Day 3 here has Fish making very steady progress as he becomes more comfortable with his new surroundings. I brought up a mobile perch stand for him as a place for him to go outside the cage. I just placed it near the cage so he could get on himself as he isn't ready to step up at all yet. I put a tray of washed pebbles, foot toys, nuts, and some other things on the bottom tray to see if that would entice him to come out and on to the stand. It worked! Within a few minutes he was cautiously ducking out taking a quick look and then retreating, going a little farther each time. Finally he jumped down to grab a nut and then back into the cage to enjoy it. The next trip surprised me because he discounted the treats and instead grabbed a small rubber ducky to take back and play with.
Later in the evening we just left the cage open while we watched TV. Fish was constant entertainment and we ended up watching him more than the Penguins game. He climbed all over the cage playing with different toys and chewing on the 2x4 perch. He frequently came out and stood on the door furiously flapping his wings and vocalizing. While he was wild caught and could probably fly at some point the condition of his feathers is so bad that flight looks impossible for the time being. The feather condition could be the result of several factors including damage from inadequate cage size, barbering, plucking, and possibly not not being able to molt due to poor conditions and diet. Hopefully with a better cage, better food, and lots of love and attention he will get a better set of feathers.
Overall we are very pleased with his progress so far. He has seemed very frightful and skittish in quarantine and we thought it would take him a lot longer to start to adjust. It just goes to show how resilient these wild caught birds can be!