Caruso, Mario and Madeline Join the Flock

A few weeks ago, the Society Finch I had named Priscilla – she, with Penelope, also named at the same time, were the only two left of the species in the house – died after a prolonged debilitating illness. While the two may not have been the closest of friends, they were pretty inseparable after a third bird died sometime in 2021.

Below is a cell-phone shot of last three that were left – I had maybe eight or nine of them at one point, I can’t recall – I used to call my “guard birds” sitting on top of the security panel for the alarm system, likely looking through the openings in the blinds covering the window atop the front door.

And below is a photo of Penelope on the left and Priscilla on the right. Penelope, or Penny for short, is distinguishable by her feather-picked neck. To be honest, I always imagined she would be the one to get sick, but she endures. (Apologies for the bad photos in this post but it’s harder to take pictures inside.)

When Priscilla finally died I felt sorry for Penny being the lone Society Finch in a sea of Zebra Finches. I started wondering if it was worth trying to find a few Society Finch housemates for her. It’s always dicey introducing new birds. You can’t expect them to bond with the one you have. Especially because of the age difference, I imagined it might be difficult. But I thought just having a new little Society Finch coalition of three might afford one out of the three that Penelope could take a liking to. At least she would feel not so quite alone.

So after my house guest’s departure, I started visiting pet stores. The first stop was not fruitful. The birds were pale and small, they didn’t look anything like Penny and there weren’t many to choose from. And like everything else, they were twice as expensive as the last ones I adopted years ago.

Even more expensive were the ones I found on Thursday, but there were many more to choose from, and they were mostly chocolate brown and white in color which was what I desired to complement Penny and make her more accepting of the newcomers. I was able to identify one singing immediately, even though I could barely hear it, I could tell he was singing and that’s the only way to distinguish males from females. So I told the young man who came to retrieve three birds from the cage for me that I definitely wanted the male.

As it turned out, I got two males and one female – that is, she is not singing. The males might even be brothers – they have nearly identical breast colorations that look like brown bibs. I guess the guy who caught them wanted to make sure I got the right one by retrieving them both.

The bird I immediately named Caruso is a fantastic singer, and his brother, Mario, is no slouch either. Caruso must have studied with canaries. Suffice it to say that there were a few canaries a couple small cages away, but when I got to the counter to complete my purchase, the young man at the register said he loved it when he worked on the night shift because the Society Finches were the best singers. I was also surprised when he said this, because none of my male Societies had ever sung like this before. I suspect I may have deprived him of that night-shift pleasure by purchasing these two.

I have a couple hastily-made recordings from the one day it was cool enough to turn off the fans in the house for a while so they wouldn’t interfere with the music. A few weeks ago I decided to learn some Manuel de Falla piano music after hearing some on the radio, so I bought a couple volumes and have started to work on a few pieces. Below is the Serenata Andaluza in its entirety along with noisy page turning as the binding on these volumes is very tight, and a segment of the Ritual Fire Dance which Caruso seems to enjoy immensely. You can also hear some Zebra Finch singing too but for the most part Caruso and perhaps Mario a bit too, are prominent with their trills and chirps. I am in heaven with these new musical collaborators.

Serenata Andaluza
Ritual Fire Dance – excerpt

Below is a photo of the female, possibly – on the first day when the birds were still confined to a cage. It will take me a while to figure out who’s who by sight as they all basically have the same coloring. While writing this post I decided to name her Madeleine. She can be Maddy for short.

Friday afternoon approximately 24 hours after I brought the new Societies home, I opened the cage door. It took them a while to figure that out. Saturday morning before I left for a rather long birding expedition I made sure the kitchen door was closed as that would be too much territory for them to explore in so short a time. After I got home Saturday, they were navigating the kitchen as well. Last night we did the living room cleanup which involves swapping out the dirty cages for clean ones brought up from the basement, vacuuming and replacing the papers under the cages. And then later last night I noticed that Penny had a companion with her in a hut – probably Mario – and was pleased that she had a new friend.

A word about Society Finches a/k/a Bengal Finches. They are a made-up species that would not otherwise exist save for the pet trade. I don’t know how I feel about that, except that maybe I can feel a little less guilty because the birds I bought were not snatched out of their wild habitat.

