Of Bears & Finches

For those unaware, the JH headed down to the KY for a little stay. It was beautiful and totally 100% worth it. So many pretty blooms to match the perfect weather. I often see spring as a nature fashion show of sorts. Everyone brings out their new attire and shamelessly flaunts it. Anyway, coming back we went by way of Sky Line Drive. It might have been slower going but it was worth every single slow minute of our lives. I got to finally see the animal I have been waiting to see. A bear. Albeit a baby bear, so not half as imposing as it could have been but twice as scary as mom was nowhere to be seen. He was looking kind of lost and worried. At first my heart reached out to the little guy and I wondered if we should do anything. Then I remembered if we did do anything and he started making unsatisfied noises, the MIA mom would probably surface and show us exactly why you don't mess with baby bears no matter how scared or worried they may appear. I was also held back by the other person in the car seeming rather confused about the idea of me giving this bear cub a close up photo shoot even if I did have super tasty dog treats. *sigh* Some things are best done alone I suppose.



Never mind all that though, we have more important things at hand don't we? The finches are back in the sweet arms of, well, me. They sat in the super tiny quarantine cage for two whole days. They didn't like it, but they also didn't try to kill each other. I am under the assumption they knew great things were afoot and they were right...




The plans were drawn up and discussed until every detail was just right. In case you don't know what the dwelling looked like before the remodel:



Don't get me wrong, the original construction of that cage awes me to this day. It not only cuts down on mess big time, but it gives them the room to fly about while not being a complete eye sore. But that aside, there were a couple of things that had to be bettered. The first is the single door on the side. If you had to do anything on the side with no door, you had to crawl into the cage and chance the likelihood of finches getting out or it was a two man job with one of those people practicing their contortionist skills by reaching through the opening supplied by the drawer and then twisting their arm up high enough to fix whatever the issue was. Both of these options are frustrating to say the least. The screen. Great in theory but once on it proved to have less visibility than hoped for.

New perches and bird toys were also needed as the others were filthy and not worth cleaning. I found the perches at the bog and in my back yard and constructed them just like you see them at the pet store and then baked them in the oven on high to be rid of any unwanted creepy crawlies. The bird preening toys were made out of natural twine, raffia, wooden beads & shiny metal beads. Not only were the toys super easy (and fun) to make but the little destroyers have begun pulling at them instead of each other which pleases me and shows me I am fantastic at this bird thing.



Anyway... the front screen was removed and in it's place are now three plexiglas pieces. The top piece is and will remain stationary. I find the birds rarely fly down when frightened. This top strip will let them fly about but keep them in the cage if you so decide to reach in to do something. The two pieces below it are doors that open separately and rest easily against the top piece while being held there by our good old reliable friend Velcro. If the doors need to stay held open, there are small chains which come down and hold the doors by the shut up! matching handles! can you stand it? alleviating the fear of the plexiglas bending and snapping off. As you can see this means a crystal clear view of the birds and super easy access.







I don't know about you, but this kind of thing makes me thrilled to the very core. Even if you are a bird hater, you can't deny the awesomeness of the dwelling...

What next? Who knows. Maybe employment.