Although the two groups of birds still stick together (that is, apart from each other), and still get startled fairly often, there's much less crazy flapping going on, which is a relief. The Finsterium is big enough, and has enough surfaces, that they can get far enough away from each other to feel safe. The bath dish (there were at least three Bath Events today) and some of the food spots (particularly the dish of soaked seeds) seem to be free zones — as long as they're at least an inch apart, "new" birds and "original" birds can be there at the same time without any crazy flapping. "New" birds and "original" birds can be on the same perch, together, as long as they're a few inches away. Darjeeling, Goober and Earl Grey can stay in their box without fear of disturbance, and Frank — Brave Frank — can hold his ground on top of the box even when a Spice finch clings to the wall behind him.

In fact, once Frank held his ground on top of the box when a Spice finch landed on the box with him. Now, before you go thinking that this is unbelievable — which, mind you, it is — listen to this: Bruce saw Frank sitting on his box, and a Spice finch sitting on his box preening him. That's right: BRUCE SAW A SPICE FINCH PREENING FRANK.

Obviously, this could not have happened. Not to disparage Bruce or his sanity in any way, but really. Until I see this with my own eyes, notarized on paper, and backed up by twenty-seven eight-by-ten color glossy photographs with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each one was, I cannot possibly be expected to believe this. And it could be forever before I can open the door to take photographs. Still, it sets the mind racing, doesn't it?

The neat thing about suddenly filling the Finsterium with strange birds is that it has forced the "original" Finsters to flock together — and Frank is part of that flock. Forget that he's a different kind of bird, forget that he never goes into a box with the others, forget that he doesn't cuddle with them, side by side. He's still enough of a flock member to eat with them, bathe with them, perch with them, and sleep on top of their nest box. That's pretty sweet.

The new Society finches are less sedentary than Earl Grey, Darjeeling and Goober, which makes sense since they're probably much younger. But the Spice finches are very active. And, like Goober, they're wall clingers. They even cling to the wall when they're napping. Even more fantastic is that several of the Spices and the hybrid cling to the ceiling! They'll fly to one end of the ceiling, dangle from their toes for a bit, drop off and fly to the other end of the ceiling and dangle for a bit, then do it all again. Did I mention this is the ceiling we're talking about here?

In other acrobatic news, the new male society hung from the lower perch by his toes — beak down, dangling. On his way down to snack on corn, presumably. Still.

After a less frenetic, but still wary day, the "new" Finsters were once again totally startled by the lights going off at 8:12. But everyone had settled down by nine, when Bruce peeked into the Finsterium to find the "original" Societies inside their proper box, a pile of "new" Finsters on top of it, and Frank sadly on top of a different box. About half an hour later I peeked in, this time with a flashlight. I had just enough time to see piles of Finsters on top of boxes everywhere when the light (what's with the d*** light?) startled either Earl Grey or Darjeeling out of their box, which startled all the other birds, and filled me with so much guilt I ran away and didn't even think about peeking in again for the rest of the night.