"The Meeps"
These are my Zebra finches, affectionately known as the Meeps, after their locative call.
|
The male is named Danny, after Danny Elfman, because they both have
bright orange hair and sound like a horn section. Don't believe me? Compare:
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Here they are when they first moved in to their new flight cage. They really like the extra room for flying around. And they got some extra toys, too, like the "bungie" perch... |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
... which is great for holding roses (which they love to tear up) and millet, their favorite food in the whole wide world ("Mmmm... Millet"). They had lots of fun in their new home: |
|
|
|
|
|
Hmmm, what's this silver box with one eye? |
High-fashion Matilda, getting ready for Oscar night. |
|
Things were going so well, they decided to become "Daddy" and
"Materna". |
|
|
|
|
|
Matilda with the baby Meeps. (Echo?, Charlie?, Delta?, Abel, and Baker) |
Abel, still unfledged, with little Charlie peeking out. The rest are under there somewhere. |
|
|
|
|
Abel, checking out the wide world. |
Abel, ready to try flying. Zebra finches are born knowing how to fly... it's just that darn steering and landing they're not too good at. |
|
|
|
|
Abel, out and about with Papa Danny. |
Baker in the high eyrie |
|
|
|
|
Delta, on the nice, stable ground. |
Delta kept to the ground for the most part, in no hurry to grow up. |
|
|
|
|
Echo, the tiniest of all. I kept a light bulb on for her (?) to keep her warm, but she died one night anyway when she got away from it, which was really sad :-( |
Baker, hanging out by the pool (actually a leaf dish for sushi) |
|
|
|
|
Charlie (actually a girl), with a spent millet sprig and the birdbath |
Charlie, looking cute poolside. |
|
|
|
|
Delta, the glamorous one, posing on the bungie |
Delta again. Still not much of a flyer, she rode on my finger up to the bungie for this shot. |
|
|
|
|
It's not that she couldn't fly, she just didn't like to. So she was quite safe to take outside the cage for some action photos. |
One of my last photos of Delta. A few days later, she died of a fungal infection :-( |
|
Once Zebra finches reach a certain age, their parents chase them off to go live in some other tree somewhere. Unfortunately, in captivity there is no other tree. So I separated the parents from the kids by putting them back in their little cage. While I was at it, I gave the big cage a good scrubbing and let them all hang out in the bedroom. Baker was the last holdout for getting back in the flight cage, and was the least afraid, so I got some photos of him in the open. |
|
|
|
|
|
Baker found this planter had a nice view and some moss to pick at. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Despite having a nest to sleep in, the little Meeps still insist on sleeping in pyramid configuration for warmth. |
But they will explore the nest in the daytime. |
|
|
|
|
Charlie and Abel. Note that Abel's starting to get orange cheeks, chest stripes, and brown-with-white-spots on his sides. His song is improving, too. |
Something interesting must be going on in the parents' cage next door. |
|
|
|
|
Baker checks out the nest while Abel rests on the front perch. |
|
Up