Well, I think Szechwan (Pepper) and Cassia are sitting on eggs!

I often count the Finsters several times a day, to make sure nobody has left the cage to explore my dusty apartment. I used to count them carefully and slowly, but lately it's a fast, instinctual activity. I glance inside and get a quick feel for the number of tiny creatures inside. Starting yesterday morning, I started thinking I might be missing one.

"Oh, not to worry," I'd think after a closer look. "Szechwan (Pepper) is inside his nest." And then later in the day, "Oh, never mind, Cassia is inside her nest." And so on. Even in the morning after I'd given them fresh snacks for the day — when all the Finsters usually fly to the floor (at the same time) for breakfast — it was one or the other, not both. And the same thing happened today. I'd see one of the two birds, but unless I saw them both inside or on the porch their nest box, I didn't see them at the same time.

Well, that means that Szechwan (Pepper) and Cassia just might be sitting on some eggs.

"IT'S ABOUT TIME," was Bruce's reaction. Because, of course, that means that the Finsterium is a happy, healthy place for birds to be. And we're known for spoiling small creatures in and around this place.

So, around March 7, we may just be hearing little peeps and wheezes coming from that box. We'll see. I'm not positive the birds are sitting on a clutch. I'll keep watching.

But if Szechwan (Pepper) and Cassia are sitting on eggs, then I can't change out nest boxes and clean the Finsterium until after the babies have hatched, fledged, and settled in. Lucky, lazy me.