My Birds' Words

News From The Birdie World :-)

2012-03-02T00:01:00.004-05:00

The fostered hatchling is still doing okay. Pearl and Smudge usually feed it, but I still am having to check to be sure, and supplement when necessary. It's so adorable when it begs while I'm holding it! :-) Its feathers are starting to come in, and although it's small for its age, it's growing steadily.

Patches and Sugar's other egg hatched a day or two ago, so now they have two hatchlings. Both are being very well taken care of, and the parents are pretty protective of them. I had to add a little nesting materials underneath the chicks earlier. They'd wallowed the nesting materials towards the edges of the nest box, leaving nothing but hard, slick plastic for the chicks to lay on. The lack of traction can cause splayed legs, so I had to add some nesting materials. The parents sure didn't like me taking the nest box away briefly, but settled back in once I brought their babies back. :-)

Shelly and Ghost have 3 eggs. Blackie and Onyx have 2 or 3 eggs. And I believe Tip and Echo have a couple of eggs as well. Whisper laid an egg in her food cup during the day, but it's unlikely to be viable since she and Creamsicle have been separated awhile. Since their fledgling is now weaned, I put the egg into a nest box, moved the youngster out, and put the parents back together. I'll let them have one more clutch if they want, and then they're up for a rest. :-)

I've got a wait list for youngsters right now, so if anyone is wanting to adopt sooner than April or May, it might be best for me to refer you to the Chattanooga Bird Fair, which is March 31-April 1 at Camp Jordan.

I'm also going to start enforcing the completion of adoption applications. Awhile back, I had someone adopt some of my birds that seemed knowledgeable and responsible at the time, but it turned out that the person apparently has "animal acquisition issues". (I'm being polite. A more blunt word is HOARDER, with FLIPPER/SWAPPER tendencies, as well as borderline MISTREATMENT of their precious pets!) I'm almost finished with the adoption application and will post it soon.

Updates :-)

2012-02-28T09:19:00.003-05:00

The hatchling is still doing okay. Its foster parents are feeding it "okay" (could be better), and I'm still supplementing as needed. They now have EIGHT eggs in the nest. I checked them all, and the older eggs aren't viable, which I expected. It's too soon to tell if the newer eggs are good or not.

In the meantime, Patches and Sugar's first clutch is doing fair. There were five eggs total, but one mysteriously vanished. They may have eaten it for the calcium. Another egg held a baby that apparently tried to hatch, but must have had problems. It didn't make it. :-( I found it in the seed tray, tossed from the nest. (That's how the parents keep the nest clean. Any deceased chicks must be removed, and the parents generally take care of it in a timely manner.) The third egg hatched and the chick seems to be doing well. The fourth egg hatched, but the chick died shortly afterwards. It was long and skinny, so there may have been something wrong with it. And the fifth egg hasn't hatched. It may be a dud; I haven't candled it. It's sad that some chicks didn't make it, but so far the one that did is doing well. I wish there was a way to skip the first clutch and go right to the second clutch, but it's the only way the parents will learn how to care for youngsters. Some new parents know exactly what to do, and others totally freak out when those round white things turn into little pink wiggly things.

Shelly and Ghost have two eggs, but may be expecting more since they're not yet incubating. Both of them are experienced parents.

The societies, spices, and stars in the double flight cage are all doing well. We had to remove the bronze winged mannikins. Despite their tiny size and supposedly passive personality, they'd started picking on the other finches and bullying them. They plucked the poor male star finch's chest something awful. :-( It was a JOB trying to catch them, as fast as they are, but between the two of us, we finally got them. They're now in a 30" breeder cage in the bird room. I don't know if they're a male and female, or if they're the same sex. I do know that they're both sleeping in the nest at night. :-)

That's all the news I have for the moment, but I'm sure there will be more birdy updates soon! :-)

Doing Much Better! :-)

2012-02-24T21:58:00.003-05:00

The hatchling is doing MUCH better now, and the foster parents are feeding it! :-D It's crop was pretty full when I checked on it a little bit ago, but since I already had the handfeeding formula mixed up, I went ahead and topped it off. Its little mouth pops right open now! :-D Its eyes are open a smidge more, too, and I can tell that it's grown a bit. Assuming the foster parents keep taking care of it, I'm upping its chances to 90% now. :-D

Looking A Bit Better, But Still Iffy

2012-02-24T07:57:00.002-05:00

The hatchling is doing better, but isn't out of the woods yet. Pearl and Smudge are keeping it warm, but definitely could be feeding it better. She laid another egg during the night, so now she's sitting on 7 eggs. :-/ I just handfed the baby myself, and it ate much better this time. I still had to force it a little, but once it got going, it was a little piggy. :-) Its eyes are just barely starting to peek open. I'm going to up its chances to 60/40 at this point. I may still end up taking over if the foster parents don't start feeding it better. We'll just have to see how it goes. :-)

An Iffy Situation :-/

2012-02-23T20:33:00.003-05:00

A few days ago I mentioned that Whisper and Creamsicle had an egg to hatch virtually the same day that their single youngster fledged. They fed the baby at first, then increasingly started ignoring it. I've been handfeeding it as a supplement to their sporadic feedings, but yesterday they abandoned it completely. When I went to feed it, it was on its side, cold as ice. I touched it, and was surprised that it was still alive! I warmed it up in my hands, but it didn't want to eat. Finally I was able to get some food in the little guy by forcing its mouth open. Once its mouth was open, it would eat, but still wouldn't beg, probably because it was too weak. At least I got some food in it!

After I got the little fellow full, I knew I couldn't put it back with its parents since they'd abandoned it. Frostie, my normal foster mom, had a dud egg, but she'd given up on incubating it. She wouldn't accept the chick since the timing was off.

Pearl was my next choice. She and Smudge have successfully raised one clutch, and I'd separated them with a cage divider after she started plucking the almost-weaned chicks and the dad. The reason she was plucking is that she'd already started laying eggs again, and didn't want anyone near the nest. Those chicks are now weaned and in a cage of their own. Pearl currently is incubating several eggs, but I believe the eggs aren't viable. If they were good, the developing chicks would be visible by now. I took the divider out to let the pair back together, and slipped the abandoned chick into their nest. Luckily it's very small and is just barely starting to get pin feathers, so it looks a lot like a hatchling. Then I sat back and waited.

Pearl hopped into the nest, saw that "one of her eggs had hatched" ;-) and immediately started sitting on the chick to keep it warm. The dad looked in, studied the little bundle of joy a minute, then hopped into the nest box as well. So far, so good.

I checked on it during the night, and it was pink and wiggly, just as it should be.

I checked on it again a little bit again, and it's still doing well. They're not feeding it as much as I'd like to see, but I can supplement if it's not enough. I did hear it begging, so that's a good sign.

I'd give it a 50/50 chance at this point, assuming the foster parents take care of it properly and assuming it wasn't affected by getting too cold and hungry.

Although I could handfeed it on out (and will, if need be), it's very preferable to me that parents or foster parents do it. The handfeeding formula supposedly contains all the nutrients a chick needs, but from my experience, the chicks grow and develop more slowly than if the parents/foster parents feed them. I want my chicks to be as strong and healthy as possible. :-)

LOL!

2012-02-21T17:34:00.005-05:00

Too funny! All of my new societies piled into this one nest to sleep! Believe it or not, there are 10 birds crammed into this nest! :-D (One has its head tucked behind its wing.)

Pics of New Birds

2012-02-19T00:59:00.003-05:00

Above: Photo of several of the finches (click to enlarge)

Above: Star Finches (click to enlarge)

What We Got At The Atlanta Bird Fair

2012-02-19T00:15:00.003-05:00

We got 10 society finches (6 of which are crested), 2 bronze wing mannikins, and 2 star finches. Here are some photos. They're having a BALL in the double flight cage! :-) Some more star finches are on the "want" list for the next bird fair.

Although we got some nice birds, I was pretty disappointed in the Atlanta fair overall. There weren't any more vendors there than at the Chattanooga fair, and some of the prices were higher. (Bags of food were $10+ more expensive!) Between the 4-hour round-trip drive and fighting Atlanta traffic, it really wasn't worth the time or gas. We had fun anyway, though, and I'm glad we got some pretty birds for my office/craft room. :-)

Atlanta Bird Fair! :-D

2012-02-17T20:57:00.002-05:00

YIPPEE!!! We're going to the Atlanta Bird Fair in the morning. :-) I've decided to get some community finches to go in the double flight cage, rather than putting my zebras in it. I'm afraid the zebras will be too fussy, and it would be a royal pain to catch and remove the "troublemakers" from such a huge cage. I've got some extra zebras to rehome now anyway, so it'll work out just as well. We put the double flight cage in my office. It's in front of the mirrored closed door, so it looks even larger than it is. We've got lights to go on/it in and everything. :-) The parrotlet's cage and the cockatiel's cage are on top of it, so it's almost like an apartment complex. LOL!

I plan to get some society finches, some spice finches, and maybe some silverbill finches if they're not too expensive. We'll see how it goes! I've never been to a large bird fair before. We'll both probably be ooooh-ing and aaaah-ing over EVERYthing! :-)

Good Grief!

2012-02-15T06:36:00.003-05:00

Whisper and Creamsicle's two-toned youngster fledged a couple of days ago. I went to remove the nest box to discourage them from starting a new clutch, and was SHOCKED to find not only some eggs, but a HATCHLING! It looks like they were "using" the older youngster to incubate, because they weren't staying in the nest all that much. I had no earthly idea another clutch was WELL under way! Based on its size, the new baby would have hatched roughly the same day that the older chick left the nest. Yikes! This is going to be interesting at best.

