Clicktrainer

Starlings (and...)

Wed, 16 May 2001 22:54:55 GMT

OK, baby bird season has *finally* arrived. In the past eight days I've gotten sixteen starlings in... and one baby pigeon. And the doves and the pigeons have decided to lay and hatch two babies each. So we are rather overwhelmed here! At least the doves and pigeons can take care of their own offspring!

Of the starlings, five have died. One was badly injured from a fall, two others were *really* small, but I'm not sure why I lost the other two. Possibly it was a mistake to remove them from their nestmates to prevent them from being trampled. Even trampled, they seemed liverlier and warmer when left together with others.

I gave away five babies already, and six are sitting in a box right now, along with the pigeon. I plan to keep two of the ones I have now, and I hope to find another couple of "keepers" over the summer. By this time next year, I may have a homebred brood to watch!

Now the question is, should I release all the others, or should I offer them to folks as pets?

Mon, 23 Apr 2001 01:55:47 GMT

Finally! A full day's work in only one day!

Today at work I had a conversation with a woman who had rescued a baby squirrel from a crow. She wanted me to *promise* her eight-year-old son that we would not put this squirrel down. Sight unseen -- I had no idea if the squirrel was badly injured. Plus, since we have a limit on nursing squirrels, and we are bumping against that limit, even a healthy baby might get put down. Anyway, they drove all the way to River Forest from Palatine and brought us the squirrel. I then tried to introduce them to our crows and explain that, not only do crows need to eat, but at this time of year they are feeding incubating females. No go. These guys are locked into the squirrel's point of view.

On a more optimistic note, someone said that rehabbers in the midwest may be forbidden to take in racoons soon due to increasing incidence of rabid coons. Hey, I won't object. Racoons just ain't my fav animal, and in any case, our little rehab efforts certainly don't impact the population much (and needless to say, racoons are anything but endangered.) Save the effort for the songbirds, I say! Is that sufficiently curmudgeonly???!!

Dinkum Cockatoo is in his new, palatial cage, I'm happy to say, and seems to be adapting well. His old cage is out on the back porch, and I need to clean it well before offering it to WSCBC for their bird rescue efforts.

Well, time to leave this computer and read a book for awhile! L8r!

Wed, 18 Apr 2001 19:56:16 GMT

I know, I *never* write here more than once a day, but I was just *so* clever!!!

In my earliest entries here I noted that Acey Starling kept escaping his cage and refusing to return, despite the customary reinforcers. Well, that has been resolved -- I always let Acey out early and don't feed him until he goes back in, so he is now eager to get in for his food and a clean water bowl to bathe in.

Well, Aki Lory has *also* been a little beast about returning to his cage, probably because he has gotten a bit less time out than usual the past couple of weeks. Today I had a brainstorm!

Now, Aki is very jealous of Acey, and vice versa -- they both want exclusive access to me during this breeding season. Both birds were out at the same time today, and I spent a lot of time brushing Acey off my head for fear that Aki would jump him and really hurt him. (Acey Starling is <1008 grams, while Aki is >300, so it would be an extremely uneven contest.) Of course, every time Aki landed on me, Acey would buzz him.

Anyway, I got tired of being the flag to be captured, so I wanted to put the birds back. Aki needs to go back first, since if I try to pay attention to Acey, it provokes an attack. So I decided to use Acey to lure Aki back to the cage.

I went over to the cage, stood in front of it, and called both birds to me. As expected, Aki ignored me -- you'd think that he never heard the words "C'mere, Aki!" before . But Acey came right to me. No sooner did he land than I heard the wingbeats that tell me Aki is incoming in a big hurry. Yup. Aki landed on my shoulder (and Acey wisely decamped), and I simply deposited him in the cage. Hah! That's one failure for the Red Guy!!!

Acey came and flew around in extreme agitation as I then washed bird dishes and made up food and water rations. As soon as I deposited Acey's dishes in his cage, he was in the bath.

Occasionally I manage to be smarter than my pets...

Wed, 18 Apr 2001 17:31:39 GMT

Well, both the little birds are out right now. Aki lory is being lovey-dovey in between ecstatic forays to check things out. He's such a little flirt, but Dink is my cuddler.

DH is sick... again. And as usual he is making family relations toxic. If I weren't so damned well-adjusted (riiiiight!) I'd be annoyed with him. I *hope* he has the sense to go to bed as soon as he gets home this afternoon, but that may be asking too much.

DD had a Big Night at school last night, and wrote an amusing (and mostly fictional) account of getting ready for it. She reminds me of my mother, who always enlivened her life by embroidering the truth.

