ISSN 1492-8132
Issue 87, © 2004
No reprints without permission

The folks at Bird & Cage Co have made it their goal to provide birdkeepers with a great selection of good quality cages and birdcage accessories for great prices. The newest cage might just be one of the best pet canary cages you will ever see. A clearer photo will arrive soon, but there's still plenty to admire! Check it out, at robirda.com/480.html

Breeding season is coming up, and now is the time to make sure that you have all the proper cage accessories that you will need on hand. Check out our list of some of the more useful accessories Robirda recommends for canary and finch owners.

There are some great cage deals available to bird owners too, from small and large pet cages, to breeding cages, stands, and some of the best flight cages you will find anywhere! There's even free shipping, if you live in the continental US! See Robirda's cage reviews for more.

For a full selection of cages and cage accessories, visit BirdandCage.com.

Our special autographed edition of Robirda's book Brats in Feathers, Keeping Canaries has been getting a great response from readers. It covers all the basics of keeping canaries, from information for new owners, to learning how to breed, and even has a chapter on basic canary genetics.

Learn more about Brats in Feathers, Keeping Canaries here.

This website is primarily about hookbills, with little to no specific information on smaller birds, but is still worth a visit. Their webmaster Donna told me, "We are one of the very few websites to offer information to those who have special needs birds with mobility problems. We created that page because of the sparse information out there when we found ourselves with a special needs budgie."

The domain name will forward you to a graphic-laden, ad-burdened AOL hometown site, so be prepared to wait awhile for everything to load if you are on dial-up. But the wait is worth it, because there are links to some of the best hookbill and general-care bird articles online listed here, in a format that makes finding whatever info you are looking for very easy.

Flock Reader Rose, writes; "I have lovebirds, and their cages are 36 inches wide and hard to get interesting perches for. So I use reptile vines, the thick brown ones. You can twist and loop them every way possible, and the bird love them!"

Flock reader Shirley, writes, "Have you tried the 'Easy Sprout sprouter'? It's truly awesome and SO EASY! I use the 'lil bird sprout mix for everyone from tiny finches to my Bare-eyed Cockatoo. ALL my birds are thriving on this mix."

Welcome to Robirda's Companion Birds eZine

For breeder or pet bird owners who care.

Hello! Welcome to Flock Talk's 87th issue. Subscribe and unsubscribe information for the email version of this ezine is at the bottom of this webpage.

Website News

We're very pleased to tell you that we are now able offer you a new book full of heart-warming and inspirational canary tales. It's a collection of Robirda's stories of some of the special birds she's lived with, and includes her popular 'midwinter tales' (fictional stories based on true occurrances).

It's called 'From The Heart of a Bird', and we feel that this collection will be very popular with anybody who enjoys stories about birds. Featuring original cover art and including never-before published material, you can learn more here.

There continues to be a good response to our new accessories area, where Bird and Cage has made a selection of their most useful and commonly needed items such as cups, nests, etc, available to our visitors, including a new addition - swings are now available too. Many of these items come in especially handy during breeding season, and are the same as those Robirda uses daily. Learn more at robirda.com/access.html

Bird Brain Facts

Some of the most startling discoveries ever made about our birds came through an unforseen venue; research on song. It seems that the ability to sing as our birds do requires a very complex brain and body, with some unusual extras that have proven to be not only unique, but scientifically startling too! Read all about it in the article, Rediscovering the Brain

Feature Story

In part one, Robirda's pet canary had finally managed to get babies, and had given her two youngsters from one egg. They soon proved that they had personalities as unusual as the fact of their existence, 'ruling the roost' over all others.

by R C McDonald
Copyright © 1994 - 2004

In the middle of breeding season we suddenly were required to move to a different house, and soon after, disaster struck. I had no window screens up yet, and Two-Bits, angry about being denied his usual freedom, managed to squeeze out his cage door during cleaning. It was a scorching hot day, and doors and windows were open everywhere. Frantically, I tore around the house closing everything, and came to the last open window to find Two-Bits standing on the ledge, peering curiously out.

