Apart from about 20 minutes sitting in the light on Wednesday, and another 15 on Thursday, Darjeeling seems fine. If she's been in the light any other times I haven't seen it. And after all, the light is there to give the Finsters a warm pick-me-up if they're not feeling quite right. So I'll stop worrying.

As if.

In other news, Frank has been Inside. The. Plastic. Nest. Box. several times since his miracle. Ah, the power of cheese (crack cocaine) tasty seeds.

One year, five months, and five days after after the introduction of the Evil Plastic Nest Box; and eight months and 15 days after he was first brave enough to perch on the entry of the Evil Box — Frank went inside.

Frank. Went. Inside. The. Plastic. Evil. Nest. Box.

He was completely inside that box. Hidden. Completely. Inside. Calmly snacking on millet. And before you go thinking that I'm a little crazy for getting so excited, remember this:

In the six years, four months and 23 days I have lived with Frank, I have never seen him inside a nest box. Ever. Much less an evil one.

Which suggests that millet spray for birds might be a little more like crack is for humans than I previously thought.

Every day I measure out two tablespoons of tasty seeds for soaking. I try to do this before I let Peanut out of his house in the morning, or when he is busy (very busy) doing other things like hunting for snacks, hunting for nasty snacks, or biting Bruce — because otherwise he senses the presence of the Awesome Blue Spoon of Seedy Goodness and flies right over TO EAT THOSE TASTY SEEDS ALL OF THEM GIVE ME THOSE TASTY SEEDS NOW THEY ARE MINE. Now, two tablespoons of seeds is far too much for a parrotlet to eat in one sitting, or in one day, for that matter. But since he's the Master of the Universe, and all, I scoop out the tiniest amount I can in the 0.0003 seconds he patiently waits for me, and hold the spoon as he eats every seed and then goes through every empty seed hull two or three times to make sure he hasn't missed anything good.

Have I mentioned my theory that seeds to birds are a little like crack is to humans?

Peanut doesn't usually get in the Awesome Blue Spoon of Seedy Goodness, which — at 1 1/2 inches in diameter, and with a capacity of a single tablespoon — is just about the same size as he is. But he sure loves that Spoon, and has a hard time understanding that the Blue Spoon of Scooping Coffee, and the Blue Spoon of Measuring Loose Tea aren't also filled with awesome goodness, but are, in fact, full of things that would be awesomely bad for him to eat. Considering that he insisted on getting some tasty seeds when I quickly pulled out the spoon today to measure it (no seeds in sight, really), you can imagine that my early mornings can be pretty entertaining. Go ahead, imagine it! It's fun!

When it comes to toys, size matters. Norm is Fizzy's Goffin's Cockatoo. Click here to see Norm getting treats out of his toy. Bruce invented a Sock Full of Nuts when he was bird-sitting Norm one weekend. He took an old sock, put some nuts (in shells) inside, tied a knot at the end, and gave it to the bird, who threw it around a few times, and then proceeded to chew holes in the sock, crack the nuts open, and eat the meat inside. It was a really good toy. So I decided to make one for Peanut. Now, Norm is about 19 times Peanut's size. Norm thinks jeans make a really good toy, but Peanut couldn't chew a hole in a pair of jeans if his life depended on it. In fact, Peanut can't shell a big sunflower seed by himself, so I had to modify the Sock Full of Nuts.

A strip of paper, twisted several times with goodies (oat groats, tasty seeds) hidden inside. Peanut just loves these. He climbs all around his house trying to get all the good bits, and then when he's gotten everything, he'll make spit balls out of the paper. Well, they're not really spit balls, since birds don't have saliva the way mammals do. But he's pretty good at tearing paper into tiny little bits. In fact, paper is one of Peanut's favorite toys.

Actually, what with a couple of major cage cleanings, some new (Evil) nest boxes, perch cleaning, and trying our best to take care of Ovaltine, the honeymoon was over a long time ago. But today was the first time (why? because I'm lazy) I opened the Finsterium door just a crack to take a few pictures since all the new birds moved in. This one of (probably) Cinnamon (half inside) and Ginger (on the porch) proves that during the day, the new plastic nest box is pretty nice. (At night, unless they're hiding inside, the box remains untouched.) You can click here for a bigger version of the picture. And since the photo just barely shows off Ginger's crested feather, you can click here for a close up of Ginger's head, with glowing goodness!

This scene of Goober (half out of the box) and Earl Grey Defending The Realm is familiar. You can click here for a big version. They're probably a little quick to Defend these days since I haven't opened the Finsterium door much lately. In contrast, Goober has been almost comfortable with my presence when she's on the ground Ready To Snack, and I'm reaching into the Finsterium to put new snacks on the floor. Once she even snacked on the end of the lettuce leaf while I was still holding it!

The third photo I took is a good example of what we fondly call the "Head on a Stick" phenomenon. When a bird has fairly significant feather damage around its neck, and stretches up tall to intimidate its foes or picture takers during scary situations, it looks like this. If you take a close look at the photo of Cinnamon and Ginger, you'll notice that Ginger has some feather damage around her neck — those feathers are much more rumpled than Cinnamon's front. But Ginger doesn't have enough feather damage to have a Head on a Stick. The bird in this photo could be Szechwan (Pepper), Peppercorn (Mélènge), or Nutmeg — I really can't tell for sure. You can click here for a big version. It's a little gruesome, but don't worry — it's larger than life.