I'm not comfortable separating the mom and dad and letting mom take care of the hatchling and eggs, and letting dad take care of the older youngster, because last time I separated them, the mom abandoned the nest. They've already plucked the older chick's tail a bit. I guess I'll have to play this one by ear. The fledgling has a good 2-3 weeks to go before it's fully weaned. :-/

Never a dull moment!

The Youngsters Are Doing Fine :-)

2012-02-09T21:00:00.004-05:00

I ended up having to separate Onyx, Blackie, and their fledgling. The mom was picking on the youngster, wanting him/her to "move along" even though it's not 100% weaned yet. So now the dad and youngster are on one side of the divider, and the mom is on the other side, with her nest box back in place. She's already laid 3 eggs. They sure are determined to breed, aren't they?

Pearl and Smudge's two youngsters are doing okay as well. They're still pretty bald, but their feathers are regrowing, and they're 99% weaned. Pearl has 2 or 3 eggs in the nest, on the other side of the divider.

Whisper and Creamsicle's chick is growing like crazy! I was able to get one last peek before it reached "startle stage", and it's turning out GORGEOUS. :-) One wing is still white, and the other is fawn. Its little noggin' was still bald. ha ha I probably won't be able to peek again until it fledges without the risk of causing it to leave the nest box in a panic. Poor Whisper is plucked, but I'm not comfortable with separating the parents because last time she abandoned the nest.

Freckles and Flower are on eggs. I'm not sure how many there are. I'm hoping to get some youngsters from Freckles, because he's the son of two of the very first zebra finches I ever had. :-) I gave my first four finches away in favor of getting some white ones, but kept Freckles. It would be neat to keep that line going. :-)

I'm hoping to get my non-breeders moved into the gigantic double flight cage this weekend. The last of my plastic plants is supposed to arrive tomorrow. It still needs a couple more perches, too, but it's almost ready. They're not going to know what to do with all that room! :-)

Pluckers! :-(

2012-02-06T21:08:00.003-05:00

I just had to separate Pearl and Smudge and the youngsters. One of the parents plucked the heck out of the two fledglings while we were asleep, but I'm not 100% sure which parent it was. Since Smudge is the most plucked of the two parents, I'm thinking that Pearl is the instigator. I also found an egg in one of their food cups, so I'm betting they've already started a new family even though I took their nest box away awhile back.

So ... I put the divider in their cage with the dad and the two almost-weaned youngsters on one side, and the mom on the other side. I put the egg into a nest box, and put it on the mom's side of the cage so she can lay any remaining eggs in a more appropriate place.

Hopefully the dad will continue to feed the two youngsters until they're fully weaned, and with any luck, I should be able to put the two parents back together after that ... unless Pearl's decided she doesn't need any help.

Guess we'll just have to see how it goes. It's always SOMEthing, isn't it? LOL!

Some New Photos :-)

2012-02-03T20:21:00.008-05:00

Above: Whisper and Creamsicle's baby, hatched approximately 1/23/12. Its wings are two different colors so far. One side is pure white, and the other is fawn. It'll be interesting to see how it turns out! :-) The other eggs weren't viable.

Above: Pearl (center), Smudge (right), and one of their two youngsters. I'll be glad when the youngsters are weaned. Both parents are plucking each other AND the babies, but since both are doing it, there's not really anything I can do until the youngsters are old enough to be on their own.

Above: Pearl and Smudge's other youngster

Above: Onyx and Blackie's baby, with black cheeks coming in. It's the one that fledged too early, but it's doing fine. :-)

Above: One of Frostie and Streak's two youngsters (hanging on the side of the cage).

Above: Frostie and Streak's little family. They've got a little plucking going on, too, but the youngsters are VERY close to being weaned and I'll be able to move them to their own cage soon. :-)

Youngster Update :-)

2012-01-31T02:01:00.002-05:00

Onyx and Blackie's "early bird" baby is still doing fine. It can fly now, and perches with its mom and dad. I see hints of black cheeks! :-D

Pearl and Smudge's two babies left the nest late last week, and are doing fine except for a little plucking from the parents. I suspect both parents are doing it, and are also plucking each other a bit. Not much I can do until the chicks are weaned, since it's most likely both parents doing it. I did remove the nest box to discourage them from wanting to start a new clutch.

Frostie and Streak's babies are most likely weaned now, but they're still with their parents for the time being. All are getting along just fine. :-)

Whisper and Creamsicle have an approximately-8-day-old hatchling! I didn't mention it for fear of jinxing it (LOL!), because it was the TINIEST baby I've EVER seen. They're feeding it, and it's growing like a weed, so perhaps it was just a "runt" even though the other eggs weren't viable. If it looks anything like it's older brother (Sprinkles), it'll be gorgeous! :-)

As soon as Pearl and Smudge's babies are weaned (2 weeks or so), I'll be able to move the huge double flight cage into my bird room and replace that wall of cages. :-)

I plan to replace my remaining 24" breeder cages with 30"-ers at the bird fair in March/April. The 24"-ers are fine, but 30"-ers give them much more room (length and depth) for just 6 more inches of wall space. Gotta save up some pennies! :-D

The "Early Bird" Is Doing Fine So Far! :-)

2012-01-25T07:57:00.003-05:00

Onyx and Blackie's "early bird" baby is doing fine. It doesn't seem able to fly just yet, but it's testing its wings. :-)

Pearl and Smudge's two youngsters are very close to leaving the nest, too. Probably by the end of the week. :-)

An Early Fledgling

2012-01-23T06:50:00.005-05:00

Onyx and Blackie's "surprise" baby fledged this morning. It's only about 14-15 days old, which is a tad early to be leaving the nest. The parents seem puzzled. I gently put it back in the nest, but it wouldn't stay. Hopefully the parents aren't too rattled by its early emergence, and will continue feeding it. I did pour out most of the water in the water cup, and added a second low-level cup just in case the fledgling lands in the water. Early fledgers can easily drown if they fall into a full cup of water. At least it's fully feathered, so unless it gets soaking wet, it can maintain its body heat on its own. I hope everything goes okay for it. It's a tiny little thing!

I updated the "Meet My Birds" page this morning as well, and added a few photos. :-)

Picture Day Again! :-)

2012-01-17T20:29:00.004-05:00

Above: Sprinkles, Whisper and Creamsicle's son. Isn't he handsome? :-)

Above: The new trio, bought from a nice lady in Hixson. Her aviary is sooo pretty! :-)

Above: Pearl and Smudge's babies, sprouting little white feathers. :-) Pardon the poo.

Above: Onyx and Blackie's baby. They're keeping it well-fed. :-)

Above: A cool photo of Frostie in flight. She's semi-transparent! :-D

Above: Streak (dad) and one of the newly-fledged babies.

Above: Frostie (mom) and the other baby. :-)

New Double Flight Cage

2012-01-16T05:39:00.004-05:00

Here's what the new-to-us double flight cage looks like:

http://www.amazon.com/16421-HQ-Double-Flight-64x21/dp/B005ZDR2GM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1326710404&sr=8-2

I banded Onyx and Blackie's youngster this morning. It got a hot pink band, which pretty much guarantees it'll end up being a boy. (ha ha) ;-) So far it's gray in color. The mom is a black-cheeked CFW and the dad is a black-cheeked normal, so hopefully it'll end up black-cheeked as well.

Pearl and Smudge's two babies are doing fine, and have white feathers coming in. :-)

I plan to move my non-breeding zebras into the new double flight cage once I have a wall open, which means I'll have to wait until some babies are weaned. That gives me plenty of time to get it set up just like I want, even though I'm anxious to see how much they love the extra flying space. :-)

Possibly A New Cage!

2012-01-14T00:55:00.003-05:00

Instead of connecting three medium-sized cages together, we're supposed to go look at a double flight cage later this morning. It's around 64" long and about shoulder-high, so it's majorly HUGE. :-) It's a little out of the budget, but still cheaper than buying a new one, and it'll give my youngsters and "singles" plenty of flying room. I'll just have to make sure everyone is banded before putting them in the cage, or I'll never be able to tell them apart! LOL! We plan to eliminate one wall of medium-sized breeder cages and replace it with the double flight cage. I hope it's as nice as it sounds. :-) That'll leave one wall open for my large-sized breeder cages, and I can sell the extra medium-sized breeder cages.

Edited to add: We got the cage! :-)

Fledglings! :-)

2012-01-13T05:52:00.004-05:00

Frostie and Streak's two babies fledged this morning! As with their last clutch, they're both normal gray pied. Will get a photo ASAP. They'll be very, very skittish for the next few days until they get used to being outside their nest. :-)

I went ahead and banded Pearl and Smudge's two chicks this morning ... one red, one white. :-) They weren't too thrilled at having their new "bracelets" applied, but once they were back in the nest, they forgot all about the Big Skeery Banding Tool. ;-)

Hope This Doesn't Jinx It!

2012-01-13T04:07:00.004-05:00

I'm hesitant to even post this for fear of jinxing it, but Onyx and Blackie have a single hatchling! It's approximately 4-5 days old, just old enough that I can hear it softly begging for food. They're the pair that tossed a hatchling just a few days ago ... the one I found in the floor just in the nick of time. So far they're feeding the new baby, but I'm not holding my breath just yet. I'm keeping a close eye on it so that I can intervene if necessary.