While I sidled up sideways, he cheeped at me and made ready to fly back into the livingroom. Just then, a commercial weed-eater started up with a roar directly outside the window, in our neighbour's driveway. Startled, he jumped in the direction he was mostly still facing - outside - and as I watched, found himself caught in a strong wind. Flapping in vain to try to make some headway, his little body was soon lost to my view.

Three weeks later, after much frantic but useless searching, I noticed an ad for a found canary in the paper. I called and talked to the husband, who reluctantly admitted that my description sounded like the bird they'd found. He told me that his wife would be in later and could I please call back? I asked what they'd done with the bird and was dismayed to hear that they'd given him budgie seed, very little of which is edible for a canary, and that they had no idea that canaries also eat fruit, greens and vegetables.

We talked a bit about proper canary care, and then hung up. Later, when I called back, his wife informed me in no uncertain terms that they had no intention of giving up this wonderfully friendly little bird and that he would be better off with them; they had decided that whoever had lost him didn't deserve him, having been so careless as to lose him in the first place.

When I asked her why they'd placed the ad, she told me they hadn't realized what they had, then. She adamantly refused to let me see him or in any way verify if he was my bird or not.

Dismayed and depressed, I retreated to my 'observation chair' beside the flight and watched the 'Bits-gang' bossing the rest of the youngsters. Then and there I decided that, even if I had lost my beloved pet, never to know his fate, still, I was luckier than I might have been - for at least I still had four of his babies.

As that thought crossed my mind, Peepicheep (the smaller twin, a hen) lifted her head, dropped her piece of rape-green, and flew over to cling to the stretch of wire nearest me.

"Chee-eep!" she said to me, emphatically, climbed a few more notches and took a stretch of perch nearby, where she began to 'sing'. Her idea of a song is one of the funniest things I have ever heard a bird do - a series of rasping little buzzes and clicks, interspersed with the sweetest little trills and rolls you ever heard. This musical (and not) performance was accompanied by a happy little shuffle-and-trot, her throat working so that she looked exactly like a male in full song.

"So canary hens don't sing, eh?" said I to myself, and in my mind I heard the answer, "Well, maybe not always quite like the males, anyway!"

Peepers had her brother, Reepicheep, well trained. Within a few seconds he was perched nearby, filling the air with his warbling song. Soon almost everyone in the flight was singing or peeping, and I slowly began to feel a little better as I watched. I knew I'd have to adjust to living with a tiny, bird-sized hole in my heart, but, well, at least I had some of his babies...

The next breeding season turned out to be a bumper crop, and of the 10 pairs that I'd kept to breed, none were better parents than Reepicheep and Peepicheep. Reepicheep's hen didn't come into breeding condition as fast as he preferred, so what did he do? To my vast amusement, instead of chasing and harassing his partner as most frustrated canary males will, this little bird sweet-talked his ladylove into her nest!

He had the nest almost half-built for her before she became interested enough to begin building herself; and he got her interested by spending most of his time crouched in it while pretending to admire something precious which was just under him, 'talking' to it in tender low sweet tones. When she came over to see what he was doing he got up and coaxed her into sitting in his nest, rewarding her by feeding her.

Once he had her comfortably settled, he was off to get more food. It wasn't long before she had the idea, and did she ever get it! Before I could say wink and blink, it seemed, my proud Reepers was bragging to the whole breeding room about his six fine babies.

They proceeded to have another six-chick nest, and when she started to lay eggs for a third nest, the chicks from the second being barely fledged, I told the pair that there was no way they were going to have more babies! In order to make sure of them, I switched all their eggs for fakes and gave her those to sit on instead, thinking that at least plastic couldn't hatch.

But I had forgotten to figure Reepicheep into the equation. He'd 'talked' to his real eggs while the chicks were developing, in the same way he'd 'talked' to the empty nest while coaxing Lilly into it, and I guess they must've answered him; for when 'his' eggs didn't respond, he simply had Lilly lay him some more!

At the time all I noticed, distracted and busy as I was, that he got rather grumbly after she'd been sitting about a week, but then settled down again a few days later. I didn't notice that Lilly never left the nest while I was around; a lot of hens don't get off their nest in front of anyone.

