ISSN 1492-8132
Issue 65, © 2003
No reprints without permission

When you need help with housing, feeding, care or behavioral questions, you can get a personal answer from Robirda. Even avian vets sometimes consult with Robirda on small-bird behaviour and other such issues!

They, and her other customers, have found her answers to be detailed and reliable, caring and supportive. Robirda can help you learn to understand your birds better. Learn more here

I bet you thought it wasn't possible to have a dimmable flourescent light fixture, didn't you? Well, for a long time that was true - but no longer! Full Spectrum Solutions now offers great dimmable flourescent lighting solutions comparable to the best quality products on the market, with more user-friendly features and often with better pricing, too! These lamps are too good to miss!

Do you have or sell a great bird product? Send us a sample, and have it reviewed for Flock Talk readers! We will be reviewing foods, cages and cage accessories, toys, and other bird items we have direct experience with in upcoming issues. To arrange for a review, send your inquiry and a brief description of your product(s) here, to Robirda.

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The 'Essentials' line of supplements provides birds with a comprehensive range of vitamins and highly digestible minerals. It comes in a variety of formulas to meet the unique needs in your bird room. The on-food grades also contain essential amino acids to promote a rapid moult, excellent feather growth, and to prevent obesity. All ingredients are specially formulated for maximum absorption, for optimal nutritional results.

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For all those who've helped out, thank you for your continued support! Our next issue is due March 2nd - we hope you enjoy this issue's feature story, and we will look forward to seeing you all then!

Robirda
Feb 16, 2003

Welcome to Robirda's Companion Birds eZine

For breeder or pet bird owners who care.

Feature Story

We are proud to offer you the third chapter in our ongoing story begun in issue 61, a fictional tale based on real-life occurrances. Those of you who have been following our little feathered hero's adventures, will recall that at the close of the second chapter, he had seemed to have found himself a new home. Or had he?

by R C McDonald
http://www.robirda.com
Copyright © Feb 2003

I was too busy eating to be interested in paying any attention to my surroundings as Doris carried me inside, down a flight of stairs, and through a series of rooms before setting down my cage.

Some time later - I am not sure how long - I finished and began to look around. I was astonished to find that I was in a room full of bird cages, most quite small, all of which had one or more birds living in them.

Everywhere I looked, there was birds of all sizes and kinds. There were birds with large hooked beaks, that I later learned were called 'parrots', some large, others smaller, a few barely larger than me. There were other birds who looked a bit like me, but with longer, thinner beaks - most were also a good bit larger than me.

A large cage in the corner was filled to over-flowing with a flock of tiny brown-and-white birds not even half my size, who made odd buzzing and beeping sounds. I stared, bemused, and wondered what on earth I had gotten into.

The air stank with urine and droppings, and I looked for a door or window, seeing none. Finally I spotted a door; it was the same drab colour as the walls, but the frame and handle were clear. It was closed, and I could see no signs of any windows. My lungs already felt odd, and I wondered uncomfortably how on earth anybody managed to breathe in here?

It was several hours before the door opened, and by then I felt almost deaf from listening to the constant din. Many of the birds hopped or paced incessantly, moving almost like automatons back and forth within the limit of their cages, and my brain felt fuzzy from breathing the dusty, urine-and-feces scented air.

I could not help but wonder if I had survived everything, only to spend the rest of my life in a place like this?

Dimly, as though from another lifetime, I remembered the bird from my dream, the beautiful canary who had walked with me down that long, long tunnel, but who then had stopped me from going any further, sending me back with her words ringing in my ears.

"It is not yet your time, my friend," she had told me, in a low, musical voice. "Have faith that there is a home waiting for you, and a human waiting to love you - never stop looking until you know you have found them."

I closed my eyes, remembering for a brief second the wonder and beauty of that dream, then opened them again as a whiff of fresher air reached me. It smelled almost heavenly, after a few hours in this odd room so full of birds and misery!

The woman who had told me her name was Doris was standing in the door, hands on her hips. Behind her was a small, dark man with a cage in either hand.

"Here's what I have at the moment," she said, "just what did you have in mind, Lucian?"

"Oh, we just need a variety to display in the store," he said, and walked over to the closest cage, examining the birds inside, before moving on to the next.

Occasionally he indicated that he wanted to have a closer look, and set his cages down while Doris removed the bird in question from its cage and they both examined it. Some were returned to their cages, but others were placed into one of the two cages he'd brought in with him.

"Who's this?" he said, when he got to me, and Doris said, "Oh, you are never going to believe this! I caught him just now, out flying with the wild birds! He came to my bird feeder, acting like he was starving, so I set out a cage for him. He hopped right in like he'd been living there all along! He's a canary, I think? Pretty little thing, isn't he?"

"Well, he's a little dark for some customers, perhaps, but sometimes the darker canaries are better singers. Is he for sale too?" he replied.

"If you like him, sure, why not?" she said, airly, then added, "I haven't had a chance to look him over yet, but he seems healthy enough, I think?"

"Let's see," said Lucian, and reached into my cage and picked me up. Before I could think to protest, he looked me in the eye, ran a quick finger down my front, then suddenly flipped me over and blew on my vent. I squirmed, uncomfortable, then just as suddenly he flipped me back up and popped me into one of his cages.

"He's fine," he said briefly, and continued talking, but I lost the gist of the conversation. My attention had suddenly and quite sharply been pulled away from what was happening outside the cage, to what was happening inside.

