This is a pretty picture of Early Grey and Goober, just before Earl Grey started singing his Hunka Hunka Burning Love song, and dancing his Hunka Hunka Burning Love dance, to her. (Frank didn't watch this time). I haven't noticed any of my Society Finsters playing favorites with each other, although Chocolate was pretty darn popular when she was alive. Society finches are very, well, social, and if you want to breed them you often have to set them up in pairs in separate cages, or they'll all pile into the same nest together, like mine do. Earl Grey and Goober are siblings, of course, so it's just as well they don't try to have babies together.


Since I really need to clean the perch, this close up carefully crops it out.

The first corn-on-the-cob of (my) season was an immense and immediate hit with the Society Finsters. They hovered in mid air, landed on top of each other, jostled each other out of the way, and dug right in. What fun! Makes me wonder why I don't do it this way more often. Click here to see the corn close up. They dig their beaks right into each kernel to get all the yellow goodness. I slice the kernels off one side of the cob so it will sit flat on the dish; they like those bits, too. Peanut still likes frozen best.

Peanut (who, um, still needs to get his wing feathers clipped) discovered the second shelf of the bookcase, and was nearly overwhelmed by the giant dish of paper strips. You see, many dishes in his life get filled with paper strips, and if he digs down to the bottom, he finds snacks. This is an awesome sight!


Peanut is good at flicking paper strips to find the goodies hidden underneath.


Around and around and around the bowl....


IF SNACKS ARE IN HERE I'LL FIND THEM!


Oh, here are the snacks!

I finally tracked down an article about the pigeons in Iraq — after the worst of the conflict ended. It turns out most of the birds were let free in Iraq, except for Petey. His keeper decided to take him home, to Kuwait. No casualties. See the article "Petey the pigeon survives war, will go home," published 4/17/03.

For the first time, ever, Peanut took a nap on my shoulder — head tucked back, eyes closed, totally asleep. It was his mid-morning nap, and I was resting on the couch, a bit tired myself. So he was pretty well-protected, with my neck on one side, and the back of the couch on the other. He started out preening, but then I realized he'd stopped moving. I craned my neck and strained my eyes, and there he was, asleep. I stayed very still, for about 15 minutes. For all that Peanut sleeps in my hand, and flies to my head, this is the first time he's ever felt safe enough, I guess, to sleep on me.

Peanut was sitting on the perch of his new play gym while I was in the office today. He got very fidgety, and clearly wanted to go somewhere. He stepped onto my hand when I offered it, but he hopped right back onto the perch. He was still very fidgety, though, and suddenly he launched himself off the perch, flew through the office, through the living room, and landed on the side of the Finsterium. Now, my apartment is small; in terms of distance, this is no longer than when Peanut flies a loop around the living room. But the flight pattern looks like a big "S," he couldn't see the final destination from the starting point, and...well.

I really need to take him to get his wing feathers clipped.

The weather has been pretty cool still here in Michigan, but we have had some humid days. Twice now I've noticed a tiny bit of mold growing on the soaked seeds. Although it's tempting to scoop away the moldy seeds and use the rest, it's safer to just dump the whole tub. I'd hate for the birds to get sick because I missed some mold. Always be sure to smell the seeds before you feed them to your birds, too.

Now I'm putting the soaking tub into the refigerator during the day, and leaving it out at night. Seed growth is about the same as before, they are still showing just a tiny bit of root when I give them to the birds. Yummy.

I can't help it if Frank is photogenic. All I can do is publish the photo. Frank is lovely, Sally is slightly out of focus, and Bosco's tail is in the way. This has happened before. Click here for a close-up of Lovely Frank.


While Sally was a bit out of focus, as it turns out she makes pretty good computer art. Click here for a close-up of Artistic Sally.

Goober likes to hang onto the wall of the Finsterium. I'm not sure why. All the Finsters end up clinging to the wall from time to time when they get startled by something, or terrorized by Peanut. But Goober hangs on the wall often enough, and calmly enough, to suggest that she simply likes to be there. Actually, if I could keep more of the Finster's toenails in check, more of them would probably spend time on the walls, since they're just another surface to hang out on. But those long toenails get can get caught in the mesh. The Finsters have probably learned this, so they only cling to it when they're startled. Easy-care Goober has always had short toenails, though, so she clings more often. Click here for a close up of Goober on the wall.

