Our feathered friends, birdbrains, and wingnuts

[PlainJane]

God I f*cking miss my bird

 

[Friday]

Saw something I’d never seen, before…

A hummingbird chasing a falcon. ALL over the durn place. One seriously pissed off hummer, and one seriously confused falcon.

 

[PlainJane]

I fear my buddy is gone. I love and miss him so, however I do not regret the freedom offered. It was not on purpose that he flew. Even so, I had hoped you had lived a longer and fuller life. Margo, I love and miss you.

 

[Friday]

I fear my buddy is gone. I love and miss him so, however I do lot regret the freedom offered. It was not on purpose that he flew. Even so, I had hoped you had lived a longer and fuller life. Margo, I love and miss you.

My old neighborhood had an escaped parrot. No one knows where he came from, but he showed up sometime in the 1960s & as of 2020 was still winging around outside all summer, and visiting whatever home he chose all winter.

A cockatiel, meanwhile, was adopted by the local crows (the murder was a little over 15,000 at last count, with 7 or 8 adoptees from other species) & circled the lake with them twice a day for nearly a decade.

My best wishes that Margo -even if lost- is alive and well and thinking of you.

 

[PlainJane]

My best wishes that Margo -even if lost- is alive and well and thinking of you.

God, I hope so! He deserved more than what I gave him.

Thank you, boss

 

[PlainJane]

Margo cracked me up. He would sit on my shoulder the second I was home until bedtime. If I was on the phone he would mock me the best he could, I would get tickled and laugh and he would laugh with me. He had an attitude and fit in with us misfits perfectly. I can't understand why I grieve so much more over my beloved bird than any human I have lost. He stayed with me while I worked on my homework for my degree after work and made it bearable. I don't know if I can adjust to school work with out him. Well, I can, but at what expense? He would bring me my pen or pencil as needed. He would sing to me when I prompted for a boost.

I talked to the family I received him from, they believe he'll never return considering his age and the environment. I can accept that. Actually death is easier to accept than hope and uncertainty. It's still devastating but easier than waiting.

I guess I just wished he got to live longer and better with me as a witness. With his age I have only allowed him a few outings. I think I provided him the right stimulation, nutrition and care with the exception of familiarity with the area. I took him places but in the car. If I had taken home on my walks/pretend runs, it might have been different. Funny enough, I received my new tether in the mail the day he went missing.

I hate me for not listening to my gut.

It is what it is.

 

[Rose White]

@PlainJane he sounds like a sweet and funny soul. I’m terribly sorry for your loss. Please don’t hate yourself, it was an accident. There are bigger forces in play that are hidden from us; for whatever reason his precious time with you was interrupted. If you haven’t already, might be worth it to put out notices locally like on Craigslist or Next Door Neighbor as well as with animal control and exotic animal vets because sometimes people find them and turn them in. My heart goes out to you— totally understand the level of grief we can go through for birds.

 

[Friday]

I can't understand why I grieve so much more over my beloved bird than any human I have lost.

We build walls around our hearts, with people, that we don’t with them.

 

[Friday]

There’s a new eagle, so new his brown hasn’t even settled yet; looking like a paint horse, all splotches of floaty baby feathers and proper pins, but easily 1/3 again bigger than most of the adults; that the crows have started schooling.

The crows always harass the eagles. In a month or two it’ll be the baby crows learning how to take diving them in turns, whilst staying out of the way of beaks and claws. But right now? It’s the new eagles getting smacked.

I’m not sure who is more amused, at the moment. Myself? Or the adults sitting a few trees away, chortling and whistling advice.

 

[Friday]

“Our” little family of crows have started bringing 2 other families with them, morning and night.

Their babies are so sad & scraggly looking!

Well, we’ll fix them right up!

TheKiddo got grumpy, thinking “our” crows had forgotten their manners and gotten all loud & obnoxious & demanding (they come, sit on the wire or railing next to me & trill/click at TheKiddo, TheCat, & me). They haven’t. It’s just the new ones & their desperate babies.

A couple days in and the new adults have learned. They don’t talk to us, but they sit quietly, now. And the babies are still scraggly looking, but they can hold onto the wire (if if they look like drunk pirates, every little jounce and bit of breeze sending them reeling), instead of needing to be left on a roof, crying their heads off, and are flying a lot stronger, wailing a lot less.

Going through heaps and heaps of cat food (I figure the added vitamins and minerals are needed), and defrosted my soup scraps (meats and marrows I save from other meals for misc soups, stews, and chilis) to add to the cause. Some boiled some nuts, peanut butter, and cheese rounds the rest out. The new ones were so desperate they were going after the bread the neighbor give to the birds. No self respecting crow eats bread when there’s meats, nuts, & high fat things about.

Poor wee things.

TheCat also left them 2 mice (or small rats?) on their railing this morning.

 

[Friday]

I’ve never seen either of the crow-adopted seagulls up close.

I watched them fly with the Murder at dawn and dusk for years, even watched them standing around in one of the parking lot meeting places, before it even began to click. Oh. Right. You belong to them. (And a, somewhat embarrassed to admit it took one of the zoo-proctors to talk about the adopted species crows sometimes take on, before I really believed what I was seeing). Today I got my first ever up-close with one of them.

He/she/it was set to babysitting duty on one of the roofs, and was helping to slide food down the incline (something the crows do when they first start transitioning the wee ones from beak-open-feed-me! to getting their own food). It’s a clever practice. It lets the babies attempt grown up behavior, highly supervised, sans predators/vehicles/etc. There are usually 6-8 adult crows per baby, during this process. Today? Also a seagull!

Anyone who has spent any time at all along coastlines?

Is well familiar with the keeee & arooo arooo arooo & eee!eee!eee!eee! high pitched yelping & whooping of seagulls.

I’ve been listening to this one CROAK, and slap his feet on the roof, and tap his beak on the wood… in kind of stunned admiration… all morning.

Dude is mimicking crow-sounds!!!

It makes sense? It had just never occurred to me, that their adoptees would try to learn their language.

How cool is that?

 

[DharmaGirl]

Love this story, @Friday, keep us posted if you have time!