Wednesday, April 2, 1997

Mites! #2

Al, our white headed nun, has been to the vet and back. Mites are not the cause of his problems, said the vet. Old age and poor diet before we brought him home are the most likely causes of his scaly feet and toes. Poor feather condition around his eyes are also caused by the same old age and prior poor diet factors, and are not due to feather mites as we had thought earlier.

After describing the variety of food and supplements available to all aviary inhabitants, the vet concluded that we are providing our finches with every advantage possible. If Al had had mites of any kind, all of the finches would have quickly become infected as a result, and that has not happened. He also showed us a photo of bird legs infected with mites, and the calcification with Al's feet are not at all like the feet depicted in the photo. He repeated that, based on what he's observed with Al and how we described current diet and habitat, our finches are in good health.

We're relieved to find out that Al doesn't have a mite or any other problem. I'm feeling satisfied, too, with my initial assessment of Al's feet when I first noticed the problem in early November '96. The vet's conclusion was the same as mine. My confidence as a finchkeeper has been given a boost. And that feels good.

Thursday, April 10, 1997

Aviary Construction Progress #1

Yesterday, the last bit of stain and latex-based plastic coating was applied to the aviary's fir frame. Whew! The scene that had been sponge-painted on the back panels of the structure also received a coat of the latex finish. This means that assembly of the panels is next!

Today happens to be the lull before the final push to completion, so that's why there is time to write about what's about to come ...

Tomorrow afternoon, the Plexiglas will be ready for pick up. After they're brought home, each piece of plexi will be mounted on its respective section of frame.

As well, the current finch enclosure will be removed to make room for the new aviary. Before the new aviary is put together, the old space in the living must be cleaned. Did you know that there's old bird poop and dried plant goop stuck to the wall behind their current enclosure? How did they do that, those little birds?

Saturday, the floor section will be placed and leveled, and then the front, back, side and door panels will be bolted together. If all goes well, because, remember this structure is 8' wide by 3.5' deep by 6.5' high, the ceiling will be cut to the exact size, et voila, the thing is done! Well, not exactly done, but mostly. The furnishings must then be added. That means lighting (a four foot fluorescent fixture fitted with a full spectrum light), perches, feeding stations, fake trees along with a few select live plants, a couple of shelves, and the barrier between birds and lighting among other miscellaneous stuff that we haven't thought of yet must be arranged. Oh, heck, let's be honest here, all the furnishings will probably be arranged and rearranged several times before I done! Yes, the furnishings are my department, since I've had the most time to spend observing the finches. From my observations, I have a pretty good idea what elements will most enrich their environment. But I'll write more about these elements in the appropriate page of the Dream Indoor Aviary section after the structure is up. Stay tuned! Same finch time, same finch channel ...

ABOVE and BELOW: Sal, one of our female spice finches.

Monday, April 14, 1997

Aviary Construction Progress #2

The "Dream Indoor Aviary" is now complete! The birds are in their new home, the saws, drills and stain have all been put away (at least the stuff is in one pile, okay?) and we can now relax and enjoy the new addition to our living room.

Since the "Dream Indoor Aviary" section will provide lengthy details of construction, etc., I really wanted to say that we worked very hard to complete the thing and that the birds really seem to enjoy the added space.

Floor space per bird is 1.3 square feet and volume per bird is 7.8 cubic feet. The thoughts we had of adding more birds to the aviary's population in the new structure have been all but abandoned. Not that we don't really like finches, because we do immensely. The reason, however, is that we now seem to have just the right mix of finches and space, so why mess it up?

The new aviary has ample room for the imaginative loop-the-loops performed by the green singers. Even the plump society finches will benefit from the extra flight space and will, perhaps fly off some of those mealworms with which they've been stuffing themselves. The two pairs of owl finches, too, will hopefully have more room for both males to live a little more peaceably. And, of course, the three humans unquestionably already have more than enough finch antics to keep us amused for a long time to come.

Now, if I can just figure out an easy way to clean the thing...

Wednesday, April 16, 1997

Bully Owl Finch #1

Looking back on the behavior of that one male owl, Ralph, he's been this way for a long time. He's the aviary bully. Well, bully may be a harsh term. Perhaps it might be best to say he's at the top of the pecking order and he really likes to show it.

Now that the community has been moved into the "Dream" aviary, his behavior is much more noticeable, and we are in the process of diffusing the power he seems to wield so that the other aviary's inhabitants are not so intimidated by him.

