mike chuckled and said  'Oh dear, Kiwi went under the cold water with the strawberries'. Kiwi was all right, as the water ran off his sleek feathers. Having failed with Plan A, Kiwi quickly moved to Plan B. He decided to steal one from the punnet instead. The strawberries were in a clear plastic punnet which had small holes in the lid. Being clever, Kiwi soon figured out that he could reach the strawberries through the holes. 'The timing is perfect; Mike is busy rinsing strawberries, Midori is reading papers.'  There silently he put his slender foot through a hole and grabbed the biggest strawberry, and tried to run, run, RUN! ...Uh-oh. He couldn't pull his foot back through the hole whilst holding the strawberry. When Mike noticed what Kiwi was up to, Kiwi made an effort to run away, but he didn't want to leave the strawberry behind. Dilemma. Do you wonder if Kiwi got any? Of course, he did. He dropped the one he was holding in his foot when we waved another one from the dining table. Flexibility is one of his many virtues. Kiwi and his friend, Tovi, had a satisfying time picking seeds from the strawberries that evening.

The day Kiwi fooled Tovi.
The spring of 2000 came early, so did Kiwi's hormone. In February 2000, he was already hormonal two months earlier than past years. This resulted in my hands receiving unexpected nips. One evening, he became so charged up that he started circling around Tovi again. Tovi stood still, as Kiwi approached him with beak clicking, then he started regurgitating. We held our breath and watched what would happen the next. At the moment when Kiwi was about to regurgitate for Tovi, Kiwi suddenly noticed a small crumb on Tovi's beak. He pecked it and dashed away. Tovi became furious. He didn't forgive Kiwi until he chased Kiwi in a figure 8 around the floor twice.

The day Kiwi called a help.
One evening at the end of their flying time, we heard Kiwi's desperate call in his room, 'Kiwi, I love you, I love you'. He rarely calls after Lala goes to sleep. We knew something wrong with him. We rushed to their room and found a miserable Kiwi sitting on the back of a chair and staring at Tovi in Kiwi's cage. Tovi took over Kiwi's cage. Not being able to fend for himself, he called for our help. Mike evicted Squatter Tovi, and put Kiwi in. He looked satisfied and made cluck, cluck sound with the beaks.

The day Kiwi went a circle around Tovi.
As I mentioned in Tovi's page, Kiwi is very scared of Tovi, the terrible. Kiwi usually runs away well before Tovi approaches, while they are outside of their cages. Tovi knew it, so anytime he wants his own way, he just lets Kiwi know who is a boss. On 29th of May, 1999, Tovi became very sleepy on the floor during their usual flying time. This happens once a while, probably due to previously being aviary bird, he does not take artificial lights well. Tovi's eyes were open but looked almost hypnotized. Kiwi took an advantage of the situation. Kiwi went to the floor from his usual safe perch (my shoulder), and started walking round and round around Tovi, as small children do. After making two circles, he became bolder and scratched Tovi's tail with a foot three times. Mike and I looked at each other. We knew Kiwi was asking for trouble. Being touched at the tail, Tovi became fully alert and wild, he chased Kiwi for a while until Kiwi took a refuge once again on my shoulder.

On the sixth of June, Kiwi did it again! Some birds never learn. Once again, Kiwi was threatened by Tovi's beak, and that was it.

The day Kiwi got a necklace.

One morning in May 1999, I woke up with Mike's voice. 'Oh Gosh! Ki-wiii!' I saw distressed look in his face. 'Kiwi is in a trouble.' I went to see what happened to him. Oh yeah, he did it again! Kiwi was wearing a cardboard ring like a necklace. Kiwi was showing tricks with the ring to get some melon seeds from Mike, and somehow flipped the ring over and ended up having it around his neck. Kiwi didn't look stressed, so I decided to leave it, rather than catching him and removing the ring, because he hates being caught. Mike went to work, I put Kiwi into his cage. He jumped on the highest perch and tried to remove it with his foot, but to no effect. He gave up and decided to have breakfast anyway. He climbed down upside down on the bars with feet like a lizard as usual, then the ring fell off. Kiwi had a happy breakfast.

The day Kiwi lost a toe.
In July 1998 I had to stay in the bed for the first time since we got our birds. Next day in late morning, I came down to downstairs to take Kiwi to a bathroom for his daily bath. During his bathing I found blood on my arm. I looked around my arms where I was injured, but soon realized that it was Kiwi's right foot's toe was bleeding. I dried him with a hairdryer, phoned a local vet and took him there since there were no avian vets in Kent. The vet said that the toe was fractured so it would need to be amputated. Kiwi was taken to another room, and after 10 minutes he was returned to me in a very sleepy state. After coming home, Kiwi kept looking at where the missing toe was from upside and down side, as if saying 'Funny, I'm sure there was another toe here'. He had difficulties adjusting himself for a while, especially because he was right footed. He could not hold food as firmly as before and kept dropping things. He slid down from a perch when he jumped onto it. But the most difficult thing was forgiving me since he thought that I had chopped his toe off while he had been sleepy. He had been already difficult with his rising hormone in adolescence and after this accident he became impossible for me to handle for some months. He finally forgave me however, but still doesn't like the carrier which I used to take him to the vet.

The day Kiwi found grapes in the fridge.
One day Mike opened the fridge door to see what  we could make for a dinner, for three seconds or so we stared at the inside and found nothing inspiring. When Mike was about to close the door, Kiwi shot down and was about to bite off a grape from a bowl in the fridge. Mike almost shut him in.