I don't think I've ever published a photo of Peanut in my hand, so here it is. The photo is probably from last summer, at the latest. When it's time for warm toasties, mine is the Small, Dry Hand. During the day, though, mine is the favorite transportation device.

I'm sorry to report that Ward and June's three chicks, Woody, Daphne and Dexter, became snacks for a fisher on May 17th. This is the first time in the seven seasons that OwlCam has been around, that predation occurred. No details yet. It's sad for the owls, but I guess fishers need to eat, too. Click here for some nice photos of the owlets from May 12, and be sure to surf around this great site.

At first glance I thought this was Darjeeling, but in fact, it's Tea sitting in the box, watching me patiently as I opened the Finsterium door to take pictures. I don't think I've ever noticed Tea in a box before. This isn't a great photo, but that line on his beak is actually sort of a split in the beak tissue. I don't remember when I first noticed it, but I think it's been around for years. Maybe next time I catch Tea to trim his toenails (those darned concrete perches!) I'll try to look at that split from the inside. This might be a job for the vet, of course.

As I've mentioned, Peanut likes to fly over and land on my head, or my shoulder. The head seems to be easier to land on than the shoulder, since he chooses that as his target more often. But as it turns out, my back may be the easiest landing spot of all. I was leaning over to put something into the garbage, and suddenly I had a bird on my back. Surprise! I stood up very slowly, so he could climb up my shirt without losing his grip.

(This is about what I should wear, of course.) As I've mentioned, Peanut likes to sit on my shoulder. His favorite shirts are polo shirts, since then he can sit on the collar. It provides a perfect perch for him, with the added convenience of keeping poops away from his toes. He's a very clean bird, after all. While he enjoys sitting at the back of my neck, preening my hair, he particularly likes this position, with his vent poised over my neck. Especially after baths. He really gets a reaction out of me when those warm, watery.... Sorry, I promised not to talk about that. But Peanut thinks it's funny.

Peanut also likes it when I wear turtlenecks. No handy perch, but the neck has all sorts of lovely folds that are fun to chew on.

Corn on the cob is a special treat for the Finsters, since it is food and a toy all in one. But frozen corn (off the cob) is mighty convenient, and actually Peanut seems to prefer it. I fill up a bunch of containers at once with the right amount of corn plus a few mostly ignored peas, and fill up the freezer. Then I put one into the fridge to thaw the night before I need it. An easy treat.

Your experience may vary, but here is how my birds eat corn:

Parrotlet: As with most food, corn is tastiest when you eat it straight from the container. This way you can take a little bite from a lot of items, and go back for the leftovers only if you're still hungry. Don't eat the skin of the kernel, it's just like the hull of a seed. Instead, squish the kernel until the inside comes out: bite that, and drop the rest. Try to drop a few squished kernels onto the floor. When you're finished, wipe the corn squeezins left on your beak onto somebody's arm. Fly home for a drink of water and a spit ball or two. Click here for a Corn Closeup.

Society Finch: As with most food, corn is tastiest when you sit in the dish, on top of the food item. This makes for good toe-picking later, too. Don't eat the skin of the kernel, instead poke either your upper or lower mandible (beak) into the open end, and suck out the tasty insides. You'll need to roll the kernel around on your beak to get all the bits; feel free to take a kernel with you when you fly up to a perch.

Zebra Finch: Don't eat the skin of the kernel, instead squeeze the kernel in your beak until the insides come out, then eat the insides. The process requires a squeeze-flick-catch-eat action, which can take some practice. Don't be alarmed if you flick a few kernels onto your head. Eat peas the same way.

White-Headed Nun: Once a month, or so, hop onto the edge of the dish of corn kernels and look at them. Since they're not seeds, hop away.

Today Earl Grey was singing his Hunka Hunka Burning Love song, and dancing his Hunka Hunka Burning Love dance, to Goober, and Frank flew down to watch! It's such a relief to have him performing his "normal" behaviors.