I'm still keeping a close eye on Pearl and Smudge's two babies, too. I've been hand-feeding them once or twice a day as needed, plus they're feeding them too ... just not as much as I'd like to see. The babies are hanging in there. :-)

I think this weekend I'm going to try connecting three 24" breeding cages end to end, so that they make one very long cage, and put my non-breeding zebras in it. I can still slide the dividers in if need be, so I'll have plenty of flexibility, and the birds will have a VERY long distance they can fly. We'll see how it goes. :-)

{{{ Bangs Head }}}

2012-01-10T22:08:00.006-05:00

Argh! First time parents!!! Pearl and Smudge tossed two of the chicks sometime after we went to bed, and it was too late when we got up and found them. Their crops were empty, so it appears that they failed to feed these two. :-( I'll never understand what goes on in their little bird-brains. Why take the time to incubate them, hatch them, feed them for several days, then suddenly decide that some of them need to go? Grrr! I check on them multiple times a day, but it's not humanly possible to watch them 24/7. It may just be a coincidence, but so far every one of my black-cheeks has had "parenting issues".

So far they're still feeding and caring for the remaining two chicks (pic below), which I'm keeping as close an eye on as I possibly can.

All Four Babies Are Doing Well :-)

2012-01-06T05:52:00.002-05:00

Pearl and Smudge accepted the little "stranger", and all four babies are doing well. As expected, I can't even tell them apart now, so I'll have to be extra careful if I breed any of the offspring later on. But that's okay. I'd rather deal with a mixed clutch than have a non-surviving chick. :-)

Whisper and Creamsicle are on 4 eggs, and Shelly and Sunset are on 5 eggs. It's too soon to tell if they're viable, but both sets of parents seem to be incubating.

Frostie and Streak's 2 youngsters are doing fine, best as I can tell. They're at the age where I can't peek into the nest without risking them panicking and fledging too soon. I hear them begging LOUD AND CLEAR, though. LOL! They should be out of the nest very soon.

A Crazy Morning in the Bird Room!

2012-01-05T06:00:00.004-05:00

Pearl and Smudge had 3 more eggs to hatch, for a total of 4 babies. >>shocker!<< One of the babies most likely tried to hatch before it was ready. It was smaller than usual, and was apparently too weak to fully free itself from the shell. I ever-so-gently chipped the rest of the shell away and put it back in the nest, but it didn't make it through the night. (They hadn't even removed it from the nest when I found it just now.) The other 3 are doing fine, though.

Onyx and Blackie also had an egg to hatch overnight. Blackie has been a good dad in the past, but it's been awhile since he's practiced his fathering skills. Onyx abandoned the nest last time, but after a long rest, I decided to let her try again. I just found a tiny hatching in the cage floor. I touched it, figuring it was too late, but to my surprise, it started wiggling! The poor thing was cold as ice, so I warmed it up with my hands, then took out Pearl and Smudge's hatched-too-soon baby, and replaced it with the tossed baby.

Pearl hopped right into the nest, none the wiser. ;-) So far she's proving herself to be a good mom, and although I hate to ask her to foster a "stranger" on her first go-around, I didn't have anywhere else to put the baby. Hopefully it'll work out okay. :-) (The only other option is to put the baby in a brooder and hand-feed it, but it's very, very difficult to feed a newly-hatched finch due to their tiny size. It's waaay too easy to accidently aspirate the poor thing! It's easier after the baby is a few days old, and is considerably larger.)

The bad thing is, the chicks are all too small to band, so it's unlikely I'll be able to tell the youngsters apart. Three of the four parents are black-cheeks, so the youngsters will probably look similar. Oh well. At least I was lucky enough to find the tossed baby in time, and it's alive and being cared for! :-)

Major Surprise!

2012-01-02T08:49:00.002-05:00

Pearl (white female) and Smudge (BC-CFW male) totally surprised me! It's Pearl's very first time as a mom, and Smudge's second time as a dad, although the first time he and his previous mate abandoned the chicks. Iffy parents at best, as you can see, but they'll never learn if they're not given the opportunity.

Anyway, Pearl and Smudge have been "sort of" sitting on EIGHT eggs, 4 of which tested as being viable, and 4 of which appear to be infertile. They'd sit occasionally, then they'd go off and play in another part of the cage. I had little hope for the viable eggs to hatch, because the eggs were ice cold every time I checked them. I very nearly threw them out, but decided to wait a few days just in case.

You can imagine my surprise when I found that one of the eggs had hatched yesterday! So far, so good. It's warm and wiggly! I guess we'll find out soon if any of the other eggs hatch, and if they'll take care of the chick(s). I'm keeping an eye on them as best I can. :-)

In the meantime, Frostie and Streak's two chicks are growing like weeds! :-)

Three New Additions! :-)

2011-12-27T09:31:00.004-05:00

Above: Two Pin-Tailed Whydah finches. The male has a very long tail, and the female has gorgeous stripes. Aren't they lovely? :-)

Above: Pin-tailed Whydah finches again. They're difficult to breed, due to their parasitic nature (they lay their eggs in other birds' nests and have the other birds raise their young), plus the males can be very aggressive, so I doubt I'll even attempt to breed them. :-)

Above: Pacific Parrotlet given to us by a friend. He's a male, and is green with blue on his head and on his sides. He loves his swing, and to hang upside down from the top of the cage. Thanks again, Gene! :-)

Christmas Babies! :-)

2011-12-26T05:52:00.003-05:00

Above: Frostie and Streak were sitting on 3 eggs, and 2 of them hatched yesterday, on Christmas. I'm not sure if the third egg is fertile or not, but we'll find out soon! :-)

Above: Sprinkles as of 12/26/11. He's almost completely molted into his adult colors, but is still a bit scraggly-looking. :-)

Above: Sprinkles again, showing his other side.

New Names! :-)

2011-12-17T05:39:00.002-05:00

I've finally decided on names for the new youngsters and the new Petsmart birds.

Petsmart:
Male: Patches
Female: Flower
Female: Sugar

Get it? ... flower/flour and sugar ... they're both white in color! he he

Frostie and Streak's Five Youngsters:
Male: Dash
Male: Sonic
Female: Breeze
Female: Flutter
Female: Gale

All named because Streak is fast like the wind!

Whisper and Creamsicle's Youngster: Sprinkles

A Few New Pics

2011-12-14T21:29:00.006-05:00

Above: Whisper and Creamsicle's baby. I was kind of hoping for a girl, but I'm seeing some hints of orange cheek patches. There are no indications of a male's black-striped breast bars or speckled flanks, though, and its beak is orange like a female's beak. A male's beak is more red. The baby is still getting its adult coloring, so it's too soon to tell for sure! Edited 12/18/11 to add: He's a boy! His brown flank feathers are starting to peep out, and I'm seeing a few black stripes on his chest. Quite a handsome little fella'! :-)

Above: Whisper and Creamsicle's baby again.

Above: Baby dove, settling in for bed, with Daddy dove in the background. :-) (Excuse the cage wires. I couldn't get any closer without startling them.)

Dove Fledgling!

2011-12-13T09:10:00.002-05:00

The baby dove left the nest this morning. It's a cutie patootie! I'll get some new photos soon. :-)

Whisper's Baby Graduated! :-)

2011-12-12T23:49:00.003-05:00

I'm pleased to announce that Whisper's baby has graduated to its own cage! :-) I don't know yet if it's male or female. I'm hoping it's female, because once it's old enough, it'll be a great match to the new male we got this weekend. In the meantime, the cage divider has been removed, and Whisper and Creamsicle are tickled pink to be back together. :-)

Now I just need to think of names for their baby, for Frostie and Streak's 5 babies, and for the 3 new zebras we bought this weekend. All are doing great! :-)

Three New Zebras!

2011-12-11T01:25:00.002-05:00

We found these little jewels at Petsmart yesterday. It's rare to find anything but normal grays at a typical pet store, so we brought all 3 of them home. Aren't they lovely? :-) The two white ones are females, and the white/gray one is male. He's so unusual! I believe he's a normal gray that's heavily pied, but am going to ask some of my finch-keeper friends to be sure. :-)

Above: Rocketgirl! LOL! :-)

Above: Handsome new male!

Above: New male in flight. Wow!

Above: All three new birds together.

Baby Diamond Dove Being Fed

2011-12-09T09:14:00.001-05:00

I got REALLY lucky this morning and was able to get a video of the mother diamond dove feeding her baby! :-)

Our Silly Cockatiel - A Video :-)

2011-12-08T09:49:00.001-05:00

New Video of Finches :-)

2011-12-08T08:55:00.000-05:00

A Couple of Pics! :-)

2011-12-06T21:12:00.003-05:00

Here are Frostie and Streak's 5 youngsters. :-)

Above: The girls

Above: The boys

They're all molting into their adult colors, so they look a little scraggly. Once their molts are complete, they'll be sleek and smooth. All are doing fine on their own. A little skittish, but that's to be expected. :-)

Frostie and Streak's Babies Graduated To Their Own Cage! :-)

2011-12-06T09:15:00.003-05:00

I moved Frostie and Streak's babies to their own cage this morning ... boys on one side of the divider; girls on the other. Then I moved Frostie and Streak to a new clean cage. Whew! That cage will need a serious scrubbing. It was pretty yucky after having 7 birds in it. Hard to believe the babies are old enough to be on their own now. I'm sure Mom and Dad will enjoy having some peace and quiet. :-)

I'll get some updated photos in a day or two, once everybody's settled back in from the "chaos" caused by the Big Bad Bird Net. ;-)

New Pictures! :-)

2011-11-23T05:53:00.005-05:00

Above: Whisper and Creamsicle's beautiful baby, just fledged yesterday! :-) Looks like it'll be a pied fawn. (Won't be up for adoption; sorry.)

