Someone's nose is out of joint

Hi there. The other day Holly had her say and today it’s my turn. My name is Mickey and as you can see, I’m a tuxedo cat.

Holly’s nose is still a little out of joint because she wasn’t allowed out on the balcony to (possibly) catch one of the baby finches. In the meantime, the situation hasn’t improved. All five finches are gone and she didn’t get any of them.

For a while she had high hopes. Around 6:00 p.m. the parent finches were twittering up a storm. They didn’t just chirp, they sang and made one hell of a noise. It got so loud they actually woke me up, so I went to take a look.

Mama and papa finch were sitting on the balcony netting, but instead of flying in to feed the remaining two babies, they stayed there. I didn’t understand a word they were saying, but it sounded like they were encouraging the babies to come out of the nest.

Sure enough, one of them popped its head out, hopped on the rim of the nest, spread its wings and … flew right smack into the netting. He fell into the petunias and sat there, dazed, no doubt wondering what the hell happened.

So Dieter went out and talked to the little one. 

At this point Holly joined me by the netting of the balcony door and I knew what she was thinking … he’s gonna catch that bird for me. Yes, yes, yes, oh thank you, thank you, thank you!

Dieter indeed caught the little one, but instead of presenting it to Holly to eat, he set it free. Holly watched the scene with growing alarm … what is he doing? He wouldn’t! He couldn’t! No, no, no, no, no!!! Oh no, there goes my dinner.

Calm down, I told her, it’s after six, in a little while we’ll get our food and from what I’ve seen we’re getting chicken in gravy. Why do you want a bird anyway? You have to catch it, kill it, and before you get to the meat you have to get through the feathers and it’s hell to get those out of your teeth.

How would you know, Holly snapped, you’ve never caught a bird in your life. She had me there. It’s true, I’ve never caught a bird, or anything else for that matter, not even a fly. I’ve been told that I talk too much. You know, that chattering sound cats make when they see something. That’s me, mister chatterbox.

Anyway, after Dieter had released the first baby bird, the second one was gonna give it a go. That one didn’t do much better. He too flew from the nest and landed in the petunias. As Dieter tried to catch him, he fluttered away, only to land in the basil plant. Dieter eventually did catch him and in cupped hands showed the bird to Conny.

That’s where things went wrong. She wanted to take a picture (she wants to take a picture of everything). Not that there was much to see, just a little feathered head poking out of two hands. As she was getting ready to snap the shot, the bird wriggled his way out of Dieter’s hands and escaped. Now the catching could start all over again.

To cut a long story short, Dieter caught the little bugger and set that one free too. Now all the finches were gone. Holly was none too pleased but I’m sure she’ll get over it.

www.connymanero.weebly.com

Fighting for space - finches update

Those who have been following my blog for a while know that a couple of finches made a nest on my 11th-floor balcony. At the time I wrote that I wondered about the intelligence of birds since I have four cats.

A few days later I called those finches feathered engineers because the way they constructed the nest was nothing short of amazing. Every day they flew to and from with building materials and using just their beak they build a pine cone shaped nest.

Today I feel slightly different about them. Yes, the nest the finches built is remarkable, but if you ask me, those birds should have taken proper measurements.

As long as it was just eggs, the nest seemed big enough, but now that the birds have hatched it seems a little crowded. See for yourself …

Did you see the little guy on top? He’s about to fall out. That’s why I said that the finches should have taken proper measurements. Surely Mrs. Bird must have known that this nest would be too small for six little birds.

Another thing I wonder about is how these little birds can breathe. It’s all good and well for those on top, but the nest is cone shaped, which means that one of those birds is in the tip of the nest. How does he breathe with five of his siblings piled on top of him?

On the other hand, the one on the bottom is probably nice and warm, while those on top must be shivering. As you could see, the little birds have hardly any feathers, so they must be cold.

I wonder how this is all going to end. I hope none of them fall out because I would hate to see that.

www.connymanero.weebly.com

Feathered engineers

A few days ago I reported that two finches had chosen a wrath on my balcony to make their nest. In the meantime, considerable progress has been made.

The work usually starts around 8:00 a.m. at which time the birds start flying to and from to get materials for their nest. At first, it was twigs and grasses, but now that the nest is built, Mrs. Finch is lining it with feathers.

I wonder where she gets those feathers. Does she use her own? Does the steal a few off Mr. Finch, or does she pluck them her unsuspecting feathered friends? Either way, the nest is looking good. See for yourself …

Considering Mrs. Finch only used her beak, this is just a magnificent piece of engineering.

How are the cats doing, you might wonder?

The poor things are tired. They are just pooped. While they were able to get some solid sleep during the day, now they get woken up every so often by the twittering of Mr. and Mrs. Finch. Whenever they hear the birds they wake up and go to the balcony to have a look.

But actually, I should put that in the past tense. While they’ve been active bird watchers all week, today their attention started to dwindle. They seem to realize that they can’t catch those birds, so why bother? At best, their ears prick up whenever the twittering starts, or they lazily open one eye.

Why would they want to catch such a small bird anyway? Take away the feathers and the bones and how much meat is on such a little finch, hardly any. It’s more of an appetizer than a meal, or worse, an amuse-bouche.

Either way, I think the cats will be glad when the building of the nest is finished. Then again, once completed Mrs. Finch will lay her eggs and sit on them practically 24/7, while Mr. Finch brings her food. And later still, once the little ones have hatched, they will start to twitter to be fed and generally to get mom’s attention.

Oh these poor cats. Maybe I should get them some earplugs.

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Meanwhile, don't forget to donate to the Toronto Cat Rescue. Shelter cats need your help. Any amount is appreciated but donations of $20 or more receive a tax receipt.

Donations can be made to my PayPal address at:
conny.manero@gmail.com
or at
https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/toronto-cat-rescue/bowlathon/team/thebirds/mem