Today Peanut climbed down the front of my shirt, hopped down onto the keyboard, ran around there for a little while, and then headed toward the new play gym. With the help of my strategically-placed arm, he made it onto the gym itself.


The yellow dish was the next stop on the adventure. As you can imagine, snacking is a favorite activity on the new play gym. This dish has tasty crumbles in it, and often some oat groats. If Bruce is around, it also has a sunflower seed or two. To the right of this photo is a blue dish, with water.


After a nice snack, Peanut climbed up to the perch, looked around, fluttered his tail feathers, leaned over, took a bite of paper, and chewed on the spit ball for a little while. Click here for a closeup of this photo, an arrow points to the bite he took. He then sat on the perch for the longest time, snoozing and squeaking. At one point, Peanut looked down at the blue dish, so I held it up for him to take a drink. So far, I think he likes the new play gym.

I found the remains of a hard-shelled egg in the Finsterium the day before yesterday, which is pretty good news. Unforunately my shipment of liquid calcium has been delayed, I'm now completely out of it, and I found a soft-shelled egg yesterday. One (or more) of the hens is laying eggs, and depleting their calcium. I looked around in health food stores today for a possible replacement, but even the products that are vegetarian, wheat-free, and other things like that, still have fillers, or flavors, or unpronouncable things I don't want to give to the birds. So the Finsters are now getting sprouted seeds with lots of grated cuttlefish bone mixed in every day. The calcium in cuttlefish is not as readily absorbed as the liquid product (which also has magnesium and vitamin D3 for added absorption), but it's the best I can do for now.

I have finally finished putting together Peanut's new play gym. It started with a purchased gym, but I've added a grate from a small cage which stands just off the vertical. This is pretty similar to the mesh on the Finsterium, so I figure Peanut will like it. I've added bits of cloth and paper, which are Peanut's favorite toys, and a couple of small key rings, which should remind Peanut of my earrings. (When he's not testing out the lovely squishy texture of my ears, Peanut often runs my earrings through his beak.) There's also a swing, a ladder, a bell, and a food and water dish at the bottom. So far, he's successfully climbed up the grate and found a "hidden" oat groat (see arrow). We'll see what he ends up liking.

If you haven't checked out OwlCam yet this year, you'll be pleased to know that June just laid an egg! OwlCam has followed Ward and June, a pair of Northern Barred Owls (Strix varia varia) in Eastern Massachusetts, since 1997. The site (http://www.owlcam.com/) has photos both in and outside the nest box, owl sounds, and a description of Ward and June's yearly nesting activities.

In the wild, birds spend a large part of their day hunting for food, so I try to give Peanut the opportunity to "find" things. This keeps him occupied, and thinking about things, which help keeps him from going crazy. He engages in this activity on his own, and he's discovered that a good place to find all sorts of interesting things is the Finsterium. Of course, the Big House is something of a play gym for Peanut, but he really does like to find snacks. Click here for a closeup of the photo, you can see some seed hulls near Peanut's foot. Unfortunately, I can't possibly keep the cage clean enough to keep Peanut from finding Nasty Snacks.

Use your imagination. You'll figure it out. Peanut seems to like them. I know the Finsters do.

After one night of peace at bedtime, tonight one lonely Society Finster was left out of the nest box, and slept all alone on top. I think it was Bosco, but I try not to turn lights on when the birds have gone to bed, so it was a little hard to tell. I'm sure the finches do just fine if they don't all sleep together, but it reminds me of puppies, that sleep better with a ticking clock wrapped in a soft blanket. Or maybe they don't, and that's just the story parents tell you so you don't bring the dog into bed with you!

Worse news is that I found a soft-shelled egg on the floor of the Finsterium. I'm low on liquid calcium, so I've ordered more.

As expected, the Evil Nest Box caused consternations amongst the Finsters at bed time. Frank and Sally finally settled onto the top of the usual box (far left) on the 22nd, but it took awhile. The Societies didn't fare quite so well, although I suppose that's to be expected, considering how many cram into a 4-inch-square box each night. Each Society Finster is about three inches long, about 1 1/2 inches in diameter, and there are six of them. One flies to the perch, looks into the box, hops inside, turns around to look out, and waits for the next one. Now that the Evil Nest Box is in the way, this process takes much longer. From what I can tell, if the lights go out while they're still in the process of getting into the box, the last ones get stuck outside. It's a little like musical chairs. So far, one sad little Society Finster has slept alone on top of a nest box since the Evil Nest arrived. But tonight, they all made it in!

I think we all sleep a little easier when the Societies all make it into a nest at night.