Above: Sylvester and Tweety, the two boys of Tangerine and Echo. Their adult coloring is coming in. :-)

Above: Frostie and Streak's family, 5 babies total. Couldn't get them all in the same photo. :-)

Above: Frostie and Streak's family again, minus one that didn't make it into the photo. :-)

Above: Dove youngster. I believe it's a male. :-)

Another Fledgling! :-)

2011-11-22T05:53:00.002-05:00

Whisper and Creamsicle's baby fledged today! It is absolutely beautiful ... one of the prettiest babies we've had. I'll get a photo soon. :-)

Graduation Day! :-)

2011-11-19T07:42:00.002-05:00

Whisper and Echo's two youngsters just graduated to their own cage. Both are definitely males, and I've named them Sylvester and Tweety. :-) The dove youngster also graduated to its own cage this morning.

Update on Frostie and Streak's Babies

2011-11-16T05:51:00.004-05:00

All five of Frostie and Streak's babies have fledged now, and I've removed their nest box so they won't be as tempted to start a new family until mom and dad get a well-earned vacation! ;-) Here are several photos. :-) The dad is the one with the orange cheeks, and the mom is the white one. I'm estimating that the three larger chicks will be weaned in 2 to 3 weeks, and the two smaller chicks about 1-1/2 to 2 weeks after that, just to be sure. Once weaned, some of them will be up for adoption. It's too soon to tell their genders at this point. :-)

Tangerine and Echo's Babies, And The Baby Dove

2011-11-16T05:45:00.007-05:00

Above: Tangerine and Echo's babies on the swing (that's where they like to sleep). One is definitely male! The other is most likely male, too, but I'm not 100% positive yet.

Above: Tangerine and Echo's babies again, with Echo (dad) on the far right. The babies' beaks are starting to change from black to orange. I'm estimating that they'll be fully weaned within 7 days. :-)

Above: Baby dove, now old enough to be adopted. I'm not 100% sure of its gender yet, but if I had to guess, I'd say male. :-)

Above: Baby dove again.

I'm unable to get a photo of Whisper and Creamsicle's babies at this time. They're in the pre-fledging stage, and I can't disturb their nest box without taking a big risk of frightening them into fledging too soon. These two are particularly skittish. (Startled babies sometimes hurl themselves out of the nest box in an out-of-control panic, potentially injuring themselves.) I'll get updated photos as soon as I can. They're both doing fine. :-) Edited 11/22/11 to add: Lost one of the babies due to premature fledging, as I feared. :-( Stormy (cockatiel) accidentally startled it, and it panicked, injuring itself on the cage bars. We tried our best, but there was nothing we could do to save it. Sigh. :-(

Canary Eggs

2011-11-11T04:33:00.003-05:00

I candled the four canary eggs yesterday, and believe they're all infertile. There's one I'm not 100% positive about, so I've left them in the nest just in case, but in 10 days or so, I'll discard them so the hen won't keep wasting her time incubating them.

Whisper's two babies were banded yesterday ... one white and one turquoise. The larger chick was easy to band, but the smaller one was QUITE the little wiggleworm! While I was holding it, it was too busy begging for food to be still long enough for me to band it. LOL! I finally got it, though. Both chicks both have their eyes open now; one fully open and one just barely peeking. :-) The larger one looks like it'll be cream/fawn in color. Not sure about the little one yet, but I see some white pinfeathers starting to poke out.

Frostie and Streak's babies and Tangerine and Echo's babies should be up for adoption around the end of this month (give or take) or the beginning of December ... whenever they're fully weaned. There are 7 of them, total. The baby dove is almost weaned now. It'll be up for adoption soon as well. If you're interested in bringing one or more of these sweet and fascinating babies home with you, just let me know. :-)

Baby Pics! :-)

2011-11-08T17:35:00.003-05:00

Above: Frostie and Streak and two of their five babies. :-) Left to right is a baby, Streak (dad), Frostie (mom), and a baby.

Above: Frostie and Streak's baby #3. The other two haven't fledged yet, but will very soon. :-)

Above: Tangerine and Echo's youngsters. Left to right is a baby, Echo (dad), a baby, and Tangerine (mom).

Above: Whisper's babies. :-)

Fledgling! :-)

2011-11-07T22:42:00.003-05:00

One of Frostie and Streak's babies fledged today! It's normal gray pied with a white polka dot right in the middle of its forehead. Too cute! :-) I'll get a photo as soon as I can. It's very skittish right now.

Smudge and Onyx

2011-11-05T01:04:00.005-04:00

Well, phooey. Smudge and Onyx stopped feeding the babies, and when I found them, all but one had passed away. :-( This is fairly common for first-time parents, so it's not unexpected, but usually by the second time they've got things figured out. I was able to hand-feed the surviving baby once, but then it started refusing food from me. Once they've got their eyes open, they realize it's not another bird who's feeding them, and sometimes they won't accept food from a "stranger".

I've moved the surviving baby to Whisper's nest. Whisper has two babies of her own. They're a little younger/smaller, but it's the only other nest that's available with similar-sized babies. She had two dud eggs in the nest, so I removed one of them. She most likely thinks it hatched. She practically had a smile on her face when she saw "her" new child! :-) Although this is Whisper's first time being a foster parent, she took the baby right in and filled its little crop full. Yay! :-) The only small concern I still have is that the baby is a different color at this point than Whisper's biological children. It's still possible that she might reject it because it's different ... which is sad on several levels ... but so far, so good. :-) Edited 11/6/11 to add: It passed away. Apparently she stopped feeding it, or perhaps it began refusing food from her as well. I guess it just wasn't meant to be. :-(

The yellow canaries are still on eggs. I haven't candled them, but if they're viable, they should start hatching very soon.

Frostie and Streak's 5 babies are all doing well. So far they've done a great job in making sure even the littlest ones get fed. I wish I could've put Smudge and Onxy's abandoned baby in with them since Frostie is a wonderful foster mom, but I was afraid 6 babies would be too many, especially since the little survivor is smaller than the other nestlings.

I candled Shelly and Sunset's eggs yesterday. One is a definite dud, and the others either haven't been incubated long enough, or are infertile. Most likely they haven't been incubated long enough, based on the small size of the eggs' air pockets. (The older an egg is, the larger the air pocket gets as the egg gradually dries up.)

Never a dull moment, huh? :-)

New Baby Pics! :-)

2011-10-31T21:25:00.002-04:00

Above: Whisper's babies. Another one finally hatched! :-)

Above: Smudge and Onyx's babies.

Above: Frostie and Streak's babies ... all 5 of them!

Above: Canary eggs.

Above: Baby dove, perching all by him/herself. :-)

Fledlings! :-)

2011-10-30T23:54:00.003-04:00

One of Tangerine and Echo's babies fledged today. Cute l'il booger! :-) The other should be out of the nest literally "any minute" now.

Frostie and Streak's five babies are doing well, and so are Smudge and Onyx's three babies. The baby dove is growing like a weed, and the parents have started weaning him/her.

We went to move the two cages of canaries to the bird room earlier, since some space has opened up, but when we went to move the cage with the yellow canaries, I was surprised to find that they're on eggs! I knew she'd been sitting on the nest a lot, but when I'd looked before, I didn't see any eggs. The reason they were "invisible" is that they're virtually the same color as the nesting materials, and even have little speckles on them, so they blended right in! I saw four eggs for sure. Wish I knew how long ago she laid them. Hopefully we'll have some baby canaries soon. If so, this will be the first time we've had canary babies. :-)

Baby Pics :-)

2011-10-26T05:49:00.005-04:00

Whisper and Creamsicle's baby. Still waiting on the other eggs to hatch. :-)

Tangerine and Echo's two babies, almost fully feathered now. They should fledge in 7-10 days or so. :-)

Smudge and Onyx's babies. Sadly, the baby in the bottom/center of the photo didn't make it, but it's not unexpected, especially since the parents are first-timers. It may have had something wrong, or perhaps it was accidentally overlooked at mealtime. I didn't notice before I snapped the photo. I've left it in the nest for the time being. I feel like it's better for the parents to remove any non-survivers themselves if they will, rather than do it myself. That way they (possibly?) understand what happened to the baby, instead of it mysteriously disappearing and (possibly?) causing them to think a predator is nearby. If they haven't removed it in a few hours, I'll take care of it. The others are doing fine, and are begging loudly enough to hear now. :-) (Edited to add: The parents removed the non-surviving baby from the nest. It's abdomen was misshapen, so it apparently had something wrong with it. :-( )

Frostie and Streak's babies. There are 5 of them. :-)

The baby dove, which fledged yesterday. :-)

Update On The Babies

2011-10-25T21:56:00.003-04:00

Tangerine and Echo's two youngsters have their eyes open and are almost fully feathered. :-)

I was able to get a better count of Smudge and Onyx's babies. There are four of them. All are doing well.

Frostie and Streak have either four or five babies ... it's hard to get an exact count with them all snuggled together, and I don't want to disturb them too much. :-)

The baby dove fledged today! It's a cute little thing! :-)

Whisper and Creamsicle have a new hatchling, with more expected. I had to put the divider in their cage. Creamsicle went into "mating overdrive" and started plucking her, wanting her feathers to line the already-soft nest. Whisper is taking good care of the hatchling and the eggs by herself, and her feathers have started re-growing. :-)

Shelly and Sunset are on eggs. I'm anxious to see if the eggs are good. This will be Sunset's first clutch. He's fawn-cheek, black-breasted.