Frank is very handsome, he's very photogenic, he has a lovely song, and he's pretty funny when he pays so much attention to the male Society finches. That enough would explain why he gets so much airplay in the Finster Log. But he's also pretty delicate. I've had him in the hospital cage a couple of times with sores on his toes, and he almost died of fright once when he got out of the Finsterium. I guess the birds you worry about the most, you notice the most.

I accidentally left the top off the container of sunflower seeds last night, and Peanut found them this morning. Lucky bird! So I let him snarf while I got the camera and took a few pictures. In the wild, birds spend most of their day foraging for food, so I try to let Peanut "find" things as much as I can — in dishes, in his coconut, "behind" things, etc. The container of sunflower seeds is usually covered, but Peanut knows where they live, and will hop on top in hopes of getting some, especially when Bruce is around (he's a soft touch).

If left with a limited number of seeds, Peanut will eat snacks down to the last tasty molecule. But when he's faced with a tub of seeds, he grabs, bites, and goes on to the next one. This makes sense, considering the place that birds have in the ecology around them: they help distribute seeds throughout the landscape. Come to think of it, I should have tried growing these sunflower seeds, to see if there were enough left to start a plant.

I've mentioned warm toasties before, and I've even published some pictures. But they're worth repeating, since they're so wonderful. At least, Peanut sure thinks so. He wants — no, demands warm toasties every evening. The time varies a bit: he likes them earlier in dark, winter months; if The Big Sweaty Hand (shown in the picture) was around the day before, then Peanut might wait a little later, hoping he'll come back; and although Peanut is the master of my universe, occasionally my schedule takes me away from him. But generally speaking, we get started between 7 and 8 in the evening, and we go for as long as possible.

While Peanut is very good at stepping onto my hand, and he flies to my head and shoulder all the time, this is the only time I can touch him. I can give him Bird Noodles (pet his head), I can gently rub his feathers the wrong way, I can preen him, and The Big Sweaty Hand actually closes that hand around him. Pretty amazing that we can do this with a tiny green bird.

I try not to pry, but occasionally I do catch the Finsters doing private things. This is Bosco, sneaking into the lab. You can do a lot with fermenting corn.

Peanut likes the new play gym. Part of it, of course, is that he can spend time with me while he's on it. But a lot of it is his food dish. There are always crumbles in it, and he likes those. I also usually add a few oat groats to the mix when we first get into the office every day. But he spends more time there than just the snacks warrant. He leans over it like this, not eating anything, just sitting there, guarding it. It's a pretty yellow dish, full of tasty surprises...and it is mine. Click here for a big version.

After a day or two of spending a lot of time sleeping on his favorite nest box (no, not the Evil Plastic one), Frank is back to normal. No more terrible molt, no more standing on one foot. He's spent time on the concrete perch, he's been singing his Hunka Hunka Burning Love song, and all the rest. For about three minutes he even followed Tea around from perch to perch, to perch to perch. Welcome back, Frank!

It's been over a month since the insertion of the Finster Attraction Device, and there has still been no activity in the new Evil Nest Box. So this weekend Bruce has tried to make everything, you know, more attractive. Yesterday, he added a small piece of millet spray to the top of the box. Although there were no witnesses, fragments of that small piece were later seen on the floor of the Finsterium, and Goober and Earl Grey had the denuded stem inside a cardboard box.


When no further activity was seen on or around the Evil Nest Box, today Bruce realigned the primary F.A.D. as seen in this photo. Again, there were no witnesses, but later the large millet spray was found on the floor of the Finsterium, with quite a few seeds eaten. We surmise that gravity had a hand in this.

While these experiments proved interesting, we fear that the new plastic nest will never overcome its Evilness. The primary F.A.D. is back in the box in its original position, with just a few seeds missing.

The June 2003 issue of the magazine Birdtalk has a short article called "Pigeons In The Trenches" about the pigeons being used as sensors in the Iraq war. The article doesn't say a thing to suggest that this is a bad idea. Instead, it briefly describes the current situation, and points out that pigeons have been used in war before. The article even lists a web site that describes some of these famous military pigeons.

You'd think that a magazine that purports to be "dedicated to better care for pet birds" would say something against this practice.

Ironically, on that same page the magazine also has a brief article describing a product designed to protect pets from chemical or biological attacks. It's sort of a plastic bag with air filters and blowers. Maybe I should get some for those pigeons.