I noticed all right a couple of weeks later though, when in the middle of the morning feeding it registered on my still-sleepy brain that Reepicheep and Lilly had been steadily griping at me since I'd begun distributing nestling food. (All pairs with babies are served first, always.)

Turning to look, I found a ragingly-mad-at-being-ignored little male canary at one end of the breeding cage, and at the other, Lil sat on the floor near a nest of four squirming youngsters, all exactly the same size, and gave me a cold, fish-eyed stare which said, plain as day, "How dare you feed them first and ignore my babies?!"

Not knowing what else to do, I bowed to the inevitable and let the pair raise their third nest. But before they got around to laying again, I made sure they were separated, so any eggs would be infertile.

Watch for the next episode in our true story of twin canaries Reepicheep and Peepicheep, coming soon!

by R C McDonald
Copyright © 1994-2004

Behaviors & Personalities

This issue we have another interesting tale of goofy bird behaviour for you. As our readers send in new bird-tales, we will share them with you in this new section of Flock Talk.

Flock Talk reader Nora Stanley writes "After reading about the parrot Loki, I thought I should tell you about my pet quails. I first was given an adult Bobwhite Quail, a domestic-raised male, by a friend. He was an aviary bird, a brownish color mutation called 'Tennesee Red'. I tried to keep him caged, but he paced and looked miserable, so, I allowed him the run of my apartment.

"I left him a water dish, and a bowl of quail diet. He hid for awhile, but soon decided it was safe to wander from room to room. Mr. Quail was such a funny bird! Since I was his only flock member, he'd follow me around. He'd watch me shower, which I'm sure he thought was quite odd. I'd come in the living room on a sunny day, and he'd be stretched out on the carpet in a sunny patch. I gave him a tray of dirt in the birdroom so he could dustbathe, and he ate birdseed scattered from the bird cages. I'd toss him treats, too: bread, corn, chopped broccoli, or his favorite, watermelon! He'd reward me with a special song and dance.

"Sometimes Mr. Quail decided I was a rival male, and would attack my feet. He'd come racing up, wings out to his side, and peck on my feet and ankles. When he was too aggressive, I'd chase him into another room and close the door. If the door wasn't completely shut, he'd poke at it until he got it open!

"The funniest thing happened when I baked a chicken - Mr. Quail ran up to the oven, and paced back and forth. I think he was reacting to the oven as a heat source. He was incubator hatched, and kept in a brooder; perhaps he had some memory of that time.

"Mr. Quail was not only useful about eating scattered seeds, but he was a good bug catcher. He'd eat any insects, even flying in the air after seed moths. He was also a pointer: if a bird got loose, he'd run after it, and point out where it was hiding!

"After a few years, Mr. Quail started getting slower, and maybe a little senile. One day, I found his lifeless body sprawled in a sunny patch on the carpet. He'd gone peacefully. I didn't want another quail for awhile, but one spring, I bought a young, normal colored male Bobwhite, Mr. Quail the Second.

"He has a much different personality; he's quite a prima donna! He will spend every day sitting in his favorite area, such as the front window, where he sees the world go by. He prefers me to hand him tidbits, rather than look for them on his own.

"Mr. Quail II is not as efficient at bug catching, but he enjoys hanging out with me, and picks the strangest places to go to roost. I'll find him wedged between two cages, peeking out at me; or, at the very topmost canary cage, surveying the whole apartment. Considering the modest investment for a quail (%6), I've had more enjoyment from these guys than I could've ever imagined!"

Thanks for sharing the story of your little charmers, Nora! We hope to hear more stories of Mr Quail in the future.

*** Send us your stories of how your birds confuse and puzzle, interest and amuse you, and we will share them with the rest of our readers in a future issue. Just send an email here.

For You & Your Birds, With Love

Sponsor us for $75 or more and you'll get a free lifetime Nest membership! For all those who continue to help out in so many ways, thank you for your warmth and caring.

If you're looking for something different, don't forget to check our home page at robirda.com for links to all our great products!

Our next issue is due Feb 1st. We hope you and your birds stay safe, well and happy in the meantime, and we will look forward to seeing you all then!  

Robirda
Jan 18, 2004