I'll have to remember to take my camera with me in the morning, so I can get some updated photos. :-D

Lots of Young-Uns! :-)

2011-10-20T05:25:00.005-04:00

Above: Tangerine and Echo's babies. They're growing fast! :-) Looks like they'll be normal gray pied, best as I can tell so far. The other two eggs were duds.

Above: Smudge and Onyx's babies (BC-CFW). They're about 4-5 days old. I can't tell if there are three or four of them. Not sure yet if the other eggs are good. This is their first clutch, so I'm holding my breath that they'll make good first-time parents. :-)

Hootie and Mrs. Hootie's single hatchling ... well, it's head, anyway (see arrow). Mrs. Hootie is GLUED to that nest. :-)

Frostie and Streak's babies, hatched 2-3 days ago. All but one of the eggs were good last time I candled them, so there should hopefully be more hatchlings very soon. :-) The dud egg is in the bottom center ... the one that's half-yellowish with the big air pocket.

Tangerine and Echo Have Babies! :-)

2011-10-13T05:39:00.003-04:00

Since I've rehomed all of my extra zebra finches (the youngsters), and am having multiple requests for more (thanks!), I've set a few of my well-rested pairs up to breed again. I'm pleased to announce that Tangerine and Echo have a couple of hatchlings! They're about 2 days old. I don't yet know if the remaining two eggs are good.

A couple of other pairs are on viable eggs, but as the saying goes: "Don't count your chicks before they hatch". We'll see how it goes. :-)

Do note that if any of these turn out to be white, fawn, BC, or CFW, I'll most likely be keeping them, but if they're normal or pied, I'll rehome them. (Not that there's anything wrong with normal or pied; it's just not the color combinations I aim for when breeding them.) :-)

A New Page! :-)

2011-09-30T19:52:00.002-04:00

I've added a brand new page titled "Meet My Birds", where you can see photos and descriptions of all the birds I have. :-) Check it out! The link is over on the right, near the top of the page.

Societies & Spice Finches

2011-09-30T02:52:00.002-04:00

Just a quick photo of the some of my society & spice finches. :-)

Some New Pics :-)

2011-09-19T07:39:00.007-04:00

Above: Whisper and Ghost's babies, Bagel and Biscuit. Both are males. Biscuit has the black band, and Bagel has the orange band. Whisper (mom) has the yellow band.

Above: Frostie's biological babies, Jelly Bean and Peanut. Muffin (Whisper and Ghost's baby that Frostie fostered) has the pink band. Jelly Bean has a purple band, and Peanut has a green band. All are weaned and will be up for adoption shortly (I'll be keeping any black-cheeks, if that's how they turn out).

Above: Frostie (white) and her babies, Jelly Bean and Peanut. Muffin (Whisper and Ghost's baby that Frostie fostered) has the pink band. Jelly Bean has a purple band, and Peanut has a green band. All are weaned and will be up for adoption shortly (I'll be keeping any black-cheeks, if that's how they turn out).

Above: Smoky, Tangerine and Echo's baby. He's fully weaned now and is up for adoption. :-) Unfortunately their single hatchling from a few weeks ago didn't make it. She fed it, but it just didn't seem to thrive.

Above: Bambi's eyes are looking MUCH better! :-)

Above: Baby dove, pretty much weaned at this point. :-) It'll be up for adoption in about 2 weeks. Momma and daddy dove are on eggs again. I see a cage divider happening after this clutch! :-/

Baby Dove :-)

2011-09-11T08:18:00.004-04:00

Mr. and Mrs. Hootie have a new youngster! It hatched about 2-1/2 weeks ago (approximately August 24), and has already fledged. Talk about a cutie patootie! :-)

Long Time No See! :-)

2011-09-11T07:50:00.012-04:00

It's been a few days since I've posted! One of the delays was caused from being drenched with 9-10" of water in one day, which over-saturated our dry ground. August was the driest month on record, according to the news, and then the remnants of Hurricane Lee came along and flooded us. Trees were down everywhere, including some at the beginning of our subdivision. Check this tree out, laying across the power lines. The police closed the road with a barricade, but can you believe people were driving around the barricade and underneath the tree? Talk about stupid! :-(

We live on a hill and didn't have any "direct" problem with flooding, but our power was out for 25 hours, and our roof leaked, messing up our living room ceiling. Robert's put the repair on his "to do" list.

And on top of all that, we have a sick or injured zebra finch. :-( I found her in terrible shape one evening when I got up, and immediately moved her to a quarantine cage. I have no idea what happened to her, but both of her eyes were gummed and matted/crusted up, the right side being worse than the left. I'm friends with several experts, and they feel she may have gotten her head stuck in the cage somehow, and the struggle to free herself may have caused the injuries. The only other possibility is that her cage mate (another hen) may have attacked her, but usually if there's a fight, any injuries are on one side only. I guess we'll never know for sure. Either way, the poor little girl looked absolutely HORRIBLE. I'll go ahead and post photos, but STOP READING HERE if you're eating or tend to get queasy!

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I've been putting Neosporin on her face to ward off any infection, and have some avian antibiotics ordered. Now (two days later), she's looking considerably better. I was worried that her eyes were injured or gone, but I know for sure that her left eye is intact and functional, and she just opened her right eye a peek. It had been crusted/matted over, but the Neosporin softened it up. Her right eye appears to be intact as well, but I can't be 100% sure at this point. Here are some pics from this morning. The wet-look is from the Neosporin, and the hole is her ear (looks huge, doesn't it??).

I'm now optimistic that she'll make a complete recovery, but at first, I thought for sure she was a goner. She's a tough little thing, that's for sure! She's been eating and drinking normally the whole time, and is as feisty as ever, which amazes me, considering how terrible she looked/looks! :-)

Edited an hour later to add: Her other eye is fully open now, is intact, and appears to be fine! Woo hoo! :-)

Chaos In The Bird Room! :-/

2011-09-03T07:43:00.010-04:00

What a "fun" morning. NOT! :-/ Today is cleaning day in the bird room, and I saw that Frostie's nest box with the three youngsters needed to be cleaned badly. Icky!!! So I carefully removed the nest box from the cage, with the not-yet-fledged babies inside, thinking I'd move them out of the box just long enough to wash it, then put them back in with new, clean nesting materials.

They had other plans.

No sooner did I get the babies moved out of the box, they all decided THAT would be a good time to try out their wings. Away they all flew! :-O My bird room is small, only 9'x9', so we managed to find two of the three babies fairly quickly. We put them right back in the cage with their mom. The last baby DISAPPEARED. We tore the room apart trying to find it, but it was just GONE. An hour and many gray hairs later, I finally spied it hiding behind a seed tray in the cage on the shelf below its mom's cage. It's gray, so it blended right in with the black cage and tray. Robert managed to catch it, and took it back home to its mom. Whew.

Here are some new pics, taken this morning. ;-)

Above: Frostie's two biological babies, Peanut and Jelly Bean, and foster baby Muffin (Whisper and Ghost's "runt"). This was before I cleaned their nest box. Eeeew. As I mentioned previously, I don't generally clean nest boxes until after the babies have fledged except in extreme cases, and this one definitely qualified as "extreme". LOL!

Above: Frostie afterwards, looking not-too-thrilled at me! :-(

Above: The three "surprise!!!" fledglings.

Above: Whisper and two of her three babies, Bagel and Biscuit. They're learning how to eat on their own now. :-) Muffin is Whisper's other baby (the one that Frostie is fostering).

Above: Tangerine and Echo's baby. They had two originally, but she tossed one of them. :-(

Pea Face!

2011-09-01T06:54:00.001-04:00

A Few Pics of Stormy

2011-08-31T06:32:00.001-04:00

Above: Nom nom nom! Corn and peas are my favorites. Green beans get ignored, and carrots go flying! LOL!

Above: Okay, pet me now! :-)

Above: Oh, yeah! :-)

Above: Hey, are those pics of me? I wanna see! :-D

Two More Pics :-)

2011-08-29T09:46:00.000-04:00

Above: Tangerine and Echo's baby

Above: Frostie and Streak's babies, and Muffin (Whisper and Ghost's "runt" baby). I think Muffin is the one in the middle (can't see its leg band in the photo).

Picture Day! :-)

2011-08-29T09:17:00.001-04:00

Above: Biscuit, one of Whisper and Ghost's babies, just fledged. :-)

Above: New cockatiel youngster, Storm. We don't know if it's male or female, but it's sweet as can be. :-)

Above: Our four new canaries.

Above: Close-up of red factor canaries. The one with the funny "hair do" (aka crested) is the female. :-)

Above: Close-up of one of the yellow canaries.

At the bird fair, we also picked up five of the large divided breeder cages, some bulk bags of food, some replacement seed trays, and lots of misc. supplies and bird toys. Robert found a shelving unit for the cages at Lowes this morning. :-)

Foster Mom For Muffin

2011-08-28T11:37:00.001-04:00

Frostie and Streak's two babies (hatched approximately 8/20/11) are close to the same size as Muffin (hatched approximately 8/12/11). They're the same color as well.

Since one of Whisper's two larger babies has now fledged, and the other will be right behind it, I decided not to risk Whisper inadvertently abandoning Muffin, so I moved Muffin to Frostie's nest. Frostie had an infertile egg, so I removed the egg, which should cause her to think the egg finally hatched. ;-) She's fostered for me in the past (even without having to do the egg "trick"), so I feel like Muffin will be in good hands. I put the divider up between her and Streak, since sometimes males are less tolerant of "strangers" being in or near the nest.

