The Birds In Our Home

THE BIRDS IN OUR HOME

During the years spent raising my children, I've had at least 3 parakeets and a finch. They were no trouble at all, if you had the time and patience to take care of them. But, I had a problem with the parakeets. They would only last about 1-3 years. I believe my mistake was not purchasing a new cage to accommodate a new resident. That’s what I was told when I finally asked a clerk in the pet store. It wasn't enough to wash and sanitize the old cage, which was a freestanding or floor unit. I really did my best to keep the cage and the floor clean.

Our parakeets were messy birds, but they were so beautiful to look at. They showed affection and played with their toys to the delight of anyone who would watch their antics. At night I would cover the cage and there would be peace and quiet until the hood came off in the morning. I didn’t have any of the parakeets long enough to notice if they would mimic anything, but they were cheerful and very entertaining.

Believe it or not, the best bird that I had was a small Finch that my husband bought. It lived almost 6 years in a small cage hanging from a corner of my kitchen ceiling. It chirped merrily when left alone, but stopped when someone entered the kitchen. Upon our entrance, the finch would make a lot of noise and fly aimlessly back and forth in its cage, until it would stop from sheer exhaustion. Then it wouldn't make any difference who was in the kitchen. The bird would remain calm and even sing if the radio was playing.

We named the bird Polly for whatever reason escapes me now, although we did have a cat living in the household at the time called Holly. The finch was a very nervous bird, which squawked and flew excitedly about the cage as I tended to its needs or cleaned the cage. Its actions were a reminder that my chore was a thankless job. A couple of times, I tried letting Polly out in order to make cleaning the cage easier. That didn’t work out so well. This neurotic bird would fly crazily everywhere, sometimes bouncing off the wall in its frenzied rush to get nowhere. It would hide behind furniture and it took me hours to get it back into its cage. That's when I decided that it was in the best interest of all concerned to keep the bird in its cage at all times. My daily routine of tending to its needs and cleaning the cage was enough to give Polly all the exercise it needed. The bird had food, water, and treats, and yes, a toy or two to play with.

I was beginning to believe that both cats and birds could live co-habitably in the same household, too. That held true for the longest time. However, I started to notice that one of my felines would spend the longest time staring at the little finch, until I entered the kitchen, and then she would casually walk away. Somehow, I just surmised what was going through her mischievous little head. She must have wanted to get at that bird, but held her resolve for so long. Then one day, I entered the kitchen to find the cat hanging onto the cage while it swung back and forth. She must have jumped up onto the kitchen table and leaped to the cage. The cat knew I was there, but either froze in her grip on the bars of the cage or was afraid to let go. I couldn't help but laugh at her predicament, and I wished I had a camera ready to snap a picture. As soon as I gripped her body, she would release her hold. This happened at least two times. The bird must have been frantic, but was none the worse for the experience.

Then one sad morning when I lifted the cover of the small cage, I found that the small finch had expired during the night. That bird actually died of old age or its heart finally gave out. The children tenderly placed the bird in a tiny shoebox and we buried it in the backyard along with the other birds and animals that had passed on before. The birds were never replaced.

At one time, a friend entrusted us to take care of her cockatiel when she went on vacation. That bird was no trouble at all. If anyone approached the cage, the cockatiel would practically poke his head outside the cage. That’s when we realized he wanted to be patted on the head. He walked all over the cage and up and down the bars. He was so entertaining, that I was tempted to buy a similar type of bird. But then I realized, this bird was loved and very well trained by his master. I didn’t know if I could have the patience to take care of another bird, let alone a sophisticated one such as a cockatiel. So, I dismissed the idea of having any more birds in my home.

Then one summer, many years later, a large blackbird fell into a flue pipe that was attached to a wood stove in our living room. All day long, we could hear the noise of the bird frantically attempting to move either up or down the pipe to free itself. In the meantime, we were weighing the idea of taking apart the pipe to retrieve the bird. Eventually, the exhausted bird worked its way down and landed at the bottom of the wood stove. One of my sons was able to cup the bird in his large hands, but somehow the soot-covered blackbird escaped from his grasp and flew all over the living room, through the kitchen and back into the living room. I opened the front door, and eventually we were able to coax the bird out of the house. A similar episode occurred a few days later. An examination of the roof revealed that the cap to the top of the chimney had blown off. Once we had it repaired, there was never a repeat performance of unannounced birds in our home.