March 2012
Dear Humans, who are able to read, as well as Birds and Elephants,
Hello and it actually looks like winter today. The snow is white, it is falling and it is very pretty. This has been a pretty snowless and coldless winter, and yet the price of heating the house is still outrageous. I don't know how much snow is expected to fall. The first report I heard was for a foot, and the last one was for only an inch. It will be somewhere between those two figures, but it is nice to see and I keep re-filling my bird feeder and watching the myriad beautiful, wild birds that are making use of it today.
Aristophanes is hanging out in the living room with me watching TV from his bird stand. The stand is high enough so that he thinks he cannot get off. I make sure it is not near anything that he can grab, so it is pretty safe to have him on that where he can play with toys, eat and not get into any terrible mischief. For some reason, he will not fly. Emma, on the other hand, will stay on the other bird stand until he gets bored and wants to leave. Emma is a comfortable flyer and so will only stay on any surface as long as he sees fit. The problem with Emma is that if I am not in the room and watching, something inevitably gets destroyed from being chewed or thrown. Sometimes that makes me very unhappy, depending, of course, on what it is. That, unfortunately, keeps Emma confined more than I like, and that is a bummer. Zeke comes and goes as he pleases as long as Simon the cat is not around. Once again I have to reiterate that a pet bird kept confined to a cage all day, every day, is a prisoner. We must work on ways to give that bird's life more meaning by giving it more stimulation, freedom and "fun".
I am still looking for a program for our June meeting...... I am still asking for ideas, but nothing has been forthcoming. Tonight we have an interesting power point presentation on the Birds of Brazil by Renee Davis of the Audubon Society. Next month Ellen Kalish is coming back with her hawks, falcons and owls. Gene Weinstein is returning to us, after many, many years in May with a photography program on the bald eagle.
Our 21st show is well on its way to becoming something wonderful. We are holding the show at the Liberty Fire House and we have the necessary vendors. We have to work out more educational ideas for the show, make our judging bigger and better than ever and spread our message of humane, intelligent bird care as well as we can. We are always looking for more ideas and more help......please keep in touch with Matt as he is still our show chairperson.
Have a great month, I am going to an Elephant Summit in California at the end of March. I will report on what I saw and did there to everyone.
Keep your wild bird feeders full and love your pet birds and make their lives very interesting and happy as possible.
With Love,
Richie
Hello and it actually looks like winter today. The snow is white, it is falling and it is very pretty. This has been a pretty snowless and coldless winter, and yet the price of heating the house is still outrageous. I don't know how much snow is expected to fall. The first report I heard was for a foot, and the last one was for only an inch. It will be somewhere between those two figures, but it is nice to see and I keep re-filling my bird feeder and watching the myriad beautiful, wild birds that are making use of it today.
Aristophanes is hanging out in the living room with me watching TV from his bird stand. The stand is high enough so that he thinks he cannot get off. I make sure it is not near anything that he can grab, so it is pretty safe to have him on that where he can play with toys, eat and not get into any terrible mischief. For some reason, he will not fly. Emma, on the other hand, will stay on the other bird stand until he gets bored and wants to leave. Emma is a comfortable flyer and so will only stay on any surface as long as he sees fit. The problem with Emma is that if I am not in the room and watching, something inevitably gets destroyed from being chewed or thrown. Sometimes that makes me very unhappy, depending, of course, on what it is. That, unfortunately, keeps Emma confined more than I like, and that is a bummer. Zeke comes and goes as he pleases as long as Simon the cat is not around. Once again I have to reiterate that a pet bird kept confined to a cage all day, every day, is a prisoner. We must work on ways to give that bird's life more meaning by giving it more stimulation, freedom and "fun".
I am still looking for a program for our June meeting...... I am still asking for ideas, but nothing has been forthcoming. Tonight we have an interesting power point presentation on the Birds of Brazil by Renee Davis of the Audubon Society. Next month Ellen Kalish is coming back with her hawks, falcons and owls. Gene Weinstein is returning to us, after many, many years in May with a photography program on the bald eagle.
Our 21st show is well on its way to becoming something wonderful. We are holding the show at the Liberty Fire House and we have the necessary vendors. We have to work out more educational ideas for the show, make our judging bigger and better than ever and spread our message of humane, intelligent bird care as well as we can. We are always looking for more ideas and more help......please keep in touch with Matt as he is still our show chairperson.
Have a great month, I am going to an Elephant Summit in California at the end of March. I will report on what I saw and did there to everyone.
Keep your wild bird feeders full and love your pet birds and make their lives very interesting and happy as possible.
With Love,
Richie