Ralph, it has been observed, has been chasing the other finches away from the perches he considers prime. In their new digs, it means that the two perches suspended from the ceiling have, for the most part, become his. Not only does he chase his rival male owl, he also goes after the two society finch males. He has also taken command of the seed dispenser. Generally, the other finches give him a wide berth because of his aggressive nature. Boy, those male hormones, eh?

Anyway, we have considered our options, which to be:

• Add a few more perches in the aviary's open area on which the other finches can perch. If there are too many perches for him to effectively keep under his control, perhaps he'll settle down a bit.
• Add another seed dispenser in a location out of Ralph' normal view. This will enable the smaller finches as well as the less dominant male owl, Ed, a place to eat in peace.
• Separate him temporarily from the population. I'm not in favour of this idea simply because we strive to maintain a community environment. If he's separated he's not much a part of the community, is he? For a week, however, the separation may be helpful.
• Remove him permanently from the population. It would be sad to see such a healthy bird leave our care, but it may be the right thing to do.
• Remove the other owl male from the population and hope the other male's presence is the catalyst for his seemingly extreme behavior.
• Get another pair of owl finches. His aggression may be mostly directed toward the other owl male. Our reading suggests that two pairs of owls can cause aggression problems, but an odd number of pairs may well settle down Ralph's competitive nature. This option holds no guarantee that his behavior will change, but may indeed become worse.

Today, we will add a few perches as well as another feeder behind one of the trees and measure the success of these ploys.

Bathing in the Dream Aviary's New Birdbath #1

Since their introduction into the new finch space, few occasions of bathing has been observed. Bathing seems to be one of those activities done only when the finches' feeling of safety is high. I suppose it's a little like taking off one's clothes in some unknown place, and just how comfortable is that for any of us? Two factors seem to be in play here: First, a new birdbath has been introduced. It is a commercially available two part plastic bath, the top of which is clear with an opaque bottom. The bath has been made to fit on the outside of the aviary and fits neatly where one of the small doors has been removed. The small door hangs nearby so whenever the bath's water is refreshed, the door is temporarily placed over the baths' opening. Second, the whole environment is new and still not known well enough to be regarded as safe by the finches. Caution is part of every bird's life due to their vulnerability in nature, so it is thoroughly understandable for them to use it abundantly. Since Saturday evening, the use of the bath has increased daily. There have yet to be, however, the long queues for a dip in its fine, fine waters as there were with the other bath in the previous enclosure. It may simply be a matter of time ...

ABOVE and BELOW: Spice finches preening themselves.

Friday, April 18, 1997

Cleaning the Dream Aviary #1

Yesterday, I finally took the plunge and cleaned the Plexiglas both inside and out. A fine layer of dust as well as seed hulls coated the inside of the Plexi. A few streaks of poop also slid down the lower region of the inside surface, so it was definitely time to do the first clean.

I was concerned my prolonged presence to clean the Plexi in particular, would upset the finches enormously. To my surprise, they sat in the top of the farthest fake tree from where I worked and sang loudly.

Clear water, with no cleaning agent or Windex, was spritzed onto the surface. With clean portions of old terry towel, I simply wiped away the grime. This method was fairly easy and worked well. Whenever this job has to be performed in the future, probably weekly or bi-weekly, this is the method I'll use.

Cleaning the aviary floor is another matter. This must be done every couple of days or so. The day that the fake trees and finches were introduced into the aviary, I laid several layers of newspaper on the floor. The intent was, and is, to remove the top layer of paper thereby removing poop and seed hulls. In theory, it works well. That is, until it's time to squeeze out the door with this giant wad of paper and seed hulls occupying both hands. I think, perhaps, a waste container next to the aviary might help contain the mess. We'll look into this ...

Bully Owl Finch #2

Five smaller perches replaced the two larger ones as well as another feeder was added to the back right corner of the aviary in our effort to reduce Ralph's aggressive demeanor.

For the most part, our ploys worked! More of the other finches have been observed in the open space, most notably the other male owl and his mate. Less chasing by Ralph has been observed, and the community seems to be a little less on edge.

We will, however, continue to monitor the situation in case our solution was only temporary. You never know, Ralph's little bird mind may be slowly grinding away in an effort to seize power again!

Saturday, April 19, 1997

Bully Owl Finch #3

Ralph and Alice, the dominant male owl and his mate, have been removed from the Dream aviary. His behavior again became disruptive as soon as he had adjusted to the changes we'd made.

