Dawn Felagund (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
dawn_felagund) wrote2006-06-06 01:40 pm
dawn_felagund) wrote2006-06-06 01:40 pm
Entry tags:
Baby Birds, Calder Cup, and Meme--Oh My!
Last Friday morning, I followed my usual routine and noticed that Feanor--the adopted bird who had fallen/jumped from the nest and was scampering around our balcony--wasn't making his usual amount of ruckus. But I was running late, so I didn't have time to go out and look for him.
Usually, when I came home, he was the first thing I'd hear, chirping out on the balcony. Still...*silence* So I went out to look for him...
And he'd died during the night. He was stiff and stretched out in the corner under a lawn chair. Poor guy. We'd had vicious storms the night before but I don't think that had anything to do with his demise. I'm not sure that--since he was out of the nest--he was being fed properly. I only ever saw Indis feeding him (ironically) and she also fed his three siblings still in the nest, as did Finwe. When he first jumped from the nest, he was nearly double the size of the others; when he died, they were the same size, which seems to imply that he didn't grow much at all.
The parents probably couldn't feed all four, separated as they were, and so chose to keep the three in the nest alive rather than him.
After I was sad for a while, my first thought: "Phooey. It figures that the one I named after one of my favorite characters was the one to kick the bucket." Then: "At least Finarfin is still alive," followed by my attempts at justifying naming the surviving bird "Finarfin" if the other two should also die based on the fact that Finarfin lives in the book and most of the others do not.
After dinner that night, I wrapped him in a paper towel and buried him underneath the tree in front of our building. It seemed a nicer ending than flushing him down the toilet or putting him out with the garbage.
Sometime between Friday night and Sunday morning, the other three left the nest as well. I'd gone outside to take pictures on Friday (when I found dead!Feanor), and they had grown full flight feathers and were testing their little wings. Unfortunately, the camera was out of batteries and they left before I got new ones; when I went to check them Sunday morning, all that was left was an empty nest.
And lots of bird poop!
Still, I got great pictures of them in the beginning, so I'm pleased with that, and maybe Indis and Finwe will remember us for their nest next year. And I can finally water my snapdragon normally again!
In better news, we are going to Game 4 of the Calder Cup minor-league hockey finals on Saturday! Woohoo! The Hershey Bears made it all the way to the end this year and are--according to Bobby--the favorites to win the whole sheebang. We've got a huge group going up, so it should be fun. (And it does not involve driving through northern Virginia with it's invisible roadwork, always a plus!)
Finally, gakked from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
callirhoe in accordance with the rules of the meme:
If you read this, if your eyes are passing over this right now, even if we don't speak often, please post a comment with a memory of you and me. It can be anything you want, either good or bad.
When you're finished, post these instructions on your blog and be surprised (or mortified) about what people remember about you.
Usually, when I came home, he was the first thing I'd hear, chirping out on the balcony. Still...*silence* So I went out to look for him...
And he'd died during the night. He was stiff and stretched out in the corner under a lawn chair. Poor guy. We'd had vicious storms the night before but I don't think that had anything to do with his demise. I'm not sure that--since he was out of the nest--he was being fed properly. I only ever saw Indis feeding him (ironically) and she also fed his three siblings still in the nest, as did Finwe. When he first jumped from the nest, he was nearly double the size of the others; when he died, they were the same size, which seems to imply that he didn't grow much at all.
The parents probably couldn't feed all four, separated as they were, and so chose to keep the three in the nest alive rather than him.
After I was sad for a while, my first thought: "Phooey. It figures that the one I named after one of my favorite characters was the one to kick the bucket." Then: "At least Finarfin is still alive," followed by my attempts at justifying naming the surviving bird "Finarfin" if the other two should also die based on the fact that Finarfin lives in the book and most of the others do not.
After dinner that night, I wrapped him in a paper towel and buried him underneath the tree in front of our building. It seemed a nicer ending than flushing him down the toilet or putting him out with the garbage.
Sometime between Friday night and Sunday morning, the other three left the nest as well. I'd gone outside to take pictures on Friday (when I found dead!Feanor), and they had grown full flight feathers and were testing their little wings. Unfortunately, the camera was out of batteries and they left before I got new ones; when I went to check them Sunday morning, all that was left was an empty nest.
And lots of bird poop!
Still, I got great pictures of them in the beginning, so I'm pleased with that, and maybe Indis and Finwe will remember us for their nest next year. And I can finally water my snapdragon normally again!
In better news, we are going to Game 4 of the Calder Cup minor-league hockey finals on Saturday! Woohoo! The Hershey Bears made it all the way to the end this year and are--according to Bobby--the favorites to win the whole sheebang. We've got a huge group going up, so it should be fun. (And it does not involve driving through northern Virginia with it's invisible roadwork, always a plus!)
Finally, gakked from
callirhoe in accordance with the rules of the meme:If you read this, if your eyes are passing over this right now, even if we don't speak often, please post a comment with a memory of you and me. It can be anything you want, either good or bad.
When you're finished, post these instructions on your blog and be surprised (or mortified) about what people remember about you.