In case you were wondering, the 1-inch opening left when you take the tray out of the hospital cage is plenty big enough for a Society finch to slip out of. I discovered this the other week when Darjeeling, tired of sitting all alone, waiting for a nonexistent egg to pop out, got bored and decided to explore the world around her. I came back to the office, clean tray in hand, and discovered her just as she slipped out. Luckily, I was a little less startled than she was, and managed to grab her (oh so gently) before she was able to fly off into the living room toward the light and crash into the window.

[As a total aside, in case anyone was wondering why I haven't cleaned the windows in my apartment for, um, years maybe, it's so that small birds will be a little less likely to crash into them and break their necks. Really.]

After that adventure, I started putting a stick in front of the opening when I took the tray out to clean it. You can see the stick, and a much bigger and better picture of Darjeeling by clicking here.

Darjeeling is doing pretty well. Her malady remains. The feathers on her butt are still a mess, and something about the tumor (we'll assume it's a tumor) is bothering her left leg; she's plucked that thigh pretty clean trying to "fix" whatever is going on. But several times I've seen her fly from the floor to the top of a nest box — some 3 1/2 feet — in one go. So she isn't doing too poorly now. And she's very pretty!