The Original aviary, with a few structural changes, is now Ralph's and Alice's new home. Its size is 32" wide by 20" deep by 50" high, which will undoubtedly be large enough even for his ego. Fortunate for me, their new home has been placed to the right of the Dream aviary, within a foot of my computer. This male owl has never been shy of me, so my proximity will not be as disturbing as it might be for another pair.

Ralph doesn't seem to like the reduced space very much, but tough luck, Ralph. Gee, that statement makes me sound a little cruel, which I'm not. It's just that his behavior was so bothersome to the community that something had to be done to reduce the stress to everyone, Ralph included. Maybe now he'll settle down a bit. And, who knows, maybe I'll place a nest in with them ...

Sunday, April 20, 1997

Cleaning the Dream Aviary #2

Okay, okay. Cleaning the Dream aviary isn't pretty. Nor is it easy, but so far it looks like I pull out the top layer of newspaper every two or three days. Doing this removes the poop as well as most of the seed hulls.

Every week or so, it looks like I'll have to wash both inside and outside Plexi surfaces.

Also weekly, though I have yet to do this, I'll be taking off the fake tree branches to wash off the enormous amounts of poop that land on the leaves. Probably more poop is on the fake leaves than on the floor. I think doing one tree at a time will make it easier for the birds to adjust.

The really hard cleaning job will be when I run out of layers of newspaper on the floor. I've pondered how to handle this inevitability and have thought I'd do it so:

• take the branches off one tree and wash them
• then remove the whole tree and wash it where necessary
• remove the last layer of newspaper on that side of the floor, then vacuum the floor and wash where necessary
• in an orderly fashion, place down several layers of newspaper
• replace the tree and its branches
• repeat the same for the other side.

Sounds easy, doesn't it? Not very likely!

Bully Owl Finch #4

Ralph's ticked right off! He hops from place to place with his tail just a-flicking. He howls at the other male owl and stares him down through the Plexiglas.

Alice, has taken things a little bit easier, though she calls and calls to the other finches. Sometimes one of the neighboring owls call back. I'm sure she's lonely for companionship with the society finches, but what's to be done? Ralph's behavior has been so disruptive that this is the best overall solution, at least for now. Maybe we'll consider adding the pair of society finches once things settle a bit for Ralph.

While Ralph is storming about his new home, she stays strictly out of his way. We intentionally set up a place where she can sit in the open yet still sit by herself is she so desired, which she often seems to prefer. Last night, however, they both slept in the plant pot beneath the fake plant. The finches that remain in the Dream aviary have had no problem adjusting to the bully's absence. They seem a bit livelier today, and more of them perch and play in the open area which Ralph had once commandeered for himself. Overall, I think we made a wise decision. RIGHT: Sal, one of our female spice finches.

Wednesday, April 23, 1997

Bathing in the Dream Aviary's New Bird Bath #2

More and more finches are taking advantage of the new birdbath. They seem to line up to take a dip as they once did in the Improved aviary, though not in as great numbers as before when fourteen (!) finches had once been observed having taken a bath.

As time progresses, they'll become more comfortable, and the sounds of their splashing will be heard for longer and longer periods.

Bully Owl Finch #5

Poor Ralph is taking his exile rather hard. I don't blame him, though. His new home is so much smaller than his old one. He has fewer companions. Though we've added as many toys and stimuli as possible to his environment, he still seems unhappy. I think both of them are lonely for the others in the community. They call back and forth several times daily.

He spends short periods of time flying in a monotonous pattern, back and forth, back and forth. He has so much energy with no where for it to go, poor fellow. Just today I noticed Alice, his mate, taking a bath. It may have been the first bath taken since exile day, last Saturday.

The rivalry between the two males was still apparent even though they'd been separated. Ralph, upon seeing the other male, Ed, would step up his monotonous flights to the point that it looked as though he might shoot right through the Plexiglas. A visual barrier was hung between the two enclosures this morning, though it will be a few days, we suspect, before Ralph gets accustomed to it enough to settle down a bit more.

Who knows, maybe at a later date, we may introduce Ralph and Alice back into the community. I sure hope so because they seem so lonely by themselves.

Monday, April 21, 1997

Okay, Okay! They Can Nest this Spring

After a brief discussion with a local bird breeder, the decision to place nests in the aviary became simple. With the types of finches I described keeping, she thought the market would be quite good among breeders, if they were to have chicks.

