News(archive)
Surprise!
I watch my birds pretty closely, and always know when a pair is sitting on eggs.
I've had very good luck with my gouldians. I don't hover, I don't over-peek in the nests, and for first-time parents I pretend that I don't even know that they are there. As a result most of my gouldians are very good parents. I have not, however, had much luck with my owls. I know that I have true pairs (one sings, one lays eggs), and they love to sit on eggs, but nothing ever comes of it. Something is off, though I'm not sure what.
I have a very busy community cage in my living room, with pairs of gouldians, owls, cordon bleus, stars, and a lone (widowed) red-throated parrot finch. Most have been there for a couple of years. I have three wicker nests in the cage since the owls, cordon bleus and the parrot finch love to play house, and there is a constant game of musical chairs (nests?) going on. In and out, in and out. There is courting behavior, but with the nest-switching and the high level of activity in the cage I've never really worried about any actual breeding going on. So imagine my surprise when I walked past the cage and heard faint noise. Huh? Was that begging? I listened more carefully, and sure enough it was begging. I have CHICKS! But what kind? I did a head count, and realized that I was missing one of the owls. Sure enough, the owls had taken over the nest with the begging, though I did catch the parrot finch going in periodically and feeding as well. What the heck? Are they owl chicks, or eggs from one of the other pairs? The nest is angled to make it really hard to see in, so I guessed that I'd have to wait to find out.
I got my answer about 2 1/2 weeks later when I saw a little owl face peek out of the nest. Rascal fledged a couple of days later. It was only the one chick, but that single chick is loud enough to put even gouldian chicks to shame! It refused to go back into the nest at night, insisting on sitting on the floor of the cage. That worried me since I also have a pair of button quail in residence, but other than running over the chick on a regular basis they were perfectly behaved. I put a heat lamp on the cage since my house is cool at night and it had nobody to snuggle with, and by the third day it had learned to fly well enough to join its parents.
I work at home a lot and can see the cage from where I sit, so have been able to watch the little stinker learn to fly and chase its parents around, yelling to be fed. My last owl chick was hatched in the basement so I missed all of this! Knowing that my birds are THAT comfortable now I'm watching the courting pairs a little more closely than I had been. Who knows - I may hear more begging soon from a different nest!
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