Lost Bird?

Looking out of my window the other day, after it had been snowing, I became aware of a small bird which I`d not see in the garden before.  It stayed pecking about for quite a while, and wasn`t bothered by the starlings and blackbirds who were all bigger that it was.

The next day, it appeared at about the same time again, and again today.  So I got my camera out and tried to get some photos of it through the window.   I didn`t want to go outside with the camera for fear of frightening it away.   I`m not sure what it is.   I`ll have to get a bird book to try and find out.   It`s quite quick moving and is quite prettily marked.

Watch the birdie!

This seagull posed so obligingly for me the other day - wonder what he`s thinking as he sees me poised with a camera out of my car window?!

Sunny

As promised a few weeks ago, here is a picture of my pet.

Unfortunately the angle of the photo makes him look a lot fatter than he actually is - guess that`s true for a lot of us at times!!

Why have I called him Sunny?..... well for two reasons, obviously his colour and secondly because he brings a ray of sunshine into my home every single day.

Goodbye - and - Welcome

I came downstairs yesterday morning, to find that my little Goldie had died. It was sad, yet I guess the kindest thing for him, as he was obviously suffering so much in the last few days.

I gently lifted him and placed him in a tissue lined container, and he will be buried in our back garden, by our helpful gardener when he comes next week. Then I thoroughly cleaned the cage and disinfected it.

In the afternoon, my parent and I just went to "look" in a nearby garden centre`s pet section..... and ... there were three canaries for sale, so .... there is now a new inhabitant here!

I haven`t decided on a name yet - he`s a nice bright yellow, but has one dark brown wing and a few patches of dark coloured feathers on him. He`s very cute. Yes.. it is a "he". We asked at the shop if they were hen or cock birds, and the assistant said she thought this one was a cock as they thought they`d heard him singing a few notes. She was right. He seemed to settle quickly into his new home, and even sang me a few notes so I look forward to hearing a lot more song from him. Just need to decide on what to call him. It needs to be a different name to any we`ve had before, because Mum says it`s supposed to be unlucky to use the same name twice.

When he`s more settled and used to being here, I`ll try and post a photo of him.

Helpless

I`ve been feeling helpless these last few days.

It`s obvious by looking at him that my little bird isn`t well. It`s so frustrating, worrying and sad, that he can`t tell me what`s wrong with him. He is still eating and drinking, so I suppose that is a good sign, but he`s definitely not himself. He just sits all fluffed out, and sleeping a lot. And, now he`s finding it difficult to jump onto his perches, he seems to miss them. I wonder if his eyesight is giving him a problem. - but I`ve never seen a bird with glasses on yet!

When he is awake, he keeps looking at me, as if to say please do something to help me, to make me better. But I don`t know what. I did get a bottle of bird tonic from the pet shop and have been adding that to his water, but so far, it doesn`t seem to have had much effect.

Perhaps I shall know more tomorrow. I called a neighbour in to see him this afternoon (he used to breed canaries), but Goldie was asleep when he came, so he`s going to pop back tomorrow and have a look at him for me.

I`ve infact been dreading coming down in the mornings, as to whether I would find him still alive or not. I do hope he recovers from whatever it is that is wrong. He`s only about a year old.

Plucking up courage

I managed to achieve something yesterday, that I`ve been trying for quite a while, so I felt really chuffed about it.

No, it wasn`t me that had to pluck up courage to do something it, it was my little bird.

For a few weeks I`ve been trying to get him to sit on my hand to eat some treat seed. Now, this is something that he really likes, and although he`s been tempted to try, and has taken the odd seed or two off my hand by stretching his neck out as far as it will go, yesterday, he actually ended up sitting on my hand to eat it, and stayed there for several minutes as he tucked in.

It was such a thrilling feeling.

3,333

If three thousand, three hundred and thirty three is the answer, what was the question?

I remember as a youngster looking at our canary and asking my parent "How many feathers does it have?" and that was her answer. Now, whether that was the true answer of just her guess at it, or her answer to stop me asking more questions, I don`t know.

But, having just had our newest canary go through his first moult, I seem to think she might have been right! There have been feathers flying for weeks. From the large long wing and tail feathers (yes, he looked quite cute even without a tail for a few days until it quickly grew again) to cute tiny soft curly ones. As soon as I`d hoovered them up, there were more on the carpet. And, ofcourse he stopped singing while he was moulting. And it has gone on for weeks.

Now, yesterday evening, after having a flap of wings and little fly round in his cage, he started tweeting in a different tone, as if finding his voice, and then started to give a few little trills. I was thrilled to hear that again, I`d begun to think he wasn`t going to sing again. Hopefully now he`ll soon be back to full song - a beautiful sound.

What wonderful creatures birds are.

Bath Time!

Splash! Splash! Splash!



Have I splashed enough water out yet?!




The world looks different without bars!
Think I`ll stay in a bit longer.

Goldie

Meet the new addition to our family.

R.I.P

I was going to show and tell you about something new today, but that`s going to have to wait now until tomorrow, or the next day, because something very sad happened today and I feel the need to write about it.

My little canary died while we were out this afternoon. He hadn`t seemed well for a few day the other week, but then picked up and was back to his normal self. He was as lively and chirpy as usual yesterday. This morning when I got up and uncovered his cage he just sat there fluffed out and not looking well. He slept most of the morning and was asleep on his perch when we went out this afternoon. When we came back he was on his floor and had died.

The place seems so quiet, so empty somehow without him.

He wasn`t that old either, we`d had him just over 3 years. He was such a tame and clever little chap. He`d know the minute we started to get a coat on to go out that he would get a sunflower seed, which he`d take from our fingers to eat; he knew when the butcher came that he would give him one too; and when other various people came to the house he seemed to recognise them and who would give him a seed too. At dinner times, he knew that when we had our pudding he would get his tit-bit of apple or lettuce and would sit quietly while we had our first course and as soon as we put our knives and forks down would start jumping about and tweeting for his.
He loved his bath, and would ask for it by dipping his head in his drinking water then going onto his perch and shaking his feathers. He was the most intelligent canary that we`d ever had.

He was such good company, the house never felt empty with him in it. As soon as we came in and opened the door, we`d call out to him. He was only small, but he was such a big part of our lives. I`ll miss him so much.

I think there`ll be tears in the pillow tonight.

Another Bird

Driving along this afternoon, down a country lane, having passed some nice patches of daffodils, my attention was caught by something big, black and white sitting on a wall. So, checking that no other traffic was coming I backed several yards back up the road to investivate, and found this looking at us. We stopped and sat looking at a bird. We couldn`t decide if it was a duck or a goose. (anyone know?)



It seemed so unusual to find a web footed bird, and a fairly large one at that, sitting on a low country garden wall. It was totally unafraid of the car and as we sat there it continued with preening its feathers, giving me a chance to get my camera out. Dare we open the window, we wondered or would it fly away? After taking some pictures with the window up, we gently opened the car window...

...the bird took not the slightest bit of notice and continued alternately preening its feather and stopping to give us a quizzical look.

But, what was it, and why was it sitting on a wall... we looked at it as quizzically at it looked at us!