And I had a Big Night last night, too. I went off o the Blue Feather and we finished making our masks. Mine was much different than the others, which fell into two broad types -- realistic and carnivalistic. Mine was a half-mask with my (extensive) nose transformed into a beak. Then I colored it to resemble an owl, sort of a cross between a barn owl and an Old World owl. No "ears" anyway. I don't normally enjoy crafty activities, but this project, in this setting with these companions was lots of fun.

Tomorrow spring is supposed to return after a short return to winter. I hope I will have the energy to clean bird cages tomorrow, because the next day is supposed to be warm but raining. Ah well, no use worrying about it today. I'll get to the cages asap and that will have to be soon enough.

Time to try to reduce chaos around here ahead of DH's (and DD's) return. Fun, fun, fun, right?

Tue, 17 Apr 2001 03:02:18 GMT

I'm almost too tired to write. In addition, I'm sitting in a puddle because Dinkum cockatoo decided that the glass of water on my desk would be even better overturned on the chair.

I have been a very bad bird mom today... Didn't feed until late afternoon, Acey Starling was barely out ten minutes and Aki Lory not at all. And Dink didn't get all that much attention either -- he's going to bed Real Soon Now.

DH tells me he is an "important, busy guy." Riiiight. Funny how much more pleasant my evening was *before* he walked in here...

Work today was blah, and it took me *forever* to get there, due to various lo-fo activities like going back for my wallet and having to try several ATMs before I found one that would actually dispense cash. At least I am off tomorrow, so I get to miss our last (we *hope*)cold and snowy day of cage cleaning. And I didn't have any outside jobs today, so I didn't freeze in the pre-snow chill.

Time to put Dink to bed, give the dogs their last chance to romp in the snow, and go to sleep. I can't wait.

Mon, 16 Apr 2001 02:04:06 GMT

Well, in all a pretty good day. I managed to control chaos this morning by emailing DD about her chores. Turns out this is a less confrontational approach, so with luck we will use it weekends, when she has computer privileges.

At work we got in a flicker -- kind of a neat and pretty little woodpecker. It seemed uninjured, unlike the one that came in yesterday (when I wasn't there). Apparently these little dudes migrate (mostly) through to more northerly breeding grounds, so today's flicker was probably too tired to fly off when startled. Ah, well -- presumably it will be released in a day or two. Yesterday's flicker unfortunately has some sort of neurological damage, and may not be releasable. If not, it will probably be euthaized, sadly.

I have managed to avoid major dog disasters today, and all 3 pet birds got free time, so I feel like a competent pet owner. And the house is slightly better tonight than this morning, so that is positive. All in all a good day, or at least trending in the right direction.

Sun, 15 Apr 2001 01:02:39 GMT

OT1H, I am happy -- the new "cockatoo condo" is here! Dink is sitting on it eating Special Dinner Treats (his fav seed mix and dried carrots). I won't put him into it until tomorrow, though -- he needs a little time to get used to the idea, I think.

Meanwhile, dh is being a TOTAL POOPHEAD!!!! I cannot even begin to describe his (mis)behavior today -- obviously he needs to go back to nursery school...

Part of it must be put down to the effect of working on taxes. Blech! I finally persuaded him to do a rough estimate, put in a request for an extension, and sweat the details in a couple of weeks. (I won this argument -- and everything today has occasioned an argument -- by pointing out that we have no way to figure out what his unreimbursed business expenses are until I can compare his reimbursement forms to our charge bills. Sheesh, ya'd think this would be obvious.)

So I am simultaneously irritated, tired and somewhat relieved to have the new cage.

Tomorrow is Easter Sunday and I am staying late at work to help out, since many of my coworkers want to be in church or at family brunches. So I'm in Not My Holiday mode tomorrow.

Well, I realize this has been a boring entry, but I am truly too overwrought to keep this up. More soon.

Thu, 12 Apr 2001 02:53:43 GMT

It's been a long and moderately productive day, and I'm ending it by updating this journal thingy...

Note for nerds. I am getting DD a passport tomorrow. Turns out that for the same money, I could get her a (fake) state ID. Is that surreal, or what? Maybe *I'll* get one -- with all accurate information. (It beats trying to convince the state that I'm actually me.)

Speaking of DD, she is doing much better these days. And (to catch this journal up with other stuff I've talked about before here), Acey Starling once again undid a twist tie and escaped from his cage this morning. I hate being dumber than my pets!

Tomorrow I go back to work, and I actually think I'm up for it. This cold has been a complete booger, but it seems to be losing its grip, finally.