Here's the new plastic nest box, imported from Italy, dishwasher safe — well, maybe not now that I've hot glued plastic vines to the top. But still, reusable compared to the card board boxes I've been using, which have to be tossed. We'll see how the Finsters like it. So far, the new nest appears to be Evil.

The Societies have a distinct "alarm" call: they make a short chirp, similar to their usual vocalization but much louder. This is accompanied by a fast flap of their wings. The flap is likely a precursor to actual flight. The motion is very fast, and likely very powerful. Those Society finches are ready to fly, all right! They kept up the alarms for awhile.

The White-Headed Nuns don't have a conspicuous alarm call. Sally "hid" for awhile on top of one of the old-fashioned nest boxes farthest from the new Evil one. Frank sat on the white concrete perch with his beak open. An indication of fear, an open beak is an attempt by the bird to appear big and ferocious. (Forget the theory that birds come from dinosaurs, I think birds are descended from fire-breathing dragons. Click here to see Terrifying Peanut just before he releases a plume of fire!)

About four hours after the Evil nest was inserted into the Finsterium, the Finsters calmed down enough to sit on top of some of the other nest boxes. They will probably take awhile to settle into bed tonight, and it'll probably be months before they actually go near the Evil box. Maybe I should fill it with millet spray....

Birds spend a large part of their day preening. Here are a few pictures of Peanut preening himself. Because he's the only parrotlet around, and I'm too big to help him out much, he has a hard time getting his face (here's a picture, or just scroll down to March 9). The fourth photo below shows some of the contortions he goes through to scratch at the feathers on his face.

As you can see (despite the bad photo), the Finsters are back in (and on) the new nest boxes. They took a little longer to settle in for bed that night, but settle they did, and they're back in the boxes during the day. This photo shows (from front to back) Earl Grey, Goober, and Decaffeinated.

The Finsters got six new nest boxes today! Sorry about the photo, the light is terrible. I use four-inch square "kraft paper" boxes that are sold by a jewelry-supply company as gift boxes. They're really too small to use if birds are really interested in hatching chicks — you'd want a five- or six-inch square box for that. But these work well for birds — like Society finches — that like to sleep in nests even if they're not sitting on eggs.

As you can see, I modify the boxes. I cut a hole in the front, I add a perch, I use wire to hang them, and I put plastic vines on top — liberal amounts of hot glue are used. In fact, most of the birds spend quite a bit of time on top of the boxes during the day, and seem to appreciate the vines glued there. The Societies usually sleep inside a box, but Frank and Sally always sleep on top of one — often, they all use the same box.

Needless to say, the boxes get quite covered in poop after awhile, so I have to make a new batch pretty regularly. Despite the fact that I've made the nest boxes the same way for years, and put the six new boxes in the exact same spots as the six old boxes, all the Finsters are quite flutterpated. They are prey animals, after all. It doesn't take much to get them scared. I put the boxes in about noon, and am hoping that the finches will calm down by bedtime.

I just got a plastic box, which I'll try out next week. I'll still add the vines on top, but I should be able to wash the nests, instead of making new ones all the time.

US Marines going into battle in Iraq will have state-of-the-art, $12,000 sensors to warn them of chemical or biological attack. They will also have $60 pigeons, that come with a cage and some bird seed. Supposedly, like the proverbial "canary in the coal mine," these hapless pigeons will give the soldiers an early warning of potentially harmful chemicals or biological agents. The marines admit they don't know the first thing about caring for birds (the article doesn't mention a thing about water for these birds that have been summarily transplanted to a desert), but they plan to learn. One fellow actually thought to place his bird in a shady spot. Good for him!

The problem, of course, is that the pigeons could die of any number of things, including things that wouldn't harm a human. Staff Seargeant Dan Wallace thinks the birds might be more useful than their electronic sensors in some conditions, for example if Iraqi forces blow up oil wells. But while electronics can be confused by smoke from fires, birds would just die. The marines were supposed to get chickens, but they died shortly after they got to the desert. No one knows why.

The article — U.S. Marines enlist pigeons to battle Iraqi gas (Reuters, March 14, 2003) — also points out that it isn't clear if "British forces would also get pigeons." My guess is that British forces know better. The BBC has a report from December 30, 1986 — part of their "On This Day" series, that describes phasing out the use of canaries in coal mines. The article states "New electronic detectors will replace the bird because they are said to be cheaper in the long run and more effective in indicating the presence of pollutants in the air otherwise unnoticed by miners." See 1986: Coal mine canaries made redundant for the article.

Update: The pigeon story has been picked up by a number of newspapers, many of which point out that the chickens already died. An article about the pigeons published in the Seattle Times shows that Wallace knows a bit more about taking care of birds than the first article indicated. For example, he knows that "the pigeons can't take the shock of constant bouncing" that they would recieve perched atop a Humvee.