I hope to be back soon with a couple walks I went on over the weekend. I may not be going for as many walks as usual as my right knee is complaining loudly about all the recent activity, but that should give me time to write, right? I did go swimming today and still believe that is the best therapy for everything. Along with playing piano for great singers.

Zebra Finches

Home, Home on the Futon Part II

Zebra Finch w Fledgling 1-4-15-1684I’m really not spending all my time on the futon but it’s been a rough week weather-wise so it’s perfect to sit with my feet up under the quilt, watching and listening to the birds.

When I last posted about the indoor crowd, there was only one fledgling, a Society Finch I think I just named Treasure. In the last week, five Zebra Finch Kids have fledged, and they are somewhat easy to tell apart for the moment as they are all varying shades of gray. One in particular is much lighter than the others (a sibling of the first to fledge group of three), and the last two are quite a bit darker than the rest.

The Zebra Finch adult couples hang out together quite a bit, going on foraging expeditions, and then at other times they get into territorial squabbles that sound ferocious to my ears, but nobody’s suffered so far from being chased.

Zebra Finch Fledglings 1-11-15-0123I have noticed today that the fledglings are still begging noisily but they’ve been ignored at times. They have also started picking at spray millet and experimenting with foraging in general, so I suspect they will be weaned very soon.

The video has the new fledglings eventually all on one perch, and Arturo T. singing half his song at the end.

I have no new pictures of the last remaining Budgie and the Diamond Dove, but Blue Budgie sits in the kitchen and serenades Dudlee Ann, the Diamond Dove, from time to time. He is absolutely smitten with her. Whenever she comes out into the living room, he is right by her side. When she takes off for the kitchen he zooms right after her. She is fond of him, but feels a duty to sit on her plastic eggs. Last night she came to join him briefly on his perch in the second finch cage, but then left for her nest.

During the week, Dudlee talks to me and tells me when I come home from work that she wants to go back into the kitchen and sit on her plastic eggs, after spending the day with the other birds.

Society Finches and 2 Zebra Finch Fledglings

Society Finches and 2 Zebra Finch Fledglings

The Society Finches will increase by at least two, as far as I can tell from the sounds coming out of Phoenix and Rikki’s nest. I suspect they are Trevor and Phoenix’s offspring.

The nicest thing about all this is that everybody has settled in, we are comfortable with each other, and now I have birds born in the house again. I am looking forward to seeing the Zebra Finh fledglings turn colors, become either girls or boys, and particularly to hearing the boys working on their songs. Arturo T. and Ricardo M. keep working on their songs and they have fleshed them out considerably since they arrived fresh from the pet store. Arturo T. has the most lyrical song, and I have figured out how to put “Arturo, Arturo Toscanini” to it. Ricardo’s song is more percussive and I haven’t figured out how to add his name to it yet.

Zebra Finch Fledgling 1-4-15-1685

Meanwhile in the yard this morning the House Sparrows were all hanging out at the pool. My view through the kitchen window.

HOSP  Hanging Out at the Pool 1-11-15-0099

It is snowing again. Cold, but not quite as sub-zero as last week. I hope to visit my crow friends soon.

A View from the Futon

Finches in the Window

Finches in the Window, from the futon perspective

There’s a lot to be done around here and I am doing absolutely none of it.

View from the Bridge downtown

View of the Jackson Blvd. Bridge from the Adams Street Bridge downtown, with the cell phone

I was improving Tuesday with my right knee when that same night coming home on the train an unfortunate move put me out of commission, so I was forced to take Christmas Eve off from work, which produced little on my end except for a lot of indoor bird observation, reading the paper online, accepting sympathy from friends and succumbing to naps. I did play a little piano.

As I’ve been sharing a lot of time with the indoor birds lately, listening to the begging sounds of new baby birds has been the highlight of my existence. A reminder that I have to get better because I have birds to take care of. And I will do anything for my birds. Even if it hurts.

Zebras 12-21-14-9064 Zebras 12-21-14-9059

We were promised a break in the clouds for Christmas, after the promise of rain turning into snow did not pan out. The sun did manage to peek out from the clouds this afternoon, which greatly improved our moods. It has been so dismal and gloomy (or “glismal” as my mother used to say), I think we broke the record for days in December without sunshine.

