The problem with lunch, as far as Peanut is concerned, is that we don't always have something that he wants to share.

Oh, he'll try some new things. But usually it ends in disaster. Crackers sometimes entice him, particularly if we hold them for him. Vegetables are almost always ignored. Cottage cheese curds get flicked everywhere, never to be tried again. Tofu gets nibbled into little bits that get flicked everywhere, never to be tried again. Yogurt gets stuck to his beak, which he carefully wipes off on my sleeve and neck.

So you can probably understand that my first reaction when Peanut climbs all over my egg sandwich is not to reminisce over the days when he would gingerly take a sesame seed off a slice of bread. After all, a bird on a sandwich is better than yogurt on my neck. Instead, my first reaction is to take pictures. Look! There's a bird! On my sandwich!

Here are two more photos of Peanut enjoying the egg sandwich. All he really cares about is the bread. He made quite a few bread spitballs, looking for the seeds baked inside. Unfortunately, there weren't any. You can see bigger versions of these two photos: click for the tall one; and click for the square one.

Those of you who have been reading The Finster Log for awhile know that over the past few months, Peanut has been slowly tightening his grasp on our lives during lunch. Lunch — the last bastion of human (eating) freedom in this house. After all, Peanut is the only one in the house who eats breakfast regularly, and 99 times out of 100 one of us humans has a bird sleeping in our right hand during dinner. That leaves lunch, and Peanut is taking it over. Apparently, it's his job.

In this picture, Peanut is gingerly eating the oat flakes off the crust of Bruce's turkey sandwich. You'll notice that both the plate and the bird are on Bruce's lap. Peanut loves to be in the middle of everything!

In case you thought I was lying, here's proof that Frank now eats corn. Lousy picture, I know. But there's a brown shape (Frank), and a yellow shape (a chunk of corn cob), and both shapes are close to each other. If you squint your eyes a little, and make a wish, you'll be able to see Frank actually eating the corn. Really.

My computer hard drive is full of mediocre pictures like this. Actually, some of them are worse. I have one that shows about five scalloped Spice finch breast feathers on a piece of paper. Fascinating! you say. Not to look at. But I recognize that piece of paper as one that has sat gathering dust on the piano for a lot longer than I care to admit, and see evidence of a Spice Finster having a Grand Adventure (and probably a little finch heart attack) outside of the Finsterium. So you see, a picture really is worth a thousand words.

I open the door to the Finsterium every day for maintenance. While the birds aren't too happy about it, for the most part they're used to it; they don't stay on the floor, but they sit pretty calmly on the perches. But when I open the door to take pictures, they get a little panicky — fluttering, flapping, and Finstipations.

You wouldn't know it from this photo of Cassia (on top of the box) and Ginger (on the porch). Once they settled here, they sat pretty calmly while I snapped pictures. (And no, I can't really tell if that's Cassia or Cinnamon on top, but we'll say this is a photo of the two Finster Girls.)

This is Szechwan (Pepper), sitting calmly on a perch. I'm not sure whose tail is in front of him, but it might be Cinnamon. This photo doesn't show the top of his head, which has gotten pretty bald, poor thing; although it does show off his naked neck. Somebody sure does like to preen this bird (and it isn't me!). This photo also shows off his pretty breast feathers, so you can click here to see a close up of Szechwan (Pepper).

Frank, the old-timer, has been around since April 4, 1998, so he's quite used to me opening the Finsterium door and taking pictures. That's why he's sitting so calmly on the white concrete perch (remember when that was Evil?). There is exciting news in Frank's life, though: it took him about six years of watching the other birds, but he's finally learned to eat corn! He's such a good bird!

In a mild show of Flutterpations, here is little Oolong, hanging on the back wall of the Finsterium. She often hangs on walls, usually above and just to the right-or-left of a nest box with some Spice finches on it. She wants to join them, but she must be low in the pecking order. Don't worry, she spends time with lots of Finsters (including Earl Grey!), but she's a little timid when it comes to settling down.

Here's the photograph you've all been waiting for: Finstelarium! These are the photos I usually capture when I bring the camera into the Finster cage: pure panic, except they're usually out of focus. This one turned out pretty well, so you can click here for an extreme closeup of Finstelarium. Bruce glanced at this and wondered if I was taking pictures of Bird Pr0n — but no. Just Wasabi (Peas) in mid-flight, about to knock Cinnamon (maybe) off the perch, with Cassia (maybe) in back, and Szechwan (Pepper) in the front.

I'll have to try this more often!