Among Friends

[Bird mama]

Welcome Friends and Visitors to the Bird's Nest for January.

Among the trees is a bird's nest,

and in the nest her three eggs rest,

and in each egg, Hush, you'll be heard!

There lies asleep A tiny bird.

Written by H.N. Bialik

[Bird mama]

Welcome Friends and Visitors to the Bird's Nest for January.

Among the trees is a bird's nest,

and in the nest her three eggs rest,

and in each egg, Hush, you'll be heard!

There lies asleep A tiny bird.

Written by H.N. Bialik

[Bird mama]

As usual, I start with a weather report, lol.  The sun is shining here is SE Michigan.  Barely any pre Christmas snow on the grass.  I have a couple of spots where I really piled it up on either side of the driveway apron when I was shoveling and those seem to be hanging on.  

I went to my eldest niece's house for NYE dinner last night.  There was her, her husband, her 2 kids, her mother and father in law, my middle sister and me.  It was bittersweet of course.  

It was kind of funny when I looked at the clock and said to the MIL that I would be needing to head home soon to put my birds to bed.  MIL said, don't they just go to sleep on their own?  I said, oh no, I have more of an aviary set up with a couple of rooms and my flock needs to be settled by a specific time, and actually I'm running a little behind.  

She said, you have to be home with them by a certain time of the night? I said, yes or they get irritated with me, especially the youngest.  I then said, you haven't lived until a sparrow cusses you out, lol.

She kind of looked at me like I was crazy.  I said, it's not as restrictive as it sounds and there must be something to it because my eldest sparrow is 11 1/2 years old.  

[meallen616]

[meallen616]

birdmama, and everyone,

[yock]

Bernie, had to laugh out loud about your bird routine.  I think I have grown accustomed to hearing about it but I have to admit it does sound a little "strange".    Happy New Year Everyone and especially to Bernie's special flock.  

[Hooty]

[Bird mama]

Hmmm  I might have to change the welcome post picture.  The more I look at it, the more it looks like the birds plucked the eyes of the snowman and the snowman is bleeding or something.  Grossing myself out.

I changed the picture - like this one better, more friendly, lol.

[possummink]

Happy New Year,  Birding Friends,   As usual, the sun is shining brightly here in Florida and it's in the 70ies,  heading up to about 82.  Not Winter, to me.    

Fruitloop was in the kitchen this morning on her 'jungle gym' and something spooked her.  She took off flying out of the French doors in the living room and onto the patio, which thank God, is totally screened in.  She flew up and hit the screen 'roof', bounced down a bit then hit the side screen,  etc, all the way down to where my son could reach her.  She wasn't hurt, but guess who is getting her wings clipped ASAP.   It's a shame though because her primary wing feathers are the blue part of her.    

She has a new game,  bobbing for ice cubes.  Loves to perch on the side of a Tervis mug that has ice water or anything liquid with ice cubes.  She finds small pieces of ice, picks them up and drops them on the counter.   I had a tonic and lime yesterday and left the mug sitting there, and sure enough she got the slice of lime out and plopped it on the counter.   This bird gets into everything and all kinds of mischief. 

[Bird mama]

@possummink

I have 2 30-inch flight cages.  One for Presto - she only sleeps in it even though it has fresh seed and water.  

One is for Poppi - he sleeps on top of it, lol.  His has 2 different kinds of seed and two water dishes (in case he decides to bathe).  Presto doesn't bathe herself.  She waits for Mama to do it.  Every once in a while, if I call her and hold the dish on my lap, she does the splashy-splashy.

Anyway, I give them a moist egg-food treat for breakfast.  Quiko Exotic for finches - they have different varieties and I recommend the product.

Every morning, once I know they are awake I make the treat and give Poppi his and put some in a dish for Presto.  She also has her own human drinking glass.  It's actually plastic and transparent green tinted.

I sit on the hallway floor outside Poppi's room and Presto flies over, sits on my arm and needs to start the day with a drink of water out of her cup.  Then she eats the drink, drinks some more, eats some more.

I love watching her drink out of her cup.  

[possummink]

Bernie,   What a cool routine you have with your little feathered ones.  Does Grayson join in on the sparrow's early morning drinks and noshes?    Fruitloop likes a bite of egg and biscuit when my son has them.   They have an early morning ritual on the weekends.   He leaves too early for work on weekdays.  Thanks for the recommendation of the egg-food treat.   I'll have to check that out with Pet's Mart.  I love ordering cat food etc and having it delivered to the house.  Saves me having to have Cindy pick it up at the store and taking it over to the house for my brother to feed my cat/cats.  Love the free delivery at times too. 

With 3 cats here in the house,  Fruitloop can't be free without some supervision.   She was on the counter the other night,  I guess you'd call it the breakfast counter as it's an 'island' with the sink, but the stove is separate from it, and Fred was on the end of it, laying down waiting the cat's 7pm treat time.   She waddles over to Fred and started biting on his tail and rump.   I took  a couple of photos, but Fred looks like a loaf of bread in them, so I haven't pinned or posted them.   My son was right there too, keeping Fred occupied a bit, just to see what Fruitloop would do to him.

I was really surprised that she drank the icy water.   She had a bath this morning,