So I listen to the baby birds: the Society Finches, who sound like you would imagine baby birds to sound, and the Zebra Finches, who sound like someone shaking a box of pins, that grows gradually louder day by day. I have taken to calling them The Pins. You can hear them helping me read through a little Bach D minor prelude (the last English Suite, finally). The next time you hear them they will be twice as loud.

And the songs and personalities of the new finches are starting to reveal themselves. I have decided to name the two male Zebra Finches Arturo Toscanini and Ricardo Muti, seeing as how their songs have yet to be formed enough for me to write them out and provide lyrics. Arturo has been working diligently on his song and it is the most developed. I suspect he is the alpha male. The clip below is of Arturo singing with a little Mozart.

I am also feeling a little better about my Zebra Finch matchmaking, it seems to be working out. At first I thought it was stupid of me to throw two males and two females together and expect them to get along, and they seemed to be out to prove me a jerk, but now they seem to be getting along more than they chase each other.

Tina 12-21-14-9067

Tina in the nest

Trevor 12-21-14-9056

Trevor

 

Things were not so rosy with the Society Finches either. I had Phoenix and Rikki, the two hens from before, and introduced Trevor and Tina. Phoenix and Rikki abducted Trevor after a while, and at one point Phoenix seemed to be taking over Tina’s brood, but I think everybody is together for the common cause now. Tina is back in the nest, although when she does come out she proves to be a beautiful bird. I am looking forward to seeing the offspring. I have not been able to determine whether Trevor has successfully mated with either Phoenix or Rikki although I thought I caught him trying once with Phoenix. Phoenix and Rikki are finally over the shock of realizing that I am not throwing out eggs, as I did for months before with their previous crowd, but that’s a long story. Now I have all young birds and they should reproduce while they can. Below is a clip of Trevor singing with a little Mozart.

Blue, the Budgie, and Dudlee, the Diamond Dove, take refuge from the finches together. Dudlee manages to find new hiding places, and she throws her voice when she coos. I have a hard time locating her, especially when I’m less mobile.

Dudlee

Dudlee

I have simply decided that the only approach to the knee, besides seeing a surgeon for his opinion in a couple weeks, is to get as much rest as possible, do whatever physical therapy exercises are feasible, and walk as carefully as possible. Stairs are now a terrific challenge and I am trying not to mess up my other knee by asking it to bear all the weight. I suspect in part getting a shot in the right knee was a gamble because I now have pain at the point of insertion. But as bad as my memory for it is, I got through all this once before and so I should be able to do it again. And embrace the reminder that I am not invincible. There’s much to be done, or not done, while prone.

Lastly among other things I have had to give up since this incapacity took hold, I regret not making traditional food gifts for the holiday. I used to do a million cookies, but in the last few years I have tailored the baking effort to several loaves of cinnamon oatmeal raisin bread, but this year if I manage to get to it at all it will be for the New Year’s Day instead.

The only time I got behind a camera lens that wasn’t my cell phone was last Sunday, when I managed to get a few pictures of regulars who visit the yard.

DOWP 12-21-14-9012

Downy Woodpecker

DOWP 12-21-14-8996

I hope to be back soon with something more cheerful than a bad knee report. Hope your holidays are much merrier!

Squirrel 12-21-14-9037

Society’s Children

Societies 3-1-14 6263.jpg-6263

The lineup above includes all the Society Finches with one Spice Finch huddled together next to the babies. The Society Finch on the far left is Isabella. She is sometimes included and sometimes an outsider, which is only to be expected now that the other seven or so are for all practical purposes related. I saw Hector sit on top of Isabella earlier this evening, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything except that he’s trying to expand his harem. I remember when I first got Ferdinand and Isabella, she was as likely to sit on top of him as he was her. But I suspect she knew all along that he was not well.

Hector and One of His Kids

Hector and One of His Kids

I was trying to get some baby pictures yesterday morning, particularly to see if I could separate out the individuals, and Hector expressed his annoyance.

