Monday, June 2, 1997

Pep, Acrobat Extraordinaire

It was Theresa who first noticed Pep's predilection for hanging upside down from the aviary's ceiling. Pep, of course, is the new spice finch that we think is male. He's also the spice with no tail, which makes him quite easy to identify when compared to Sal, his mate who we think is female. Sal and Pep are short versions of salt and pepper, which has to be the most obvious choice of names for spice finches. Yes, we're not always the most original giver of names to our birds, but, so what?

Anyway, so Pep somehow manages to flip himself upside down and grab onto the bars that separate the lighting from the bird space. He hangs upside down for about thirty seconds or so, then lets go and flies off. While he's upside down, however, he twists his head and body around, thereby giving himself a great stretch.

I'm amazed that only he's the only one of our finches who performs this unusual feat on a regular basis. Usually he hangs upside down in the mornings and early afternoons during the aviary's most hectic and noisy times. By afternoon, the aviary is a little quieter, which seems to settle down Pep, too.

While we'll never know what inspires him to actually hang upside down, each of us has a theory:

• Chris' theory is that Pep is really the "prison clown". His role in the prison, in which they all live, is to create diversions. The rationale is if the humans are busy watching Pep, the other finches will, at least temporarily, attempt to escape.
• Theresa's theory is that he's just looking for the attention of the other birds, and is therefore only a "show-off" at heart.
• I, on the other hand, think that Pep is trying to view the world from a different perspective. What better way to take another vantage point than to go where most birds do not?

When I consider the personalities of the individuals whose lives are intertwined with our finches, I wonder why each imagines what we do about Pep's acrobatics. Is how we imagine Pep's reason for his unusual behavior the way we view ourselves in the world?

Tuesday, June 2, 1997

Outdoor Plants Indoors #1

The chunks of lawn and sedum from the garden have successfully made the transition from "out there" to inside the aviary. The two pots of lawn, in particular, have been a huge hit, so much so that I think it may be time to replace each of them soon.

The birds, too, have been observed spending more time on the floor and in amongst the plants. The grass is being chewed the most, however, the sedum does get its share of visitors.

Since placing the plants in with them, I've been concerned that they'll contract disease from the soil or from whatever insects may be in the soil. I know that I'd like to continue providing the birds chunks of lawn as the season goes along, but the risk seems to be too much for me. I mean, I've had nightmares related to holding dying birds with insects crawling all over them. I don't think Freud would hesitate to comment that, indeed, I'm quite concerned about mixing outdoor plants with indoor finches.

To continue to offer lawn and the prolifically growing sedum to the finches year round, yet to make sure a minimum of potentially harmful beasts don't kill them, I've devised a plan. Two rectangular box planters have been purchased along with a pound of lawn seed and a big bag of sterilized soil. With these ingredients, I plan to raise a small lawn and transplant a numerous sedum cuttings for the finches' winter use. The two planters can be left outside in a sunny but sheltered spot until later in the summer. They can be rotated into the aviary throughout the summer, and in the fall both be brought indoors.

Plants in planters do attract insects, though fewer insects than if they'd been dug from the ground. I know I'll feel more comfortable with this arrangement, and hopefully nightmares will no longer interrupt my sleep.   RIGHT: Left, the male white headed nun; right, the female.

Thursday, June 12, 1997

Spinster Spice Sisters Spurn Society's So-called Seductions

Ah, the love lives of our birds ... or the lack thereof ...

We're still trying to decide if we, indeed, have a female pair of spice finches. According to what we've read, the male displays as well as sings, though his song is very soft and may not be noticeable in a noisy mixed aviary like ours. We have, however, observed our finches quite closely and have not seen either of the two perform as has been described. Though we don't rule out the possibility that we're wrong, at this point it seems that we probably have two females.

Which brings us around to the birds' love lives, particularly the lack of love lives for the two male society finches, Trevor and David. Trevor and David have been buddies since November '96, and certainly continue to enjoy a close relationship. They sit together, snuggle and sleep together, preen each other, bath together. When we offered them mealworms they dined together. Actually, it was more like they pilfered mealworms mercilessly from each other, but all in good fun and there was never any hard feelings over the stolen worms.

Now enter these two gorgeous spice finches. Neither spice had even gotten their feet on a solid perch those first few moments in the aviary when one of the society finches flew right over and did his in-your-face song and dance routine for Sal.

