All the Little Birds on Jaybird Street

Nature is working its miracles on my front terrace.

A family of sparrows recently built a nest under the awning and apparently laid eggs because there are now three baby sparrows squawking for food out there all day long. The nest is right outside the picture window where my husband has his computer. He is having a great time following the bird family's progress while he works.

From what we can tell, the mother bird spends her days flying out to get food and flying back in to divide, quite equably it seems, her finds among her three chicks. The dad sort of hops around, fluffing his feathers, looking important and fending off other sparrows who drop by for a visit.

This video is a bit too long, but if you just watch the first minute you'll get the idea...

Fat Cat

"Mmmm, that beats kitty kibble any day!!!"

What is this...a zoo?

The other day my younger son, G., came home from school dead set on getting a hamster. He had never talked about wanting a hamster before. And it's not as if we don't have animals around the house. Take a look here and here for proof!

D. and F. were against the new addition, but my thought was that it would perhaps be a good idea for G. to have a responsibility all of his own. Generally, F. takes care of the dogs, I take care of the cats and D. takes care of the bunny. And it was a heck of lot better birthday gift idea than *another* Nintendo DS, which is what he had wanted. So, we now have Boris, a Russian hamster, living with us! He is very cute and innocuous...I just hope he likes red, that was the only cage they had at the pet shop!

No sooner had we pulled into the driveway with Boris and his supplies in tow, did I find a little birdie lying on the ground! Now, I have to admit that I do not like birds. I mean, they're great to look at as they fly by at a distance (the greater the distance the better!), but I do not like getting up close and personal with birds. So, we sent F. out to the rescue. This little guy, who G. promptly named Tino, seemed perfectly fine, but he had one leg pulled up and seemed unable to fly. We made him as comfortable as possible in a basket lined with some soft rags and decided that if he survived the night we'd take him to the vet.

Well, this morning he was alive, though not especially well, and I took him off to the vet's in a shoebox. Her diagnosis was neurological damage rather than orthopedic, as in the leg isn't broken. Later today a friend of hers who studies veterinary medicine at the university, and knows more about birds, will pick up Tino and take care of him.

Tomorrow we're due back at the vet's with Tigro, the kitten, for vaccines and we'll let you know about Tino's progress.

D. was a bit exasperated by all this animal activity yesterday and cried out, "What is this...a zoo?!" But, really he's just as crazy about all our pets as the rest of us!