on the needles: More Signs of Spring...

I've expanded my flock of finches! There are now seven Gouldians and four Society Finches in my mini-flock. And I have moved them into an even bigger flight cage which is about two and a half feet wide, a foot and a half deep and over three feet high. Lots of flying room.

From the top moving left to right we have:
Parvati and Padma (the Patil twins), Myrtle, Neville and Nimbus.
On the perch from left to right: Sirius, Rosmerta, Minerva, Godric and Rowena.
Missing from the picture is Ariel - perhaps he is feeling alienated to be the only bird with a non-Harry Potter name??

I had always wanted to have a few more finches so I was really happy to find another Gouldian aviary in my area.

The new birds are:

Gorgeous Godric! He is so beautiful only the name of Gryffindor's founder would do for him. The yellow back and white breast are among the more rare mutations. Goderic is an active, curious fellow. You can tell he is intelligent and alert.

Here is Godric sitting with Minerva:

and another one:

I am hoping Godric and Minerva (named for Professor McGonagall) will pair up because their combined genetics will result in lots of yellow babies. So far they are just pals.

Minerva is a very calm, smart bird. She talks a lot!

My other new Gouldian female is Rosmerta. Here she is sitting with Sirius.

It is hard to see sometimes but Rosmerta is actually a redhead. She looks a lot like Minerva (and they talk to each other all the time. Minerva tweets and Rosmerta answers.) but genetically Rosmerta will produce quite different babies. You can see her red feathers in certain lights. I'm hoping she will pair up with Ariel. But so far both she and Minerva like to cuddle up to Sirius.

I guess Sirius is just hard to resist. Rowena (yep - she's named after Rowena Ravenclaw) seems to take it in stride. She's very calm and not the jealous type.

Sirius and Rowena.

The new Society finches are:

Parvati and Padma and Myrtle (after Moaning Myrtle) on the nest. The Patil twins actually are sisters and do look very much alike. You can tell them apart because Parvati has a large white patch on her forehead. Those two girls are youngsters. They are still quite flighty and they talk non-stop. They sound like crickets chirping.

Here is the flock with Myrtle doing a fly by:

Myrtle is Nimbus' lady. When the new birds came I got them in two sets, the Gouldians and Myrtle, then the Patel twins. When the first set of birds came home and I released them into the flight, I could see Nimbus thinking, "Gouldian, another Gouldian, yet another Gouldian, and .... HELLO GORGEOUS!!" He hopped right over to Myrtle and launched into his song and dance, literally. Myrtle was a bit disoriented at first but within a day it was clear that the feeling was mutual. They have shacked up in one of the nests. Neither of the Patil twins have a chance with Nimbus. Luckily, they have each other!