Finally.

oday it’s time to heat up the fish tanks, as it has been getting cold lately, especially overnight, and it’ll be getting colder in weeks to come. Some fish cannot tolerate room temperature in October. Since we’re one heater short we’ll need to separate tropical ones from cold water ones.

The task isn’t hard, as no water change is needed, but catching the fish (to transfer) can traumatise them somewhat. We have no other choice.

Other than that, I’ve managed to finish Daily Links by 9AM. I think that’s the first time ever. This will free up time for other tasks.

Sunbathing is over

HE soaking rain is causing the birds to lose their dryness, even in spite of their body emitting some protective oil. Some of them park here, some begs for seeds (birds that don’t typically nest here), and I find myself feeding some birds I don’t know.

This coming Sunday when ManCity goes to Liverpool for a match (away game, kickoff at 4:30) we plan to revisit the park (went there yesterday afternoon), but it’ll be cold (no more t-shirt).

Winter feels like it came early. Some European countries are already in subzero temperatures.

If it’s legal, then it’s legal

still remember the first time the neighbours complained about bird-feeding. They kept boasting they had made a complaint. No other neighbour (as far as we know) had an issue with that.

Nowadays we feed particular birds at the back, sometimes at the front, sometimes in the nearby streets, always in Mayfield (both ways) and in a nearby park. We feed birds more than ever before and we feed more birds than we ever did.

To us, this was like a form of “activism”. At the end we got our way. The main opponent to the bird-feeding passed away a month ago.

Heal the world

HE local weather (for today) is a sign that today will be a fun day, as well as a long day, to write and publish. I’ve made the habit of sipping a hot brew, feeding the birds, and writing stories that help inform the public. My more personal stories are ‘offloaded’ to this blog.

Yesterday Durian finally ate from the jars (at last!) and this morning Rianne fed him too. He is growing very fast and we are becoming attached to him.

Birding is something (extracurricular activity for lack of a better term) we hope to inspire others to explore and adopt. The world needs more biodiversity. It breeds happiness for all, not only humans.

He gets better at it all the time (and fast)

think we adopted Durian around 1.5 weeks ago and wrote about that days later. We’ve adopted several frail or very young birds lately. Durian is very distinguishable (Rianne spots him from a distant room) and he’s growing fast.

Today, for the first time, Durian not only found the courage to go on the door knob but also stay there when I open the door/s. I fed him with several different bottles. Sometimes he struggles a little with balance or tries to jump on the bottles. Sometimes Sweepy attacks him out of jealousy. But we’re getting there.

Durian is probably here to stay (long time). He’s only months old and can probably live for 15 years. Since we adopted him as a child/baby, we’re very attached to him already.

In just a week

wo remarkable things happened today, maybe more. In recent hours baby Durian (the young bird [1, 2]) learned to sit on the doorknob, repeatedly, pleading for more seeds. Birds grow fast, so after a week of feeding Durian (and his friend Peanut) Durian is almost mature/adult size. He’s nowhere as small as he was a week ago. His eyes still show the young age, but the body grew a lot. He also sounds different.

Astonishingly, another bird, mature but not looking entirely healthy, showed up at the door, hanging basket, above the door … and stayed there without any fear of me. I don’t know this bird. I never saw it before. It has unique green eyes.

If it comes back, maybe we’ll adopt it and name it. I reckon it has had good experiences with humans and therefore has no fear of them.

The Sick Bird seems to be recuperating. It looks and behaves better each day. It didn’t sleep here overnight last night (we checked several times).

Today I sunbathed for over an hour because it still feel like another (late) lucky chance to absorb hear and bright light before winter sets in.

When it’s cold and wintry ill birds don’t have good survival odds.

Better ill than dead

he movie “Animal Graveyard” or something similar (not “Animal Hospital”) gave me the creeps as a young kid; I’m not sure if I even watched it, I at least heard of it. “Elephants’ graveyard” also; anything to do with death…

Recently we’ve attracted some ill or weak birds, who use our yard like a sanctuary and even stay overnight. It’s a bit painful to see them in poor health; but we need to do our best to help them because they ask for it.