And the wooing continues. The other day the two spices, Sal and Pep, were perched together mid-aviary when along comes Trevor. He lands next to Sal and begins the most energetic dance I'd ever seen a society perform. He hopped and trilled with such gusto. Sal just looked at him with what seemed to be utter contempt. Pep was perched on the other side of Sal. As Trevor's dance progressed, her neck became longer and longer and her face more and more horrified.

Of course, Chris and I watched the proceedings and commented at the two spice finches' reactions. We often fabricate their supposed finch conversations and thoughts and came up with the notion that, indeed, Trevor had long admired Pep's stunning beauty. Having the courage no longer to keep his feelings to himself, he flew by to show his undying love. Sal had seen it all before elsewhere and was not in the least interested in him nor any other mere society finch. Pep was struck with horror that she would be subject to the undignified public display of Trevor's affections. When Trevor had finished his display, he stood next to Sal until both Sal and Pep flew off to a less public perch to chew on some fake leaves.

ABOVE: Our female white headed nun.

Tuesday, June 17, 1997

Outdoor Plants Indoors #2

Yesterday the box planters were brought into the aviary. The following plants had been removed from their outdoor moorings, had had leaves, stems and roots washed thoroughly with the hose, then were planted in sterilized soil from the garden centre:

• a short growing type of grass complete with seed heads. Within a half hour, every finch worth its feathers was munching on the seedheads, particularly the small waxbills, green singers, spice finches and owls.
• a taller type of grass, with no seedheads. Owls and red cheeked cordon bleus broke off a few long blades and the red cheeks danced and sang.
• sprouted grass. I think, for the most part, these seedlings are simply getting trod upon.
• prolifically spreading lemon mint. No one seems very interested in the mint, however.
• prolifically spreading sedum. This stuff is also being ignored.

A few short hours after introducing the planter, eleven of the eighteen finches were counted IN the 6" by 20" box!

The short growing grass and the seed heads are the big hit, at least for now. As I type, I can see the St. Helena's waxbill pair and one of the rosy rumps "grazing". There are days, such as right now, that I long to provide them with unlimited "grazing" area. Sigh. I also know that such a thing is not within our abilities to provide, and am content in knowing that they've got as excellent a home as is within our power to provide.

Tuesday, June 24, 1997

Outdoor Plants Indoors #3

Only a week has passed since the large box planter was brought into the finches' space, but it looks like the plants have been in there for months!

The grass seedlings have all been either plucked out or stomped on by little finch feet. The clumps of established grass are also looking well-gnawed, and the tall grass has been chewed down as well.

Flowers from the sedum have been totally decimated, mostly by the green singers, though the red cheeked cordon bleu pair have also been observed eating them.

All in all, the boxes have been a success. Their presence has inspired the finches to spend more time on the aviary floor - a sure sign that they're coming to trust their relatively new environment totally. In all, it's only been about ten weeks that the Dream Aviary has been the finches' home. I wouldn't have thought that it would have taken them quite so long to become accustomed to the whole space, both the upper portions and the floor area. I suppose, though, it was our adding the boxes to the floor that the finches gave the finches a reason, finally, to begin to utilize the it.

With the first box being such a hit, and a second box outside for the past two weeks, we stocked two more boxes with plants over the past weekend. The goal with the four boxes is to slowly rotate them through the aviary over the summer. Hopefully, by fall, most of the boxes will be brimming with plants. We'll bring all four large ones and the two smaller ones in over the winter and rotate them through the aviary. I wonder how much time will pass before the birds eat their way through the fully stocked boxes? Not long, I suspect...

Plucked Grass Causing Problems

As more and more plucked grass from the planter boxes becomes available, so has the bickering between finches increased. In the wild, the grasses indicate nesting material. The male owl finch in particular seems to be the quite aggressive over ownership of the grass. He's back to his old tricks of harassing the society finches by the sounds of the squawking sometimes going on.

While it's wonderful to add more natural elements to the finch environment, there is a balance to be struck, too.

That balance is between giving the finches enough plants to satisfy their natural instincts to root in the soil and play in the plants and not stimulating their natural desires to nest. Nesting for some of the males certainly brings out their more aggressive qualities. In our community environment, aggression is best kept to a minimum.

ABOVE: Left to right, female white headed nun, female and male gold breasted waxbills, St. Helena's waxbill, and rosy rumped waxbill napping.