Silent Zoo

The movie Silent Running made a huge impression on me when it came out. As a loner, I liked the idea of being alone on a space ship and tending to the plants and animals that were being rescued from our dying planet. But in reality, that ship or those ships would be so costly to put out in space. The better plan is to send ova and sperm, frozen and protected from radiation. If you read Seveneves by Neal Stephenson, you get the idea. Continue reading “Silent Zoo”

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Finch Reproduction

My local bird club is amazing due to the impressive speakers that come to our meetings. Part of the reason such a variety of impressive speakers are available has to do with being so close to the San Diego Zoo and the Safari Park. Andrea Cabibi spoke at the January meeting, and is an employee of the zoo. Continue reading “Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Finch Reproduction”

Don’t Even Count the Chicks After Hatching

One reason that canary breeders pull eggs as they are laid and later set them all back in the nest at the same time is so the chicks will hatch all at the same time, and get equal treatment from the parents. It’s a sad reality in breeding that out of six eggs laid a day apart, the oldest chick will be a week old before the youngest hatches. And the chances of survival under the crush of older siblings is very slight. Continue reading “Don’t Even Count the Chicks After Hatching”

Final Blog about My Fondness for Bird. Kind of.

Actually, all these blogs are in one way or another focused on my love of birds. But in charting my history with all things feathered, I will wrap it all up here. About twenty years ago when my husband and I moved in together, I had only two cockatiels. Shortly after that, we got custody of his two youngest children and moved into a house. Continue reading “Final Blog about My Fondness for Bird. Kind of.”

More of My Fondness for Birds

At the time my family had the parakeet in the kitchen, we also had a hummingbird nest in a bush just outside my sister’s bedroom window. Hummingbirds by themselves were amazing creatures, but to watch one lay eggs, sit on them, and hatch both babies was enchanting. She fed the babies and they grew up and flew away. That started a life-long enjoyment of hummers and all wild birds. Continue reading “More of My Fondness for Birds”

Why I Like Birds

I recently adopted a sweet, funny green cheek conure whose owner wanted him to have a chance to be around other conures. He was getting too attached to her other bird, and that attachment caused problems. I took Nacho in with the understanding she can come visit him at any time and he will be her bird if she ever decides to take him back. That’s always been my understanding with my adopted birds. I am mostly fostering them. Continue reading “Why I Like Birds”

Maynard Reviews Movies from 2015

The poster parrot for this blog is my double yellow headed Amazon named Maynard. He loves to watch movies. He sits either on the back of my comfy chair or on the perch on the coffee table and watches the movies with us. If there is singing, he will sing along. Different words and tunes, but he tries. He laughs when we laugh, and he gets very upset when there is fighting or shouting. Continue reading “Maynard Reviews Movies from 2015”