The Finsters are still having fun with nesting material. Wasabi (Peas) has been building inside Earl Grey's nest box — which makes me think he may be sleeping in there with Earl Grey and Oolong. I've suspected this in the past, but I haven't seen it. Cinnamon has been stealing nesting material right out of Earl Grey's nest box. In fact, Cinnamon will steal a piece from the box right after Wasabi (Peas) has put it inside. Szechwan (Pepper) still enjoys stealing pieces of raffia right out of the beaks of other birds. And Earl Grey, Oolong and Cassia are still very busy with strips of cloth and raffia. They're fun to watch.

But life can be dangerous, when you least expect it. This morning, I discovered that Earl Grey had a piece of cloth stuck in the toes of his left foot. I waited a bit to see if he could get unstuck, but he didn't. Bruce decided that Earl Grey shouldn't have to wait until darkness to be caught and then freed of the Evil Nesting Material, so he went in with the net. Lucky for us, that piece of old (but clean) sock weighed Earl Grey down just enough to make him relatively easy to catch, even during the day.

In the bathroom, we discovered his toenail was good and stuck in the cloth, he never would have been able to get it off himself. Ever.

Makes you wonder how he got it stuck there, in the first place.

I had Earl Grey in one hand and a flashlight in the other, and Bruce carefully cut the cloth away with cuticle scissors. The last bits of fiber were picked away with tweezers. And the whole time, Earl Grey was quiet. If it had been a Spice Finster, there would have been so much bird squirming we couldn't have done it. But Earl Grey was calm and relaxed, and the moment I put him back into the Finsterium he flew up to a perch and sang his Hunka Hunka Burning Love song, and danced his Hunka Hunka Burning Love dance.

Disaster averted!