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Today was the day! We drove out to Rochester to visit with Emma, who has raised birds since she was six, and to get some new Finsters. Although she no longer has birds in all the places she used to (garage, basement, living room, sun room...) she still has at least 30 birds in an amazing outdoor aviary, built along the side of the house, which is around 20 feet by 6 feet, and about 10 feet high. Spice finches, Lady Gouldians, several flavors of waxbills, Java Rice finches, a very curious Owl finch, Tri-colored Nuns, Zebras, two Bourke's parakeets, and an enormous white pigeon. I might be forgetting a few!
She had already caught the pair of Societies (one tea-colored and one chocolate-colored) and the Spice/Society hybrid (looks almost like a Spice finch) destined for the Finsterium when we got there. After watching all the birds for awhile, we all started catching the Spice finches. That is, Emma wielded the bird net, and Bruce and I tried our best to herd the birds toward her end of the aviary. Sure, she's had a lot of practice, but she's still very good at catching tiny little birds that fly very fast through the air.
After catching four Spice finches we all took a break. Birds everywhere were panting, beaks open to instill fear in their adversaries (and those weirdos trying to catch them, of all things). We then had a discussion about how many birds we actually wanted. We talked about how many Spice finches Emma had (six), the size of the Finsterium (480 cubic feet), the price of tea in China — but as it turned out, numbers were irrelevant: BRUCE WANTED THEM ALL.
So, that's what we have: six Spice finches, two Societies, and one hybrid. Nine new Finsters. This may well be too many to keep in the "hospital" cage for two weeks, but we'll see how it goes. They aren't very happy right now, but they started snacking and drinking right away, which is a good sign. Click here to see new nervous birds, plus a snacking tea-colored Society finch. Trying its best to blend in with my current, porky Society Finsters.
Stay tuned for new names, better pictures (well, maybe), new bird sounds, and more Finster goodness.
Thanks, Emma.
The Finster Log
Finster Day
Posted on: 09/15/04, 19:08:34
She had already caught the pair of Societies (one tea-colored and one chocolate-colored) and the Spice/Society hybrid (looks almost like a Spice finch) destined for the Finsterium when we got there. After watching all the birds for awhile, we all started catching the Spice finches. That is, Emma wielded the bird net, and Bruce and I tried our best to herd the birds toward her end of the aviary. Sure, she's had a lot of practice, but she's still very good at catching tiny little birds that fly very fast through the air.
After catching four Spice finches we all took a break. Birds everywhere were panting, beaks open to instill fear in their adversaries (and those weirdos trying to catch them, of all things). We then had a discussion about how many birds we actually wanted. We talked about how many Spice finches Emma had (six), the size of the Finsterium (480 cubic feet), the price of tea in China — but as it turned out, numbers were irrelevant: BRUCE WANTED THEM ALL.
So, that's what we have: six Spice finches, two Societies, and one hybrid. Nine new Finsters. This may well be too many to keep in the "hospital" cage for two weeks, but we'll see how it goes. They aren't very happy right now, but they started snacking and drinking right away, which is a good sign. Click here to see new nervous birds, plus a snacking tea-colored Society finch. Trying its best to blend in with my current, porky Society Finsters.
Stay tuned for new names, better pictures (well, maybe), new bird sounds, and more Finster goodness.
Thanks, Emma.
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