I watched Frostie a little while after I slipped Muffin into the nest box. She looked in to check on her babies, tilted her head in a puzzled manner, studied them a bit, then basically shrugged her shoulders and headed for the food cup to load up on food for the little ones. :-) I'll check on them again as soon as I get up later. Edited at 10pm at add: Frostie has accepted Muffin, and is feeding him/her. :-)

It's always best for the parent(s) (or foster parents) to feed the babies. Handfeeding forumula does the job, but the babies seem to grow and develop better with the parent(s) feeding them naturally.

The new canaries and cockatiel are all doing fine. The cockatiel is soooo, soooo sweet. :-)

Pics of Robert and The New Cockatiel

2011-08-27T23:14:00.001-04:00

The Two Diamond Dove Youngsters Have A New Home :-)

2011-08-27T20:18:00.000-04:00

The two diamond dove youngsters have a new home with Christopher in Brainerd. Hope he enjoys them as much as we have! :-)

We brought home a pair of red factor canaries (one of which is crested :-D ), a pair of yellow canaries, and Robert found a precious little cockatiel youngster that he just HAD to have. When he walked up to the table where they were being displayed, the cockatiel happily walked over to him and bowed his head so Robert could pet him. Now who could resist something as sweet as that? :-) I'll get some photos of the new birdies ASAP.

They had some REALLY good deals on breeder cages. We may go back tomorrow and get a couple more for spares. We also picked up a 25 pound bag of finch food for under $1 a pound. The canaries were about half the price I expected them to be, so in a sense I got two pairs for the price of one. :-)

The "Runt" Is Growing! :-)

2011-08-26T21:37:00.001-04:00

Above: "I can't eat another bite!!!" :-)

Above: Muffin with its siblings. The little squirt is growing! :-) The two larger siblings are >>thisclose<< to leaving the nest. I'm guessing it'll be early next week, if not sooner.

Above: Updated photo of the diamond dove youngsters.

The bird fair will be at Camp Jordan in Chattanooga this weekend. Woo hoo! I'm hoping to bring home a pair of red factor canaries. I've been eyeballing them for ages. They're soooo pretty. :-)

Lots of Pics! :-)

2011-08-25T06:22:00.001-04:00

I snapped quite a few new pics this morning. :-)

Above: Muffin, just after s/he was handfed. :-)

Above: Muffin, Bagel, and Biscuit. You can see how Muffin gets squooshed down under the bigger birds, causing Whisper to accidentally miss feeding him/her. I can't wait until they fledge so I can clean their icky nest box! :-) Chances are, it would be okay to do it now, but too much interference can cause the parent(s) to abandon the nest. Except in extreme cases, I try to wait until the babies fledge.

Above: Smoky, Tangerine and Echo's son. Yep, it's a boy! You can tell from the speckled brown feathers coming in on his sides, and also the hint of orange starting to show up in his cheeks. His mom plucked him quite a bit, plus he's molting, but he's starting to fill back in nicely now. He's up for adoption if anyone is interested in taking the cute l'il fellow home with them. :-) See my adoption pages for details.

Above: Lily and Blackie. Blackie is the one whose foot got tangled in the hair that was mixed in the bag of nesting materials. He's doing considerably better now. :-) The hurt foot is the one in the front (his left foot).

Above: Blackie again.

Above: Frostie and Streak's new babies. They're about 4-6 days old here.

Whisper and Ghost's "Runt" :-)

2011-08-24T21:38:00.000-04:00

Whisper and Ghost's "runt" baby is making a lot of progress! I can see that it's grown a bit, and it's pin feathers are getting longer. Yay! I've named it Muffin, and its larger siblings are Biscuit and Bagel. ha ha :-)

I'm not 100% sure that Whisper is feeding Muffin. If she is, it's probably not enough to survive, much less thrive. The handfeeding supplements are definitely helping, and are probably the only reason the little thing is still hanging in there. :-) I just "topped of its tank" for the night ... it's one stuffed little bird right now! ... and will feed it again at 5am and 9am. Luckily it's old enough that it can make it without us having to wake up and feed it. Whisper *may* be feeding it a little during the day, too, while we're asleep, but I'm not sure. :-)

It's two larger siblings should be leaving the nest within a week or so, and I'm not sure how Whisper will handle feeding Muffin after that. On one hand, the larger siblings being out of the nest will eliminate the problem of Muffin being accidentally overlooked at mealtime. Its siblings out-beg it and it gets squooshed down to the bottom of the nest. Without them in there, Whisper will be able to see and feed Muffin. On the other hand, once the others are out of the nest, Whisper may think her job is all-but-done, and may forget that there's still a baby in the nest.

I guess we'll just have to see how it goes. For now, I'm leaving Muffin in the nest box, since its feathered siblings are keeping it warm. Once they leave the nest, if Muffin's not feathered enough to maintain its body temperature, I'll have to keep it warm in an incubator or under a light bulb until its feathers fully come in. :-)

It sounds like a lot of trouble, but it's very rewarding to see that little nekkid baby eating like a little piggy and starting to grow feathers. It's very much worth it! :-)

Today's Updates :-)

2011-08-23T22:30:00.000-04:00

Blackie, the zebra finch who somehow got his foot tangled in some hair, is doing a bit better now. :-) He's using his foot more, and he even managed a bit of romance with his lady friend. (How's that for putting it politely? he he)

I thought about contacting the company I bought the nesting materials from, to let them know that there was apparently several strands of black hair in the bag, but I really feel like it was just a fluke. Perhaps whoever mixed up the assortment of nesting materials somehow got several strands of their hair in the bag. I've bought their nesting material mixes multiple times without a problem, so I'll just start checking it thoroughly before giving it to the birds.

Whisper and Ghost's baby is doing okay. I've handfed him (her?) 4 or 5 times today, just to be sure. The little squirt sure can eat! :-) It's larger siblings are doing fine. They're more leery of me, but once they saw me feeding their little brother (sister?), they had to sample the handfeeding formula too. :-)

Tangerine and Echo have a hatchling now, hatched about 2 days ago. Their older baby is officially weaned, just in time. I named it Smoky, and moved it to a cage by itself. It *may* be a boy, but I'm not sure yet. :-)

Frostie and Streak also have two babies, hatched about 3 days ago. :-)

I'll be separating most of my pairs very soon (some are already separated) so that I don't end up with a gazillion birdies! ;-)

Sad News :-(

2011-08-23T08:28:00.001-04:00

Whisper & Ghost's littlest baby didn't make it. :-( It just wasn't growing as it should have, despite supplementing its feedings. It happens occasionally ... just "one of those things". :-( The next-littlest baby is doing fair. It's still smaller than it's earlier-hatching siblings, but is larger than the baby that didn't make it. I've been supplementing its feedings too, to give it a boost. Hopefully it'll catch up. The two larger nestings are almost fully-feathered now. It won't be long until they leave the nest. :-) Pic below. Pardon the poop. It happens! ;-)

Blackie, the zebra finch whose foot got tangled, is doing about the same as yesterday. It's still a little puffy but still has good color.

A Birdie With A BooBoo :-(

2011-08-22T23:18:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I noticed one of my black-cheek zebra finch males sitting on the perch in a strange manner. Upon closer inspection, I saw that he wasn't using one of his feet properly, so I caught him to see what was wrong. He had some kind of fine black hair wrapped around his toes, binding them together!

With Robert's help, I managed to get him untangled and cut free. The foot is swollen and he's still not using it properly, but it has good color and there are no visible injuries or irritation. I hope it's just sore. Poor little guy. :-(

The black hair had to have been mixed in with a bag of nesting materials I'd bought. It was much darker than Robert's or my hair (ours is both light brown). Hair isn't supposed to be in a bag of nesting material at all, for that exact reason. Looks like I'll be throwing that bag out!

Just A Funny :-)

2011-08-21T06:30:00.001-04:00

Baby #3 Is Banded! :-)

2011-08-20T21:36:00.001-04:00

Baby #3 has a pretty pink "bracelet" now. I snapped some pics while I had it out of the nest. :-)

Above: Pretty pink "bracelet". :-)

Above: Just banded. :-) The metal thingy is the banding tool. The band slides onto it, which opens the band up. Then you put the baby's leg into the groove, and slide the band right onto the baby's leg. That's the easy part. The hard part is keeping the little wiggleworm still long enough to get its leg into the groove! LOL!

Above: All four babies. :-)

L'il Feathers! :-)

2011-08-19T07:53:00.001-04:00

Above: Whisper and Ghost's babies' feathers are really coming in now! :-)

Above: Five societies in a canary nest. Beats the previous record of four! LOL! :-)

We Have Eyes! 8-)

2011-08-17T09:25:00.000-04:00

The two older babies have opened their eyes! I banded them this morning ... one orange, and one black. I didn't even get pooped on like I normally do! LOL! The other two are a smidge too small to band yet, but I'll do that in a few days. They should be getting their eyes open very shortly. :-)

Feathers Are Starting To Come In! :-)

2011-08-16T20:35:00.000-04:00

Whisper and Ghost's babies' feathers are starting to come in! All are being well-fed. I'll band the two larger chicks very soon, and the two smaller chicks in 4-5 days. :-)

Whisper and Ghost's Hatchlings

2011-08-15T18:57:00.001-04:00

New pic as of tonight. :-) They've pushed the dud egg down underneath them.