I landed on the cage floor and squatted there feeling as if I did not dare to move, looking up at the others sharing the cage. I wanted quite desperately not to gain their attention - most were larger than me, and looked able to do me serious damage, if minded to!

Still, I could not help hoping briefly that perhaps my future was beginning to look up. At least I was not going to have to spend any more time in this small, closed-in, over-crowded room so full of birds!

Luckily, the other birds sharing my cage seemed not in the slightest bit interested in me. As one, they are were staring at Doris and Lucian, watching every move.

Suddenly I hopped to one side - the cage door was opening again, and yet another bird was being shoved into our already-crowded cage. It looked at me vaguely, then moved into the far corner, cramming itself in as though it could blend in with the wood.

Slowly, I began to realize that none of my cagemates had the slightest intention of harrassing me - most were as bemused as I was, or more. I moved over as far as I could, trying to find an out-of-the-way spot, and watched while bird after bird was examined and popped into one or the other of Lucian's cages.

Finally, both cages were so full that it would be difficult to pack even one more tiny feathered body in, and without warning we were swung into the air, as Lucian picked up our cages and carried us off.

I was sitting near the side of the cage, and peered out, curious where we were going, and realized we were being carried towards one of those noisy, smelly things that the humans called cars. Our cages were hastily pushed into the back, with some bumping and banging, then Lucian climbed into the front, got behind a big wheel, and fiddled with something near it.

Suddenly there was a roar, and I jumped, terrified. The car started to shake and rattle, and I looked up and out, realizing that the buildings and trees I could see outside were whipping past at a tremendous rate, much faster than I could fly.

The sight made me queasy, and I tucked my head down and tried not to look. I wanted to know where we were going, not what we were going past! The shaking and rattling seemed to go on almost forever, but finally it stopped, and I dared to look out again. Lucian was opening the door nearest our cage.

"C'mon, then!" he said, cheerily, and tugged our cage out and set it down. Soon he had pulled the other cage out as well, and once again we were on the move.

Whistling happily, he swung our cages as he walked, and I looked at him in surprise. Didn't he care that he was making things so uncomfortable for us? He seemed entirely unconcerned with our welfare, and had barely glanced at any of us since we had been put into our cages.

But I had no more time for musing, as we were now being carried through a door, and my surprised ears were greeted with more noise. This wasn't made by birds, but by small furry animals of various sizes and colours, who lived in small cages built along one wall. I learned later that most of these were cats and dogs, which I had heard of from my parents, but never before seen.

"Hey, Julie!" bellowed Lucian, "Doris had some good birds for us, come on over here and get them sorted into those cages, will you? Oh, and, set up a small singing cage for a canary, please? She caught this little guy out flying around, let's see if he will sing for us, shall we?"

A girl popped out from behind a stack of tanks full of tiny, brightly-coloured fish, and trotted towards us.

"Sure thing, boss!" she said, but instead came over to the cages and peered inside.

"Oh dear, you certainly are crowded in there, aren't you, you poor little things?" she murmered, and several birds tried to move closer to her at the sound of her warm, soft voice. "Okay, hang on!" she laughed, "I have your new cages all ready to go! I just wish Lucian had bigger cages, and didn't make so many of you share," and then she looked at me. "You are going to be the lucky one, you know!" she told me, "at least you are going to have your own cage, even if it is tiny!"

Carefully opening the cage door, she quickly grabbed a bird and pulled it out, turning to put it into a cage behind her, then turned back again, and repeated her action until everybody had been removed except me.

"Hang on just a little bit, and I'll get a cage ready for you, okay?" she murmered, and I tilted my head to one side to look at her. I wasn't sure why, but I found myself liking this human. It was clear that she cared for us, even though it seemed she had to follow Lucian's directions when it came to our care.

Most of the other birds had seemed to feel the same way; birds who had struggled and squirmed in Doris' or Lucian's hands, seemed happy to rest quietly in Julie's hands, gazing at her while she gently stroked their heads or chests as she moved them to their new cage.

Soon she came back, carrying a small round cage. Before I could blink, she had opened the cage door, picked me up, and popped me into the tiniest cage I had ever seen. It had no perches, just a swing and two cups, one with seed, and one with water.

"I wish I could put you into a proper sized cage, my lad," she murmered, "but Lucian would have a fit. Try and sing nicely for us, and maybe somebody will buy you and take you home soon! I'll sneak you a few greens in the morning, before he gets here, but in the meantime you just settle in and start singing for us, okay?"

She was walking with me as she spoke, and with those last words, she hung my cage in a large window near the front of the store, and went to stand behind a long counter, nearby. "At least we can hang out together!" she laughed, "I have to close up soon, but never mind, tomorrow we will have plenty of time to get acquainted!"

I was feeling tired and very stressed, and was glad for some time to relax and unwind. Although Doris had given me all the seed I could eat, I felt hollow and light, as if the air could blow through me, and wasted little time in heading for the seed dish, musing over all the changes I had seen this day.

Bad though my situation seemed, I could not help but feel hopeful; I was safe, I had food, shelter, and water, and there was a human here who cared. Eagerly, I dug into my seed cup, remembering a quote old Joe, my first human, had used to say, as he sat down to his dinner.

"Let us eat and be merry, for tomorrow is a new day!" he would bellow, gleefully, as we all began to eat.

Tomorrow was indeed a new day, and when it came, I would be interested in what it might bring - but for now, tomorrow could wait.

by R C McDonald
http://www.robirda.com
Copyright © Feb 2003