baby finches leave nest

[Tweetybird999]

Great pics! I love it when they still have that pterodactyl look. And they get so cute when they're covered in pin feathers.

[walkonby]

So I noticed one of the three babies must have been brave enough to fly out of the nest early this week, I have lifted him ( it? ) off the bottom of the cage and placed it back in the nest with his siblings 3 or 4 times now.
So I go up just now hoping to maybe take some new pics of them, I open the door to their room, and OMG!! birds flying everywhere!! The bottom sliding door was open about 3 inches and I suppose 1 by 1 they made a break for it.
Hilarious these finches, one or two land on my shoulder as I am trying to capture another. I swear they do that on purpose to distract me from grabbing any of them.
All are safe and sound back in the cage.
Poor Mr. Budgie trapped in his cage alone had " flight envy" I am sure watching them all flutter about the room.

So here are 2 new pics of them!! Enjoy.

[Tweetybird999]

Oh my, sooooo cute! How on earth do you catch a flying finch? With a net? I always used to clip the flight feathers so they could sit on top of their cage or on a wooded towel rack.

[walkonby]

Oh my, sooooo cute! How on earth do you catch a flying finch? With a net? I always used to clip the flight feathers so they could sit on top of their cage or on a wooded towel rack.

Funny, now I am an old pro at it ( catching them) but the first time I saw them all sitting on the top OUTSIDE of the cage ( oh and they looked EVIL all in a row staring right at me) well I screamed like Tippi Hendren!!
I called DH and he helped me wrangle them back in.
I personally use a small hand towel now, and I toss it over each bird one at a time then gently gather it and put them back that way.
I have on occasion did it bare handed but some of them are bitey McNasty!, so I figure why get bit if I don't have to?
I am too chicken to ever clip feathers, I'd be afraid of them bleeding to death from my incompetence. DH used to clip the feathers of our cockatiel ( Marlin) I could never watch that either!
I am kind of excited to watch the colours of these new ones feather's when they grow in, to see what sex they are and then they have that funny stage where you just know they are the equivalent of a teenager.
They act all proud and they strut about like they own the cage, but you just see they are so much younger, oh and often with wild sticking out hair ( well feathers ) on their heads.
Ok I need to get a life now, sorry folks.

[walkonby]

I borrowed DD's small towel animals that we got off the cruise many moons ago and used them in an attempt to make my 3 new baby finches seem cuter!


FAIL!!!! They still have only a face, body, legs, and beaks a mother could love!

[Tweetybird999]

Oh they are so cute. They don't need dressing up at all!

[mellyzeng]

soooooooo cute, adorable

[walkonby]

I am officially turning this thread into a Frankie Feathers thread.

Here he is doing his best Robert DeNiro impression from Taxi Driver
( " You lookin at me ? " )





I've come such a long way from my first day of rescue

[walkonby]

Ta da!!!!

DH fashioned Frankie a larger cage more suitable for flying around in. He repurposed some of the the panels from our massive finch cage as we no longer have any finches. Frankie looks so small in there! ha ha.

[Natalka]

Frankie is SO cute!!!

[walkonby]

Aw ty @Natalka
We have obviously gone over the deep end for this wee guy. He behaves so weirdly too.
DH lets him sit on his bare chest sometimes and he starts pulling at the hairs on DH's chest...ha ha

This morning when I lifted the cloth cover to let Frankie know it's morning, both cats positioned themselves accordingly.
By the time I got the camera out Hamlet found me more interesting and sauntered over but Claudius remained fixated on " that bird ! ".
All I could hear in my head was the chorus of that Beatles song....I Want You.

[HermanH]

I was thinking more along the lines of:

I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat with Sylvester, Tweety and Granny



What are long term plans for Frankie? Will you release him back to the wild? If so, have you ever considered taking his cage outside and leaving the door open to see if he will take flight? And, just as importantly, see if he will voluntarily return.

The sound of other birds may be helpful.

[walkonby]

I was thinking more along the lines of:

I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat with Sylvester, Tweety and Granny



What are long term plans for Frankie? Will you release him back to the wild? If so, have you ever considered taking his cage outside and leaving the door open to see if he will take flight? And, just as importantly, see if he will voluntarily return.

The sound of other birds may be helpful.

ha ha !! Poor Sylvester eh? @HermanH when we first researched ( online ) about Frankie's future it was after we had allowed him to imprint on us.
The consensus was that this imprinting would mean certain death if he were to be released as he had no bird mentors or had any training on how to hunt for food.

From the initial hand feeding every 1/2 hour, along with the cuddling and keeping his 2" x2" box warm on the bottom every 20 minutes, he " learned " that we could be trusted. Double edged sword I know in that he also was now totally dependent on us.

As he grew more feathers and no longer needed that warmer environment, we housed him in that race car cage, but we still lifted him out all the time to play with him and hopefully strengthen what looked like a lame leg.
He scampered and dragged the leg, not always able to sit on a perch for long, gripping with just the 1 good leg.

We figured he would never fly because of that leg, but slowly he has made some progress.
Now that our faces are connected to his food sources he will more than likely not survive in the wild as he thinks meal worms magically appear on the floor of his cage.

So, I think he will just live inside here, with us. Is love a good enough reason to keep him?
Oh and I did take him outside in his smaller cage under the backyard gazebo so he could feel breezes and hear birds.
Meh? I don't think he was that impressed. lol
DH has taken Frankie outside in the front just holding him in his hand as he talked to him and fed him the odd worm. I could never watch because I figured there would be that one time he'd jump and land on the deck and slip under the porch area somewhere.
Anyways....he's ours!! bwahahaha!!!

[walkonby]

There is a tv show where pros make elaborate digs for pets ( the name has escaped me ) but that inspired us to add some activity/embellishment items to Frankie's new home. A small makeover.
So far he has taken to screaming at the mirror, ( he must have been watching me ) , he's sat next to and directly in front of DH's wood carving of an American Goldfinch and appears to be gently pecking at the beak.
The Xmas bell ball might me too big to spark any interest from him.

[walkonby]

Good morning !! We are pretty sure Frankie is a chipping sparrow. From photos and descriptions we have viewed he seems to have the most characteristics of that species and has that black line running along above his eye area.

Today's photo is just the run of the mill every single day goings on here. They never stop! ( the cats I mean ).
They sit and wait, and watch him, ( at many intervals in the day ) and he teases them relentlessly hopping down right to the edge of the cage chirping at them. The hairs go up on their necks, they drool.
Each time either of them goes up on their hind legs and reaches up with front paws at the cage rungs, he dashes away
( laughing I'll bet! )

Another exciting discovery for me was I know now that Frankie has been able to climb up to the top rungs of his very colourful ladder, although i have never seen him up there.
When I cleaned the cage this morning there was bird droppings all along the top rung!!