Busted! ;-)

2011-08-15T18:55:00.001-04:00

Speaking of "Sardines" ...

2011-08-15T01:25:00.000-04:00

Check out this video on YouTube, showing lots of Society Finches piled into a nest box! LOL! (These are someone else's finches, not mine. ;-) )

A Cup Full Of Societies!

2011-08-14T22:19:00.000-04:00

Above: Four of my society finches, piled up in a canary nest. I'm beginning to wonder if they're finches or sardines! ;-) The three in the front are the rescued societies mentioned in my August 5th post below.

New Photos! :-)

2011-08-14T08:12:00.001-04:00

Above: Two of the three owl finch babies and their parents. Hope the babies' chest feathers grow (re-grow?) soon! The third baby was sitting in the floor instead of on the perch, and didn't show up in the photo. :-)

Above: Two of the three owl babies again, and their parents

Above: Whisper and Ghost's babies as of this morning. Can you tell they've grown since Friday morning? :-D

Four New Little Surprises! :-)

2011-08-12T05:41:00.000-04:00

Good news! I just did a nest-check, and Whisper and Ghost have four hatchlings (zebra finches)! :-) This is Whisper's first time as a mom. She's a white female, and Ghost is a pied normal male. Looks like two of them hatched about 3 days ago, and the other two hatched within the last 24 hours. The older ones are quite a bit larger than the younger ones, so I'll have to keep an eye on them to make sure the little ones don't get "lost" in the bottom of the nest. Unfortunately I don't have another pair of birds with similarly-aged chicks this time, so if the little ones do get accidentally skipped over at meal time, I'll be handfeeding. :-) I may have to remove Ghost from the cage. He's spied "the girl next door", and keeps trying to chase Whisper away so he can flirt with his neighbor. Boys! ;-) Here is a photo of their babies, taken today, 8/12/11. I didn't candle the remaining egg, but just from looking at it, it appears to be a dud.

The owl babies are all doing fine. Two of them have a small bald areas on their chests. Not sure if the parents are picking at them, or if their feathers are just slower coming in, but I'm keeping an eye on them too.

Tangerine pulled a "sneaky" on me. Her and Echo's baby isn't weaned yet, and a several days ago right after the baby fledged, I put the divider in their cage to prevent them from starting a new clutch. Apparently they had other plans ... very FAST plans ... because she's got new eggs, and at least 2 of them are viable. Talk about not wasting any time! She's plucked the fledgling's back a little bit probably in an attempt to get it to "move along" so she can raise her new clutch. Hopefully the baby will be weaned before the new eggs hatch. Since the nest box was dirty from raising the first baby, I changed it out for a clean one and moved the eggs into it after I candled them. Here's a photo of Tangerine "levitating" (LOL - she's about to land) and the older chick in the nest box. The eggs are down inside the box.

They never let me get bored, do they? he he

Assuming there are no mishaps (you know the expression "Don't count your chickens before they hatch"), I should have some new youngsters up for adoption soon. :-)

Lastly, here's a quick photo of 3 of my 4 spice finches. The fourth one wouldn't sit still! ;-)

Frostie and Streak's Babies Have A New Home! :-)

2011-08-10T08:51:00.001-04:00

Frostie and Streak's babies went to live with Jennifer in Cleveland, TN this morning. I hope she enjoys them as much as we have. :-)

Pics and An Update! :-)

2011-08-08T06:28:00.000-04:00

One of the baby owl finches fledged this morning! We were finally able to get a good peek into the nest, and there are three babies in total. So cute! :-)

Here are some updated photos. I didn't try to take any of the baby owls, since I didn't want to risk the camera flash disturbing them.

Above: Baby Doves. They're not babies anymore, and are fully weaned and on their own. I don't yet know their genders.

Above: Zebra finch youngsters (Frostie and Streak's babies) that are up for adoption. See my adoption page for more information. :-)

Above: Zebra finch youngsters (Frostie and Streak's babies)

Above: Zebra finch youngsters (Frostie and Streak's babies)

Above: A pair of my shaft-tail finches

Above: Fawn Cheek Black Breast x Fawn Black Breast Zebra Finch Pair (from Singing Wings Aviary)

Above: Close-up of Male (from Singing Wings Aviary)

Above: Black-Cheek Chestnut-Flanked White Pair (from Singing Wings Aviary). The female still has small bald spots under her wings from her injury during shipping, but she's healing quickly.

Above: Black-Cheek Chestnut-Flanked White Male (from Singing Wings Aviary)

A Recent Rescue Situation

2011-08-05T21:33:00.000-04:00

Back in June, I answered an ad for some finches and a cage. I could see in the picture that one of the finches was a black-cheek zebra, one of my favorite mutations. After the seller stood us up the first day (grrr!), Robert went to look at the birds the following day.

When Robert got there, he was appalled at the birds' living conditions. The cage was absolutely filthy. The nests were nasty and falling apart. The perches (and underneath them) were piled with poop. Worst of all, the birds' two water cups contained only 1/4" of "poop soup" ... nasty, filthy, undrinkable water that was more poop than it was water. The food cups looked like they'd JUST been refilled, based on the lack of seed hulls in them. (I got the impression that they'd seen Robert in the driveway, and hurriedly tried to make the cage presentable, but only got as far as the food cups when he knocked on the door!) There was a cuttlebone in the cage, but it was upside down (making it useless) in the cage floor, covered in poop.

The cage was sitting right in front of the air conditioner, with cold air blowing on them, and a very loud TV right beside them.

One of the woman's kids stuck his hand in the cage, and poked at the black-cheek zebra, saying "Look! You can TOUCH this one!"

Well, it's no wonder the bird could be easily touched. It was obviously sick ... weak, droopy-winged, unable to fly well, and wobbly. The woman mentioned that there was a 5th bird, and that it passed away, but I don't know what happened to it. It was useless asking her anything.

Although I was originally interested in just the zebra finch, and didn't really "need" any more societies, there was no way any decent human being could have left those birds in the care of those "people". Robert brought them all home, hoping we could do something for the little zebra. Thankfully the societies seemed no worse for the wear, other than having overgrown toenails.

We immediately put the societies in quarantine in the bedroom, in a clean cage with fresh food and water, and put the zebra in a hospital cage with a heat lamp, vitamins, food, and water. Unfortunately it was already too late, and it passed away shortly afterwards. :-(

On the good side, the societies are happy and healthy, and are doing fine. All three of them are best buddies. :-)

Those "people" don't know how close we came to reporting them for animal neglect! :-(

Tangerine and Echo's Baby :-)

2011-08-04T22:29:00.001-04:00

Their single hatchling fledged yesterday! :-) Soon it will begin learning to eat on its own, which will take 2-3 weeks. They sure grow up quickly! :-)

Update On The New Birdies

2011-07-31T08:03:00.000-04:00

All four new birds are doing fine, including the one that was injured during shipping. She has a small bald spot below that wing, but it's barely even noticeable now. :-)

Tangerine and Echo's baby is doing fine now. I'm not sure why they slowed down on feeding it, but they've picked back up again. It's growing like crazy!

The owl finch babies are doing fine best as I can tell. I can hear them begging, and the parents feeding them. Wish I could peek in the nest to at least do a head count, but I don't want to risk disturbing them. Can't wait until they fledge in a few weeks! :-)

The four pied zebra finch youngsters are completely weaned now. We separated them from their parents yesterday, and put them into an adjacent cage. They can still see each other and "communicate". :-)

What a Day! :-/

2011-07-28T22:55:00.000-04:00

The birds I ordered from Singing Wings Aviary arrived today. It wasn't the aviary's fault, but the post office really dropped the ball! They managed to lose the package somewhere between Nashville and Chattanooga, but after many frantic phone calls, they finally located the box. Apparently it had been put on a truck in Nashville rather than a plane, and with a 105 degree heat index, they sure didn't need to be sitting in the back of a stifling hot truck. Finally the box turned up at the Chattanooga post office, and a gentleman from the Ringgold post office was kind enough to make a special trip to get the birds and bring them to my door.

Thankfully 3 of the 4 birds were no worse for the wear. The fourth bird managed to injure a blood feather somewhere along the way, and she had blood all over her. I pulled the blood feather (which basically acts like a straw, draining her blood right out of her) to close the hole and stop the bleeding. She didn't like that very much, and I felt horrible about it, but it had to be done. :-( She then took a bath and got herself cleaned up. She seems to be fine now. WHEW.

Although I'm happy with the birds themselves, and that I was able to get some that aren't available locally, I'm not sure I'll use the post office to ship any more birds in the future. It was significantly cheaper than having them shipped through an airline ($45 vs $130+), but talk about stressful! :-/

Here's a picture of the injured birdie, before the feather was pulled. Poor little thing! :-( I'll get photos of the others ASAP. :-)

Time For Some Photos!

2011-07-27T05:46:00.001-04:00

Above: Some of my society finches in their community cage. :-)

Above: Tangerine and Echo's baby with its new white "bracelet". I see they haven't fed it yet this morning. Keeping an eye on it ...

Above: Shelly and Blackie's baby (left) and one of Frostie and Streak's babies (right). It'll be up for adoption in a couple of weeks (see adoption information on the right of this page).

Above: Frostie (far left), Streak (far right), and their other three young-uns. Their beaks are starting to turn orange. The babies will be up for adoption in a couple of weeks (see adoption information on the right of this page).

Above: Diamond Dove Babies and Hootie - The babies are partly eating on their own now, with their parents supplementing. The babies *may* be up for adoption in a few weeks; haven't decided for sure yet.

