 She looks like a teenager in the 80s trying to pose for glamour shots. I look like an alien. Hello my fellow snippers, flighters and hatchlings. My name is Merlene McCoy and welcome to my channel. If you love birds, you're going to love this channel. If you don't know anything about birds, watch this channel because you're going to love the channel because you're going to be like, wait, what? Birds do that? Yes, it's crazy. I'm still in my pajamas. Hey, it's like 2pm. What time is it? In my pajamas because I've been posting to Patreon, posting to videos, editing, Instagramming, all this stuff and I didn't have time to get fresh today. But those of you who just watched the video on blue going home, I'm sure you guys were looking for an update. So here we are today to help Leo. I've invited Tracy over with Bella because Leo loves little kids. So I thought this was going to, you know, perk him up a bit. So let's see his reaction. Okay, Bella, let's go see Leo. Do you want to see Leo? Yeah. Okay. Let's make Leo happy today, shall we? Look at this. Look at how excited. Where's Leo? Happy. You want to play with him? Okay. Here comes Leo. Can you sit down over there and we'll play with Leo on over here? Pick a spot. Let's play with Leo. Okay. Leo's going to be happy. He's going to be happy. It's going to be exciting for Leo. Bella, Leo had a friend and Leo's mad at me. Leo's like, leave me alone, mom. This is my time. Whoa. That with the yellow jacket. Can I see your shirt? Oh my God. That's so cute. Meanwhile, I literally think Monty is poking a hole in my raincoat. Look Leo's running towards me like, get up, mom. By the way, Tracy, he's cheering that you left. He's like, the mother is gone. Look at him. Again. Rocky again, please. Rocky entertaining the children. Clap for Rocky. So he knows you liked it. Show everyone how stunning you are and how iridescent your feathers are. Everyone wants to see Rocky. Look at those feathers. Thank you for sharing. Did I look good sharing? Are you trying to look like such a good mom on camera or something? No. I'm trying. I was joking. I'm just joking. I'm so happy it's with an animal. You do? On. Okay. So guys, when kids want to hold birds, one thing they can be sensitive to is the bird's nails. I mean, we all can, but kids especially. So I just want to get her prepped with like an extra shirt. All right. You ready? Okay. So Leo, as you guys know, is going to be a little angry at me for involving myself. So I got to show her how to get Leo on herself. So put your hand down over here. Yeah. Now keep it stable. You always want to help the kid keep their hand stable. So sometimes kids will think they want to hold a bird and then they'll get fearful and they'll move their arm, which is not good for the bird, obviously. You want to keep your head away from Leo so he can come up. He can come up to your arm. Okay. Yeah. He's going to climb, climb, climb to see. Climb, climb, climb, climb, climb, climb to your shoulder. Okay. Give him a ramp. Come on Leo. Come on Leo, your turn. Okay. I'm away. Okay. He loved you the other day when Bella wasn't here. I guess he just wants to play with you. What? Mommy says so yes. Bella, what are the rules about chocolate? Who can't have chocolate? That's right. That's right. Okay. He's waiting patiently for his friends. What? Hold on. Come here. Let me see that. What is it? Can you say hello my sniffers? I want to give you guys some updates on Leo. It's Leo. It is Leo. So Leo is doing really well. He has cried. He cries about once a day, sometimes twice. We know it's a cry because we never heard it before. When you hear it, you just kind of know it's like a cry for blue. But other than that, he's doing well. Gwen has been sending the videos of blue. All the things she's doing with blue. She has put blue in the aviary. Took blue to the park in a carry-on. Playing an instrument for blue. I didn't see the instrument. I heard it. I don't know what it was. It seems to like that. So I'm very excited to report that I'm getting lots of videos. I'm enjoying them. So Gwen, thank you so much. Some other interesting facts are that Leo has been obviously into having a friend because he's been going to George and you guys know how he feels about George. So he likes to get attention anywhere he can right now. Do you want your pacifier? Yeah. Okay. It's your shoulder. Do you know how to relax your shoulder? Yeah. Okay. Relax it. You can put your shoulder down. Yeah. There you go. You're so cute. You're having a good time. I love you. I love Rocky. Why do you love Rocky? He doesn't play with you. Do you love birds? Yeah. Why? Are they the best? Leo's mad at me. Leo's like, leave me alone, mom. I got this. Stop harassing me. She looks like a teenager in the 80s trying to pose for glamour shots. I look like an alien. Okay guys, so on my first video of my thoughts about like, you know, prepping you guys and me for blue going home, I got a comment with a lot of questions that I thought maybe I should address and answer. Unfortunately, I did not screenshot who the comment was from because I screenshotted the part with all the questions. So I'm sorry about that. I really wanted to give you a shout out for all the questions, but I failed. You have eight questions here and I thought that you guys would be interested as well. And the first one is, did they keep in regular contact with me during this time? Yes, they did. They kept me updated. We gave them a car and situations like that. So we were very often updated and in touch. The second question is, did they ever visit blue? And if so, how often