Johnnie-Come-Lately

Johnnie-Come-Lately

The bird above is recognizable because of its pale coloring and pink bill, and the fact that it is the last-hatched and therefore the last to do anything has earned it the name Johnnie-Come-Lately. I can always change the spelling to Johnny if it starts singing.

So far, nameless

So far, nameless, but punk hairstyle development noted on the left

I’m waiting to see how the personalities sort themselves out before I name anyone else. The two above might be the second oldest and oldest, or the other way around.

The Clump

The Clump

Although the babies are getting their wings, they still often wind up huddled together. The Clump above this evening was sleeping on what long ago was exclusively a budgie cage, but now is visited by everyone else.

Bird Breakfast Buffet

Bird Breakfast Buffet

I have decided to update the bird care manual for my caretaker who will feed and clean up after the birds while I’m gone for a week. Above is a picture of the buffet that goes in each finch cage every morning. It’s now heavy on the corn kernels as Isabella has indoctrinated the other Societies to partake of this treat. I’m not worried because they seem to eat virtually everything else.

And now I leave you with this video which isn’t terribly clear to look at but you should be able to get the general gist of what goes on during baby feeding. Chances are by the time I figure out how to take better home movies indoors it will be too late and the babes will be feeding themselves. But I love the bending underneath the feeding parent as he regurgitates food to feed each one.

Four New Societies

Society Finch kids

Society Finch kids

I came home from work Friday night ready to do the usual cleanup and was surprised to find these guys all sitting on top of the nest box, looking definitely as big as their parents, if clueless.

Society 4 Kids 2-23-14 1518.jpg-1518

There are four of them – unfortunately due to circumstances beyond my control it’s hard to tell them apart at the moment.

Below is a little sample of what they sound like when they’re begging for food. There was some guitar music on the radio, in the background. There’s also a little Pietro Zebra Finch mixed in there too.

So as far as I can tell, two of them appear darker than the darkest adult, Phoenix, and one of them is close to Hector’s coloring.

Phoenix

Phoenix

There is another parent, I suspect – Rikki – but she would not pose for a picture. However one of the offspring has a pink bill, taking after her.

Hector

Hector

While the nestlings were still in the nest it was practically impossible to record their begging songs. The moment they sensed I was paying attention, like good little birds they immediately shut up.

4 Society Kids 2-23-14 2304.jpg-2304

Somehow the youngsters have not inherited the punk hairstyles. Maybe that comes later.

While I was waiting to record the babies begging, I managed to get some of Zorro’s song for his followers, a little solo song – with the radio instead of the piano in the background.

Report from the Home Front: Hector and the Society Matrons

Hector and the Society Matrons  1421.jpg-1421

After two weeks of observing a very bored and resigned Isabella, I broke down and introduced three new Society Finches into the home bird mix this weekend.

Isabella

Isabella today, in a much better mood

Let me back up and say goodbye to Ferdinand, her former companion. He was still singing but a mess, unable to fly and down to his last feathers, before I left on my trip in November, so it was no big surprise to find out he had succumbed while I was gone. I knew I would miss his singing, for sure. But not missing having to cart him around every time I had to clean the cages, because he could not fly, not to mention his miserable self. If I took any pictures of him in his reduced condition I am not interested in finding them.

Isabella, Hector, Rikki and Phoenix

Isabella, Hector, Rikki and Phoenix

I started writing this post weeks ago, and now the Societies have moved in. Indeed for a while there it appeared they were taking over. They are recognizable by variations in appearance, and so I have named them Hector, who is a scruffy little pale male with a punk hairdo, Phoenix who is the darker one more resembling Isabella but not quite, and Rikki, who has a pink bill and a very loud call.

Hector

Hector

I bought three birds to practically insure I would get a male and have his song to compare to Ferdinand’s. There were about 16 birds or so in a tiny cage at PetSmart so it was a crap shoot which ones I would get when the young attendant opened the cage door from behind and started waving around his net. Hector is quite lighter than the others and he was smaller, so I wasn’t sure I wanted him, but now I’m glad he came, he’s definitely a character.

His song is quite different from Ferdinand’s. My first impression of his song was a little like a Winter Wren trying to sing Papageno’s “Magic Flute” song. Click on the clip below to hear him (apologies for the shaky background music).

