bird blogging

Kianga is still sitting, though she is coming up onto her perch more in the past week, especially at night. When she's on the perch, she's back to talking and making her usual rude noises. One of the eggs has been gone for about two weeks - she broke it while moving around trying to incubate it, but the other one is still there.

I may end up pulling the remaining egg and next within the next week, if she doesn't completely tire of it first. Normal incubation period is 26-28 days, and she has had over 30 so far. I think she's getting a little bored, but she's trying to be diligent, even though the egg isn't fertile. I even noticed that this year she even plucked a brood patch on her chest - she didn't do that in 2003. She's such a good bird.

Koga, one of the timneh greys, has been getting very attached to this one toy with a bell that she's had for a long, long time. It came with her cage when we got her, and she likes to ring the bell aggressively when she is frustrated. But lately she also has been nuzzling it as if to scratch her head with it, and this causes it to bump the side of the cage. Not a problems, except that she is doing this increasingly early in the morning - one morning about two weeks ago, she started at 4:20 am; and the birds are all in my bedroom, so I don't get a full night's sleep when she does this. So, I have started taking her beloved bell out of her cage at night. I'm sure she misses it early in the morning, but she has been a good sport about it so far.

In wild bird news: This year, our northern flickers are back; also at least one pair of red-breasted nuthatches. And to my surprise, we also have a pair of downy woodpeckers around as well. That the yard might have habitat enough for two families in the woodpecker family is pretty cool. I don't know exactly where the downies' nest is, though.