they actually did try to visit blue, but our schedule like my schedule, we were like in and out of town and just you guys between making like videos and trying to get boxes out and just doing all these different things and then my own school and my own rehearsals for school and my own other jobs. It was just really hard. Plus there's a great distance between us. So we had a lot going on. So yeah, they did try and it didn't happen. It would have made a cool video too. I would have liked to do it, but it didn't happen. Number three is so they watch my channel to keep tabs on blues life. Yes, they did as far as I know they did. I also sent them videos sometimes in the beginning. It was hard to be in touch because they didn't have like, you know, internet and such. But yeah, they did. They watched the channel for were they aware that blue had a bond with Leo when they asked them back? Yes, they were. As you guys saw in the video previously, that was really nice what she said. She said that I knew of that, but I really just wanted a chance with my bird that got me through hard times. And I totally understand and respect that. And I would have wanted that too because they're not exactly the same species. So in time passing, like I'm sure that it's all going to be okay. It just was so cute and lovely to watch. And you know, birds do have feelings. So, you know, it is hard to, you know, have that end. But I understand she wanted a shot with her bird. Five, what took them so long to get back on their feet even after the go fund me and you got them a car? Well, guys, we are in California, California. When people told me it was expensive here. When I first moved here, I had no idea until I got here, like the severity of that situation. I remember being in the grocery store and I wanted like Wonder Bread. You guys know I don't eat bread now, but like, and it was like something like five dollars and I was just like, oh my God, everything is expensive. Every single thing. It's just very hard to live here. Rents are astronomical and they took the time to also stay living in the car so that they could build up funds for them to have a really good start, not just move in and then have to live moment to moment. So I thought that was pretty wise. Did six, did they seem appreciative of the car that they bought and do they still have it? Yes, they do still have it. Side note, they did stay in the car for a while. It got them around, but it broke down. George did offer to help them with that, but they didn't contact us for a while. I think they're just so sweet. Like really, like, you know, I think they have a lot of, I don't know if the right word is pride, but like, you know, they're not takers. So I understand, but they have since bought the car like a new transmission and she said that living in the car was, you know, gave them, you know, a place to sleep and all that because they were out on the streets for a while there. So at least they had that. So they were very, very appreciative to me and those of you who helped on GoFundMe and all your words of encouragement. Seven, were they even stable when they got blue? You saw the last video. They have a place of their own. They have literally two cages for blue and aviary for blue. They have a lot of different things for blue. So I would consider them pretty stable. She has a really good job and so does he. And they're just, you know, getting their stuff sorted. When I moved to my apartment in Los Angeles, I don't think I had furniture for like eight months. That's just how hard it is here. So I had a bed, but like I had no furniture. Have I been able to assess if they're stable enough now? That's number eight in the last question. Yes, I think they are stable enough. She shared with me some facts that, you know, it's for a private business that I think, yeah, I think she's going to do really well. I think she's going to be very successful. I think she's very smart. They stayed together through all these hard times, which is a huge testament to not only how much they care about each other, but also how strong the relationship is. They can get through that. They can get through anything. So yeah, absolutely. I think that they're going to do great. And I honestly wish them the best. So yeah, as far as Leo is going, Leo has been playing with Bella every day. As you can see, he's got his best friend, Bella here with him every day. And that makes him very happy. And we're just keeping him extremely busy. So I think he likes that. He has an appetite. He hasn't stopped eating. If you guys have any more questions, I'll do another update on Leo for you. Let me know in the comments, obviously. I want to know what you guys want to know. By the way, don't forget, if you guys are looking for an amazing bird food brand for your bird that is healthy, organic, and not full of food colorings and sugar and peanut smash, check out Marlene's signature blend. I did this along with Topps Parrot Food. We just launched in the UK. Northern Parrots now sells our food. You guys have been asking for it. You've got it. Also, thanks for Wings and Canada sells our bird food right now. I'm proud to announce and they will ship it to you. I encourage you guys to check out my Feathered Fun Box. It's a passion project. It's a subscription box that comes with parrot toys for your bird and also special merch. Kind of like my dream box. Honestly, I put so much into it. I love that there's something like this for birds out in the world. That's why I created it, www.featheredfunbox.com. I love you guys so, so much. Thank you for listening.