Above: "Daddy" got new shoes, and I got a brand new box and some kewl lazer eyez! :-D

Surprise! :-D

2011-07-26T19:35:00.000-04:00

I hope I'm not "counting my chickens before they hatch", because last time they tossed them all, but my owl finches have babies again! I can't tell how many there are, but I can see wiggly black things in their nest box. Unfortunately owl finches are sensitive to ANY disturbances, so I can't do a quick nest-check, but I definitely see little wigglies in there! :-D Got my fingers crossed that all goes well this time.

I got Tangerine and Echo's baby banded this morning. It has a pretty white "bracelet" now. :-) I hand-fed it while I had it out, since the parents hadn't fed it yet, but they came along a little while later and topped its "tank" off. he he It looks like it'll be light gray and white, but it's hard to tell for sure. Tangerine is fawn and Echo is chestnut-flanked white.

We moved all our society finches to a community cage over the weekend. We banded the ones that didn't already have bands so we can tell them apart. (They all blend in with each other when they're in large group.) They seem happy to have some "new" friends, and combining the cages freed up a lot of space in my bird room ...

... which makes plenty of room for two new pairs of zebra finches! :-D They're supposed to be overnighted to me tomorrow for arrival on Thursday or Friday. This will be the first time I've had any shipped, so hopefully there won't be any problems. Here are some pics from the aviary's website (Singing Wings Aviary):

Above: Black-Cheeked Chestnut-Flanked White Pair, unrelated, DOB 1/4/11

Above: Fawn Cheek Black Breast Male, DOB 2/27/11

Above: Fawn Black Breast Hen, DOB 2/27/11 (unrelated)

The Dove Youngsters Left The Nest! :-)

2011-07-20T21:22:00.000-04:00

Both of the baby doves left the nest today! :-) They're pretty clumsy since they're new to flying, but they're doing great!

Another pair of my finches, Tangerine and Echo, have a single hatchling. Tangerine used to be a little monster when she was younger, not tolerating any other cage mate, male OR female. She'd hiss and chase them relentlessly, so I'd kept her in her own little private suite until recently. ;-) After she turned a year old, she mellowed out some, and I was able to find a companion for her. She's turned out to be a really great mom. She and Echo keep that baby so full of food that it looks like it'll burst! :-)

Photo of the Baby Diamond Doves

2011-07-18T20:20:00.000-04:00

We were finally able to get a photo of the diamond dove family! Here's Hootie, Mrs. Hootie, and the two babies. Aren't they precious? :-)

Hootie (on the right) has the thicker rings around his eyes, and Mrs. Hootie's are thinner.

We don't know yet if the babies are boys, girls, or one of each. :-)

A Whole Lotta Fledglings! :-)

2011-07-14T05:28:00.001-04:00

All the babies have now left the nest ... 4 from Frostie and Streak (including the 1 that was fostered by Shelly and Blackie), and Shelly and Blackie's baby. Frostie and Streak's babies are all normal pied (gray with white markings) like their daddy. Shelly and Blackie's baby looks just like Shelly (off-white/fawn). I won't know for at least a couple more weeks what their genders are, when their adult feathers start coming in. If there are any boys, they should start learning to sing soon. :-) Once they're fully weaned and have their adult colors, I'll be placing some of them up for adoption. If interested, please see my adoption page. :-)

The dove babies are doing fine. I finally got to peek at them! Their pin feathers are starting to come in.

Some pics are below!

Above: Mrs. Hootie on her nest. Mr. Hootie was in the food cup at the time of the photo. ;-)

Above: Frostie and Streak (parents)

Above: One of Frostie and Streak's four babies (all look identical right now)

Above: A funny photo of Streak "evacuating" the perch! He didn't much like the camera. LOL!

Above: Shelly and Blackie (parents)

Above: Shelly with the foster baby

Above: Shelly and Blackie's foster baby (biological parents are Frostie and Streak)

Above: Shelly and Blackie's baby and the foster baby

One Fledgling and Two Baby Diamond Doves!

2011-07-10T08:19:00.000-04:00

One of Frostie and Streak's babies just left the nest! It's so cute. It has white streaks on the edges of its wings just like its dad does, and it has a white question mark shape on its forehead! LOL! Adorable! :-) The others should be leaving the nest any time now, and soon afterwards, they'll start exploring the food cup on their own. In 2-3 weeks, they'll be fully weaned. The late-hatcher (the one being fostered) is coming along too, but it's got a little while before it fledges. It's getting there, though. :-)

We also FINALLY got a peek into the diamond doves' nest, and are thrilled to announce that there are two baby doves! The momma "hunkers down" whenever anyone approaches the cage, so it's almost impossible to see anything, but we did see her feeding them. Woo hoo! :-D

Lap Quilt For My Step-Sister

2011-07-08T02:58:00.000-04:00

My step-sister is in the hospital with some serious health issues. The prognosis isn't good. She's a huge Elvis fan, so I made her an Elvis lap quilt last night. I hope it helps her feel a little better. Here are a couple of photos.

Edited on 7/13/11 to add: She's out of the hospital now and is doing much better. :-)

Birdie Update

2011-07-06T03:10:00.001-04:00

All five baby birdies are doing great. Frostie and Streak's three earlier-hatching babies are fully feathered now (gray), and are starting to get curious about what's outside their nest box. :-)

Frostie and Streak's late-hatching baby, which is being fostered by Shelly and Blackie, is doing well, although it's still smaller than I'd like. Shelly and Blackie's own baby is doing fine as well. It's got white feathers starting to come in.

I'm not sure what we were hearing the other day when we thought we heard possible owl finch or shafttail finch babies, but we checked the nest boxes, and there were no eggs. Oh well. Maybe later on. :-)

Two of my societies are still incubating owl finch eggs. Last time I checked, at least one was viable. Hopefully it (or they) will be hatching soon. My diamond doves are also incubating two eggs. They freak out if they're disturbed, so I won't be able to candle them to see if they're viable. I'll just have to be patient! LOL! ;-)

We had fun on vacation! We snuck off to Dahlonga, GA and went "mining" at Consolidated Gold Mines. Lots of gems, including rubies, sapphires, emeralds, amethysts, citrines, and LOTS more, and even a bit of gold. Then Hubby wanted to buy another lapidary machine so we can polish our own gemstones. Luckily the lapidary company in Chattanooga had one in stock, and we didn't have to order it (and wait and wait). We didn't get finished with the marble run project, but it's well under way. Hubby had to go back to work yesterday evening. It's been the longest night EVER. :-/ I sure do miss him.

Update On The Littlest Zebra Finch

2011-07-01T08:18:00.001-04:00

The poor little late-hatcher is getting smooshed underneath its larger siblings, so after handfeeding him to give him a boost, I've moved him to Shelly's and Blackie's nest, which has a single hatchling that's closer in size. With a bit of luck, Shelly and Blackie will accept the newcomer and continue feeding him. They had an infertile egg in the nest, so I removed the egg and replaced it with the newcomer. Hopefully they'll think that egg finally hatched! :-)

Handfeeding a teeny baby finch is no easy job! They're not much larger than a jellybean when they hatch, and although they do grow quickly, their mouths are so very tiny for the first few days. The baby ate well, and has a full crop, so ... assuming Shelly and Blackie accept it ... hopefully it'll be all set. :-)

Our Vacation Project

2011-06-29T23:07:00.001-04:00

Robert's off work for vacation this week and part of next week, so we found a fun project to work on: a marble run! So far it's got 3 separate tracks, a spirally coil, and an "atom smasher". We hope to also include a loop, a see-saw, musical chimes, and a few other tricks. It measures roughly 2' x 2' x 3' tall.

Here are a couple of examples:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HDuUF47V7k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYYfJAMP-BE

The Littlest Zebra Finch Is Still Hanging In There!

2011-06-29T23:04:00.000-04:00

The late-hatcher is still kicking, and Frostie and Streak are feeding him. He (or she) is still too small to band, but I got its siblings banded yesterday. All their crops are nice and full, and the babies are warm and wiggly. The older ones' feathers are starting to come in, and all but the littlest have their eyes open. :-)

Shelly and Blackie's baby is also still too small to band, but it's doing fine. :-)

Lots of New and Pending Parents in the Bird Room!

2011-06-29T07:25:00.000-04:00

Frostie and Streak (zebra finches) have 4 newly-hatched babies! All are doing well, but I'm a little concerned about one of them. It hatched later than the others, and is (naturally) smaller in size than they are. Sometimes the larger babies out-compete the smaller ones for food, and the parents accidentally overlook it in the babies' scramble to get fed. I'm keeping a close eye on it. Assuming all goes well, these babies will most likely be up for adoption once they're weaned in a few weeks. If interested, please contact me or check my adoption page.

Hootie and Ms. Hootie (diamond doves) are sitting on two eggs. If the eggs are viable, this will be their first clutch.

Shelly and Blackie (zebra finches) have one hatchling. The other eggs were infertile. This baby may also be up for adoption once it's weaned in a few weeks.

A pair of my society finches is currently incubating eggs from my owl finches. Last time I checked, two were viable. I've got my fingers crossed that they hatch and that the societies foster them successfully. These will be my first owl babies.

Lastly, I heard some very strange-sounding "begging" last night. Apparently SOMEbody in the bird room has babies! I don't check nests every single day, and I don't check my owl finch nests or my shaft-tail nests at all (unless I suspect a problem). The sound was different than zebra and society finches, and it's hard to tell where the sound was coming from, but I think I may have some baby shaft-tails! >>crossing fingers<<