Apparently I am going to walk straight into a conflict over the treatment of baby raccoons. The older rehabbers have been handfeeding the little crudbuckets with lots of eye contact, etc. Result: imprinted coons. Our Fearless Leader has correctly decided to change this procedure, but the solution that has been mandated is abhorrent to the old-timers -- namely, tube the coonettes. The OTs feel this is cruel. I don't know if tubing is the best solution. Left to myself, I guess I would go for some sort of remote feeding station (bottle nipples sticking through an opague wall, for instance, with minimal help finding the nipples for very young pups.) We'll see. Personally, I am surprised how much trouble we go to for animals that *nobody* wants to see more of, but I think I won't mention that to either side of this brouhaha. And I will stick to birds, thanks.

Today I should note that I actually worked a nice, mile-long walk into my schedule. I am going to do this a minimum of twice a week now, and try for 3-4 times. We'll see how that goes.

OK, tt4n.

Mon, 09 Apr 2001 23:30:04 GMT

Grrrr. I am fighting a cold and my computer has just gotten over a really, really nasty virus.

Yesterday was the family seder -- we did it second night to accomodate bils who needed to be at the store Saturday. The usual family time, except that DH, DD and I are all sick. Blech.

Tomorrow I get to get, yup, SICKER. That's because we get our final rabies booster and so far it has given us all major joint pain and fatigue. Such fun. But at least it's the last one.

On the good side... It's been nice enough that the doves got to move outside. (OTOH, baby dove took the opportunity to fly the coop, but is too dumb to go back in. With luck she will be hungry enough to come down to us tomorrow.) Getting the doves out of the kitchen is definitely a Good Thing. And DD is being a Very Cooperative Kid. And I seem to have a modus vivendi with Acey Starling so that he goes back into his cage without complaint now. Of course, I have to catch him and clip nails and beak again.

Well, I just wanted to catch up, but we are now going out to get a bit of dinner, then it's back to try to put the comp back together. Later!

Wed, 04 Apr 2001 23:49:54 GMT

Hmmm. I just realized it's my mom's birthday. I'd piously wish that her memory be a blessing, but it would be a mixed blessing at best...

In any case, today has been frustrating. I tried to delete the virus that has been plaguing my machine, and it *seemed* as if I succeeded. However, when I tried to reboot afterwards, I discovered that the virus had released a "payload" that disabled windows. So now I have a rather lengthy process to try to reclaim data before I give up and format the disk.

On the good news front, Acey Starling inexplicably decided that he had had enough of freedom and eagerly went into his cage today. Damn, but birds can be inscrutable!

Yesterday's dinner (my sole accomplishment for the day, I'd swear) was a great success. We had a very indulgent dinner of steaks fried in butter with a whiskey sauce, brussels sprouts and grapes (more butter in *that*) and mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy. I could feel my arteries drifting closed, but DH feels a bit pampered, and that was the point.

Very little else of note has happened. DD dumped the dinner dishes on me last night, and hasn't kept up with her own mess, let alone done any extra work, so she is going to find she will not be allowed on the comp on Sunday. Other than that, though, she is doing well. She seems to be keeping up with her schoolwork and her attitude is not so snotty, so with luck she will form better habits (which is the point of this exercise, after all!)

Meanwhile, I'm reading two interesting books. One is _About Behaviorism_ by B.F. Skinner. I have a feeling I am going to re-read this one a number of times -- once I manage to work through it the first time (and it is slow going). This is one of those telegraphic books that repays multiple passes. If I ever get email accesss again I'll recommend this to my training-list friends.

The second book is called _The Parrot's Lament_ and I'm too lazy to look up the author's name at the moment. It is considerably less dense than Skinner's book, and not nearly as well-analyzed, but the stories do provide food for thought.

So, that's it for tonight. Time to pull out the chicken pot pie and serve DH his supper...

Tue, 03 Apr 2001 03:18:18 GMT

A red letter day -- the first fledgeling (a mourning dove, as you'd expect) came in today. It is almost feathered out already, right on the verge of flying away, but since it was found next to the wall in an Aldi parking lot, we accepted it. Baby season has officially begun.

DD & I did our first student planner check -- she gets a B due to a bad choice about writing in the ISATs, but her attitude was excellent -- none of the snottiness that so infuriates me.

DH started the morning in deep shit due to his habit of asking for favors and then being nasty about it when I do them. Over the course of the day he seemed (never trust appearances, at least with guys!) to get the point and was *reasonably* polite this evening.

Plans: tomorrow is DH's "special" dinner -- filet mignons with a brandy sauce, brussels sprouts (which he loves for some reason) and either mashed potatoes or garlic bread, I haven't decided. Also tomorrow is cleaning day, and I *need* to attend to the bird cages first thing in the morning. And also, I need to get hold of the virus dudes to get rid of this damned funlove vermin. May whatever antisocial lout who wrote it be stricken with venereal disease, rickets and priapism...

Problems: how the heck am I gonna get Acey Starling back in his cage? Is this going to be a constant feature of breeding season?????