Wallace also points out that the birds aren't an "early warning" sensor. He states, "if all the (birds) are dead and we have people getting runny noses and headaches, we'll know something is wrong....This is verification." Um...verification only if the chemical or biological agent affects birds the same way it does humans. See Bird of war: Now it's a pigeon for this article (3/15/03).

Another article (Pigeons to detect chemical attack) lists all the different tools the Marines have, along with the pigeons: "special chemical-sensitive tape and paper, a chemical agent monitoring machine, a packet filled with detection ampules, and a vehicle, the Fox, designed to take test samples while moving....They have gas masks belted to their hips at all times and have been trained to put them on in nine seconds with their eyes closed and while holding their breath....They have been issued with special camouflage suits with charcoal linings, rubber boots and gloves, atropine to counteract nerve gas, and packets of charcoal to deactivate any chemicals that may land on them." Who needs pigeons with all that?

Like most animals, birds don't naturally overeat. Of course, if you give them a diet of high-fat foods, and don't provide ways for them to get exercise, they will become overweight. And, if you deprive them of their favorite food — say, if you're trying to convert them to a pellet-based diet — and suddenly present them with a whole dish of sunflower seeds, they'll likely stuff their faces. In fact, in this case, there's a chance that they might eat so much their crop would get impacted. This means the crop becomes too full for normal food passage, and it can be life-threatening.

Peanut did not just have an over-full crop! But he did get at least one too many sunflower seeds from a friend. He stood very still on the table after his little feast, feathers all puffed up, almost asleep, gurgling a little every now and then. I've seen this before so I wasn't really worried. Still, I was pleased to see Peanut finally shake himself, poop, and climb up my arm to his usual spot on my shoulder.

Another favorite Finster sound is when Tea or Earl Grey sing their Hunka Hunka Burning Love song from inside a nest box. Very sweet. Speaking of nest boxes, male Zebra finches have a call they make when they find a good spot for making a nest. One of my first finches, a male Zebra, sang this little song from inside a nest box he had just discovered. Wonderful! Sounded a little like R2D2 when C-3PO threatened to leave him alone on Tattooine.

I've read that many parrots like to "play" with sounds, and will make their usual vocalizations while under bells, or other objects that change the tone or sound of the calls.

Poor Peanut is covered with pin feathers. I spend some time most nights during Warm Toasties breaking the feather sheaths off, but even though I keep my fingernails long for the job, it still isn't easy. Plus, Peanut only lets me preen the area from the back of his neck to his beak, between his eyes. The sides of his face are a tricky spot. And sometimes he's just not in the mood for any preening at all.

A bird (coincidentally, a parrotlet) at a pet store was in desperate need of preening help, and one of the fellows working there forced the issue. The bird got preened, but she never trusted men after that. Can't say I blame her.

At a petting zoo one day, I overheard several people shocked by some domestic geese eating an egg, shell and all, that one of them had just laid. While I agree this verges on cannibalism, the truth is the geese had a good idea: eggs are full of protein, calcium, and other minerals. If one breaks, then it becomes Good Eats, especially for the hen that just laid it.

The Finsters eat their own eggs when they lay them (and they break), plus I regularly give them "egg food." This is a hard-boiled chicken egg, whirred up in my tiny food processor wanna-be, until it looks like crumbs. Two hard-boiled eggs make at least eight servings for the number of birds I have, so the extras get stored in the freezer. Sometimes I add things like the whirred-up shells, baby food vegetables (instant mush), nestling food, grated vegetables, and mineral dust. The last batch I made was full of things, but after the first couple of servings the Finsters seemed to lose interest, so this batch is straight egg. So far the egg seems tasty, but not irresistable. Maybe they've developed a preference for tofu?

Peanut seems to like egg better than tofu, but he still spent more time flicking bits off the spoon than eating.

They call it "pet grass" at the fancy market, and charge $3. The Finsters call it "mating aids" and consider it to be priceless. Some finches have mating dances that involve displaying sticks, pieces of grass, or any long thing that they can lift. I haven't seen my Society finches use grass during their Hunka Hunka Burning Love dances — after all, they're always singing at the same time — but it's pretty clear that this piece of grass makes Earl Grey look quite handsome. Don't you think?

Technically speaking, it's a small tub of sprouted wheat grass, and all the Finsters think it's pretty tasty. Even Frank and Sally reach up and grab a blade, bend it down, and chew on it.

I've only tried this twice, since I'm sure the light could harm a bird's eyes. I held the laser high above the desk, and let Peanut chase the light. He thinks it's a pretty good toy. Click on the small pictures to see a bigger version.