After I’d had them a couple days, in a moment of weakness I decided to buy some nest boxes and put them around. The two bamboo ones have hooks on the back so they were made to stick in the cage. The other thatch nests I hung around but there is only one left after the budgies started chewing holes in them, and it belongs to Zorro and Fiona, in the same spot as their forever failing curtain nest but now replacing it.

The bamboo nests are in one finch cage and initially had 10 or so eggs between them. The three new Societies have been taking turns sitting on them. Three weeks ago I had no idea whether the eggs were fertilized but they seemed to think so. And just about when I had given up hope, I began to hear little begging noises.  I haven’t had birds breeding in the house for years, so this is kind of a nice diversion. I’m always up for hearing begging sounds in key with the music and new songs developing among young males. If I do get a couple males it will be interesting to see whether their songs imitate Hector’s or if they branch out on their own like my Zebra Finches tended to do when they were going at it.

Rikki

Rikki

But I will be removing the nest boxes after fledging because I do not want to continue this experiment ad infinitum. Inbreeding is not my calling and it shouldn’t be theirs either.

Society Finches don’t use a lot of nesting material like Zebra Finches so it’s practically impossible to resist looking inside when one nest doesn’t have anyone sitting on it. Last night when I was cleaning, I saw one, possibly two, pink eraser-like blobs moving in the leftmost nest. This morning I seemed to be able to see two or three with some feathers in the righthand nest. I tried to take a picture but it’s impossible to get anything between the cage rungs and the darkness inside. Not to mention it’s always a challenge to get pictures indoors anyway, with the cages backlit against the living room windows.

Babies 2-8-14  4619.jpg-4619

If nothing else Hector and his Society Matrons have livened up the place and all the other birds have grown used to them. I hope to have baby pictures soon. In the meantime here’s another picture of Hector.

Hector 2-8-14  4604.jpg-4604

Society Finches Try Wild

I picked up a couple “Society” Finches, also called Bengal Finches, last time I went to the pet store to get a few friends for my then lone Spice Finch, “Star.” The blurb underneath their identification in the pet store said they got along well with other birds, and at the time I was looking for anything to cheer up Star and me, too, so I decided to buy a pair in addition to the three Spice Finches I wound up taking home. I was lucky enough to get male and female Society Finches, since they are monomorphic. I named them Ferdinand and Isabella.

Ferdinand sings and Isabella croaks. Well, she has a rachety kind of vocalization. When pressed, she can utter a breathy whistle, but Ferdinand does most of the whistling too. I can tell them apart physically because Ferdinand has more brown on him than Isabella, she’s got more white on her face. Isabella also turned out to be the more adventurous of the two, always the first to try something new.

When I looked up Society Finches on the Internet I discovered they were an artificially created breed and they had no known wild ancestry. Their lack of wild instincts became apparent the first time I cleaned the cage area. I always put one cage on the dining room table and then move the other two into the hallway so I can clean up the dirty papers underneath the cages and the surrounding area. Instead of following the other birds into the dining room to hang out in the cage on the table or on the curtain rods, these two sat on the floor where the cages had been, unable to let go of their only orientation, which was The Cage. It took several weeks before they adjusted to the routine. But true to their human orientation, they have paid close attention to the routine and they now have it down pat, so much so that they often anticipate my next move.

In the beginning, the other birds ignored them but now they fit in with the rest of the finches, and from time to time they take in a bird of another species. Usually it’s a Spice Finch but I have seen them harboring one of the Zebra Finch males too. But I have never seen anything like the picture below, which I unfortunately had to take with a flash because this occurred in the evening: a Spice Finch is sitting on top of the Society Finches. I have no idea what that is about, except another form of togetherness. It’s possible he wanted to get in between them but they were already comfortable so he got on top of them instead. That would be Isabella on the left and Ferdinand on the right.

Attached is a little sample of Ferdinand’s song. Rodolfo the Zebra Finch comes in, but mainly it is Ferdinand trilling, no doubt inspired by the trills in the Bach.

Recording of Ferdinand with Rodolfo in the Background

This Spice Finch is resting on top of the Society Finches!