We anticipate many stories to come out of our encouraging the aviary's inhabitants to nest and raise their anticipated young.

From our experiences over the winter of '96-'97, we have come to know, however, that not all eggs develop into chicks, and that not all chicks hatched grow into mature birds.

That said, we prepare for the possibility of our finches choosing from the nests we'll be offering. We hope to observe courtship rituals of our owl and green singing finches. We'll probably start looking, to no possible avail, for eggs in the nests the day after nests have been installed! And, triumphantly, we await chicks to emerge from those eggs. Hopefully, we'll be able to observe red cheeked cordon bleu chicks take their first flights, to watch as green singing finch chicks are fed by their parents, and to finally know whether or not the St. Helena's and rosy rumped waxbills are indeed same gender couples.

With no further ado, two nestboxes with some dried grass from last fall and moss from the plant nursery were hung on the small doors of the Dream aviary's west entry. As well, a wicker nest was hung in with the disenfranchised owl pair, Ralph (the bully) and Alice (his unfortunate moll, I mean mate).

Ralph and Alice don't seem interested in the nest at all.

Whereas the two nests in the aviary have seen more action than a one legged man at a butt-kicking contest:

• An owl finch is, at this moment, in the south nest and its mate has just made a failed attempt to join it. He or she had also spent a few minutes in the north nest.
• the male red cheeked cordon bleu has taken some nesting material from the north nest.
• both male society finches have taken nesting material from north and south nests.

Clearly, there are not nearly enough nests to house all the pairs who will probably be interested in a nest. Eight pairs of birds reside in the Dream aviary, so in all fairness, a minimum of eight nests would best be hung with them.

Tomorrow, I will purchase a couple of bamboo poles to be hung on the back wall of the aviary. One pole will be hung horizontally at about 5.5', the other at about 4' from the floor. Hung onto these poles will be the nests.

Four more nests will have to be purchased along with nesting material. Too bad the grass hasn't begun to grow up here yet. Then I could simply harvest our own grass. However, I'll have aaaall summer to harvest grass for the next time ...

Wednesday, April 23, 1997

Nest Removal

The first night the first two nests were in place, we noticed that one of the male society finches had snuck into the nest with the owl pair. This event did not seem very surprising since in the Improved aviary, owls, societies and the male white headed nun often slept together in the large potted plant's soil.

The next day, however, chasing and screeching began to escalate between the male owl and one of the male societies. Then it was noticed the chasing was being done by the owl who was after the society finch. Hmmm ... those darned owls again, I thought!

Then is was observed that the chasing only occurred after the society finch attempted to enter the nest they'd all slept in the night before. Of course! The owl had claimed the nest, but the society finch hadn't quite gotten it through his little bird head. After witnessing a couple more chases, out came the nests. Peace has since reigned between the male owl and the society finches.

More Nests Added

Two wooden nestboxes as well as three wicker-type nests were added to the aviary yesterday as described above.

The ever-curious red cheeked cordon bleus have inspected most of them, as we've come to expect they would.

Surprisingly, however, is the observed courtship-looking swaying bill dance of the two rosy rumped waxbills atop one of the nestboxes. Maybe we do have a male and female of these shy birds! Wouldn't that be something to actually know their gender? So far, though, no finch pairs have committed themselves to a nest, nor begun courting as far as we've seen, but we're watchful! RIGHT: Left, Pep, one of our female spice finches; right, one of the St. Helelna's waxbills.

Tuesday, April 29, 1997

More Owl Troubles

Gee, a week has passed since my last entry. No, we weren't on vacation. Far from it, actually!

So we pick up at the point where more nests were installed in the Dream aviary. That part went easy. Within a day of the additional nests going in, the remaining owl male began systematic aggression toward the rest of the aviary's inhabitants. Every time his mate went into their chosen nestbox, he chased everyone from that entire side of the aviary. In an attempt to solve the problem, we removed the fake tree from his defended side of the aviary and installed natural tree branches suspended from the ceiling. If anything, this move of ours seemed to increase the size of his desired territory to include the eggfood, fruit and mealworm feeding and water dishes clear across the aviary! When his female was in that nest, nobody could eat or drink, or even fly through his territory.

