I think our birds have the Bird Flu. Serious. Their white feathers on their heads are turning yellow, and I was reading on some site the symptons of Bird Flu. Here they are:
- Irrational screaming at familiar objects
- Inability to eat seed without throwing most of it ground
- An insatiable appetite for Romaine lettuce, particularly that lettuce which has been thrown on the ground
- An unusual yellowing of the white-coloured features of the head
- Develops a propensity to try to escape captivity, particularly through screens
When I read those symptoms, my heart turned cold. Our Evil Birds have exhibited not simply ONE symptom, but ALL FIVE!!!
I feel I must explain.
We took out most of our Evil's toys so that they'd appreciate them more. We started putting them back in the cage several days later, but in different spots. Mr. Darcy cannot handle this. S/he runs up to the very familiar toy, screams at it while flapping her/his wings, and then runs away from it back to the "safe" perch.
Lately, the Evil Duo have been throwing seed on the ground by epic proportions. Then even go down there and EAT THE GOOD STUFF THROUGH THE BARS if it gets high enough! (The bottom of the cage is bars like the sides, and under the bars is a tray that's usually got newspaper in it...and that also fills up with seed that the Wasters throw down there.)
Every evening when I make our salads, I cut an extra piece of lettuce for the Tricksy Gnomes. They love baby Romaine lettuce best, but that's too expensive, so I just get regular Romaine. Anyway, that's not important. The Dingbats will immediately run down to the lettuce dish, fight over who gets to be closer, and then throw all the pieces of lettuce on the floor. Then they'll go down and eat them. They like it better if I get all the pieces they threw on the floor and put them back in the dish so they can throw them out again, but I rarely pamper them so.
Two days ago, Joey noticed that Whitebird's head was turning yellow. I scoffed at him. Yesterday, I noticed that not ONLY was Whitebird's head turning yellow, but so was Mr. Darcy's!!! This seems to be the most serious of all the symptoms, to me, and I think we'll have to report our birds to the place that takes Bird Flu information.
On Wednesday, we took the plastic off our windows because it was such a beautiful day. (Of course, it got back down to 30 two days later, but that's OK. We still had fresh air.) Whitebird, being the sinner that he is, decided that he wanted to escape from his loving parents. He flew, full speed ahead, to the open window, curtains fluttering in the breeze....and bonked into the screen. Whitebird was stunned, of course, and sat panting on the windowsill for a few moments. Then flew back to his cage where he proceeded to sulk for the rest of the evening.
So you see, I think our birds have Bird Flu.
No comments:
Post a Comment