finches Posts

02May
0

No Babies After All

Sometimes, you have to be cruel to be kind when it comes to your loved ones.  Recently, we had to be cruel to our finches, and we removed their eggs from the cage.

Don’t get all huffy on me now, I had good reason for it.  Firstly, many of the eggs had been laid in the seed dish and were practically abandoned.  Then there was the fact that the finches themselves kept tossing them out of the nest box and lastly, some of the eggs were damaged.

As each egg was removed, I carefully broke them open to see if they had been fertilized and how far away from hatching they had been.  Some were fertilized, but most weren’t.  The ones that were, had stopped developing at various stages, with the last seeming to be only days away from hatching.

Les had done his research on finches, particularly about their breeding habits, and found that at first, they aren’t the greatest parents in the world.  His research uncovered the fact that it can take 5 or more clutches of eggs before they get the nesting and hatching part right, and a further few broods before they are successful at raising their babies to adulthood.  Sad, but it is the way they are. (more…)

Posted by arna in Nature's Delights and tagged with , , , , , , ,
04Apr
0

It Seems We Are Destined To Have A House Full Of Babies

No, I am not pregnant!  That, sadly to say, is a slight impossibility as we have the best contraceptive in the world, a baby.

We are, however, destined to have babies all around us, though at the moment, they aren’t of the human kind.  But they are still babies all the same, so doesn’t really matter.

Recently, the local wildlife has been bringing their off-spring for visits.  There have been the baby magpies and other birds, the baby snakes, baby possums and many more that we probably never even noticed. (more…)

Posted by arna in Petdantic and tagged with , ,
19Mar
0

Finch Update

Well, it seems that even if I’m not the one expanding the family, our family is destined to grow, and grow, and grow.  No, there are no more human additions, but more of the feathered variety.

After my last post here, it was decided that our hurt/lost finch was going to be a part of our family.  Closer inspections of our tiny charge showed that he appeared to be too well fed for a wild bird and that the amputated foot happened some time ago.  Knowing how WIRES and vets work, the decision was made to not contact them (the recommendation would be to put the bird down) and to house the finch ourselves.

A night spent in our improvised intensive care unit, and we had one active finch on 0ur hands.  That plastic box (no lid- just a flimsy cardboard cover) was not going to serve as a home for much longer and a proper home was going to have to be found, fast.

Les took a wonder out to our storage unit, retrieved our bird cages and then helped to clean and set them up.  The tiny finch had a new home, but then I decided to let him have my budgie cage, as it is sooo much bigger than the ‘finch house’ cage.  Yep, he likes my budgie cage and loves the room he has to fly around and spread seed from here to eternity (or so it seems).

With a nice home, our finch was named.  Les called him Vince, as in Invinceable, which seems to have the ‘meep’ of approval.  One happy bird named, and plans to get him some friends.

A trip to the pet shop was inevitable, as it always is.  I was instructed to get some flock mates for Vince, and so I did (along with about 10 more fish!!!).  I got a grey female zebra finch and a white male and female pair of zebra finches.  It took about 3 days for them to all settle down, but they are as happy as can be now, especially with my greenery that has been grown for them from their own wasted seeds.

Yes, we have 4 finches now.  They are Vince and Violet Grey and Millie and Meep White.  4 happy little featheries who are very loud, despite their size, and are providing a new dynamic to our household.

The plan now is to get a pair of Gouldian finches, which shouldn’t be too hard.  The pet shop already has them waiting for my return.  Might go tomorrow actually, providing I get some sleep tonight.

So, from frightened and lonely bird, Vince has become the King of his Purple Heart Palace and has a girlfriend whom he treats like a queen.  I am so glad he survived, and so is Les who has waited 53 years to own finches.

Off to cover them up now, they are pretty loud ‘meepers’ and with it getting rather late (or early depending on your perspective), they seem louder and are threatening to wake up the girls.

Posted by arna in Petdantic and tagged with , , ,
08Mar
0

Native Wildlife Lost and A Finch Comes To Me For Help

The other day, while sitting out the front conversing with my husband, a tragedy befelled my wildlife family.

There Les and I were, sitting quietly and enjoying the peaceful moments of a cigarette break (allow me one vice), when I suddenly realised something was wrong.  Behind me, there was a lot of squawking going on, which isn’t unusual for our magpies.  I thought nothing of it at first.

As I continued to sit there, out of the corner of my eyes, I could see our regular group of magpies dancing around, and really crying out.  They were trying to get my attention by bobbing around, flapping their wings and squawking as loudly as they could.

I turned my head in the direction they were wanting me to look, and that’s when I saw it.  The youngest magpie had been caught by the neighbours cat, a truely horrible sight for an animal lover to see.

I yelled ‘NO!’ at the top of my voice, dropped cigarette and cuppa (ok, placed them down) and pounded down the front stairs and over to the fence that seperates us from the neighbours.

I wasn’t quick enough!  The white cat gripped my baby bird even more firmly and then bolted with it as I reached even further over the fence in a vain attempt to rescue the magpie (and I nearly lost my balance too, though didn’t care).  The cat ran off with the bird, feathers flying everywhere and the strangled cries of its victim slowing.  The bird was dying.

Our neighbours aren’t particularly nice people, and I wasn’t going to risk a tresspassing charge, which could see me losing my family, so I had to let the magpie go.

I was heartbroken, holding back tears and sobs, at what had happened.  All my life, I have been a ‘friend’ to the birds (and any other wildlife that comes a calling) and I couldn’t save this one little darling (who was a rather naughty bird).

The rest of the magpie group hung around a few minutes more, and then they disappeared.  For several days, they stayed away, and I’ve wanted to cry every time I go outside because they just haven’t been there.  My ’shadows’ were gone, flown off to mourn the loss of their child, sibling and possible future mate.  Me, I wish I could have gone with them, as looking towards the neighbours was filling me with anger. (more…)

Posted by arna in Petdantic and tagged with , , , , , ,