Our ultimate solution to this new owl problem was to remove the pair from the community. The male's behavior had become so anti-social that we now have three finch enclosures going at once. This scenario has meant that our goal of a community finch aviary is not being met. Solution? Either keep the three enclosures going, or sell some of all of the owl finches. Sadly, we'll be selling them or, at this point at least, are planning to sell them.

The second male owl's behavior shocked us since owl finches had been described as very peaceful aviary inhabitants. Both pairs clearly have not worked out that way,. We're somewhat disillusioned with how things worked out regarding the owl finches.

Red Cheeked Cordon Bleus

As we suspected would happen, the red cheeked cordon bleu pair quickly selected their nest. Fibber plundered the other nests for choice nesting materials for his own nest. Interestingly, he threw the moss onto the floor and brought him the grass we'd collected from last fall.

The red cheeks are spending many hours on their nest already. I haven't watched closely enough to know if they're now taking shifts, which would indicate eggs, but I wouldn't be surprised if that's exactly what they're up to in there. This morning I pulled up the top layer of newspaper, and Fibber sat glued to their nest, so something is certainly afoot. My guess is that at this moment they have at least two eggs, which would mean the by the 12th of May there may be chicks, if the eggs are at all fertile.

I'd go in to inspect the nest, but I think it might be prudent to wait it out. Previously, we'd inspected the nests daily. That was when the nests we so much more accessible. It was also when none of the eggs amounted to anything, either, so letting nature take its course without our meddling may be the order of the day. RIGHT: One of our red eared waxbills.

Wednesday, April 30, 1997

The Fallen Egg

For some reason this morning at 6:30, as I was passing the aviary, I happened to take a closer look at the cordon bleu nest. Hmm. Nobody was inside, and I wondered where Mollie might have been since she and Fibber had been sitting tightly on their net. And that's when I saw it. One tiny egg on the aviary floor below their nest, unbroken!

It didn't take me very long to decide what to do. Over to the kitchen drawer I went and pulled out a teaspoon. Back at the aviary, , opened the door and crouched down to scoop up the egg. Carefully, so as not to drop it again, I lifted the spoon to the nest's mouth and slid the egg inside. Oh, what the heck, I thought, I'm already here, so let's see how many eggs have been laid? Including the fallen egg, there were three white eggs in the red cheeks nest.

These are only three eggs, I caution myself, not three chicks. Just three eggs ...

Bully Owl's Nest

We may be working against ourselves with our owl finches, I'm afraid.

On the one hand both pair do not seem to be very sociable in the community, so one by one, we removed each pair. Our intention is now to sell both pair.

On the other hand, however, we've installed nests in cages of both pair. Ralph, the dominant male of the two pair, and his mate, Alice, have had a nest in with them for over a week. Just yesterday, however, Ralph made the big discovery. I mean his reaction to the discovery was absolutely huge. Into the nest and back out, then back in and then out., then over to Alice and then in and out and in and out. Finally, Alice did go in.

After Alice showed interest, Ralph spent the rest of the day hopping all over their enclosure. He attempted to pull anything and everything from its mooring for use as nesting material. Back in his days as community member, he'd observed the society males shredding newspaper to line their nest. So, yesterday, he rearranged the newspaper to absolutely no avail! He tugged and pulled and even tried to fly away with the sheet! I'm sure he was so frustrated with himself, poor little fellow.

At this moment, Alice is in the nest, which is about three feet from my computer desk. A sheet of 1/8" Plexiglas separate us. Every so often she makes room for Ralph as he enters the nest (not unlike a bull in a China shop!) with a blade of grass. The proximity of their nest to my work place will make it an interesting experience, indeed, if eggs are laid and hatched, and if chicks are brooded.

Now, with our desire to sell this and the other pair of owls, we'll miss many possibly wonderful events. Of course, we may not be able to sell them for the price we'd paid for them, anyway, so the selling issue may certainly be moot.

Other Interested Nesting Parties

Yesterday, the gold breasted waxbill pair were observed snuggled little red bill to little red bill in one of the woven reed nests. Sooo cute! In the same nest, one of the rosy rumped waxbills had been observed in and out a few short times. Also the rosy rumps and the red eared waxbills had been observed atop that nest, just hanging out, I suppose. While the red cheeked cordon bleus are ready breeders, the other pairs, and we think there are few male-female pairs, may simply take a longer period of time to become ready for nesting. Also, no matter how much time is given them, they may never be ready. And that's all right with us.

ABOVE: Our pair of red eared waxbills.