Ah the world of Fig is an interesting one. Let's see...real quick entry. Riiiiiiiight.
Fig's Mom is a regular visitor now. She visits every morning and throughout the day. She ate a hole in the roof on Fig's balcony and brought Fig some food presents, which she leave on the roof, rather than putting them into the hole she made.. Fig is awful lazy in the morning as I have her on our family bedtime, and she prefers to sleep in her warm, insulated, dark, sound insulated sleeper box until 10-11am, sometimes later. When the mother visits in the morning Fig will answer her calls very loudly from inside the box without bothering to emerge, lazy thing. Anyway, she is better off on our schedule as she gets a lot more social interaction time than when I was putting her to bed shortly after sundown and waking up at 7am. As long as she can sleep well for a solid 12 hours per night then she is fit as a fiddle. For a while there, I thought Fig's parents were working on a rescue plan, but I think local food is plentiful in this season, and their other kids are off socializing so Fig is just nice for them to have around to chat with, especially for her mother it seems. I have never given them food, and Fig cannot have physical contact with them, but they certainly maintain close social ties, and communicate daily which is very nice for lonely Figgy who picks up new seasonal vocabulary which she then tries to teach to me.
Fig is very affectionate now. She not only sings to me, but dances too, wiggling her tail wildly, raising her "arms", fluffying up, sticking out her neck, blinking wildly, and a whole assortment of calls, noises, mimicks, growls, gurgles and the such. She and I will play growl right in each others faces and I am sure if any other person on earth were to experience this it would frighten them rather well. Fig is not afraid to voice a disagreement about anything and she can growl like a Tiger if she wants to; it is impressive, but she means to do absolutely no harm; she is as gentle as a lamb, and sweet as candy. She always says thank you, and I love you, and gushes gratitude never ending. I gave her mealworms with a bit of cheese tonight, which she had not had in a few days, and she just went made lovey gushing appreciation.
She does not hate the cat, but she cannot overcome her fear of the cat. She has become a great lap Crow now in spite of the cat, however. She sits on my knee for 30 minutes enjoying TV, a game of chess, or classical music before she requests a bathroom break. Generally her behavior at home, and at the park continues to just get better and better. I am very proud of her. Crows are afraid of everything, and anything but Fig has learned to trust me very deeply, even when confronting a serious fear. The other day, a new robe which she had never seen was hanging up in the bathroom. She was on my shoulder, and the anxiety about it boiled over and she flew off and had a major run all over the house...that is how Crows are, anxiety builds until a breaking point at which point they take flight. Anyway, she ran all over the house, a real full tour (you know, she milks it, she really, really milks it) leaping over the cat a few times in route, but very dutifully not pooping anywhere as she knows that's a nono, eventually bounding back to me, to confront the new robe again having dispelled a bit of anxiety. Once I let her peck it a few times, it faded into the wallpaper. We go through this routine with anything new, or out of place, be it a sock, one of her own feathers (especially feathers are to be feared or worried over), or anything too close to her space. She will make a big racket about anything suspicious until I either reassure, reeducate, or shoosh her, which I seldom do as it is far more interesting to have a conversation with the phobic anxiety case so I can figure out exactly what's got her anxious. She certainly has an eye for minute detail, and naturally plays a game of Spot the Difference in her environment.
Fig's daily need to vent is incredible, and seems to get a few seconds longer every day. She'll go on for ten minutes sometimes. She needs to tell me what is on her mind a couple of times a day minimum. This means she talks, and I just listen, and pretend to understand everything. When she is satisfied, she fluffs up, and quiets down. This is a vitally important routine to maintain her mental health. I sort of understand the topic, or the gist of her utterances, but I'm lost on the details. It's generally something along the lines of: I talked to my Mom today in the morning did you see her? Man, am I in a super mood, I slept fairly well, but did you hear that motorcycle last night? Heck of loud or what! Today's food was pretty good. I'm not complaining, but you forgot to give me some peanut butter. You know that, right? It was damn hot this afternoon, huh? Why were you five minutes late getting home by the way? You didn't forget me right? God damn it I love you, have you got any roast beef in the fridge? All done, fluff, preen.
So Fig is doing super. Healthy, clean, happy, well loved, played with, and socialized. Bless her little heart, she's a dear sweet birdie.
The mealworm farm is a success, but I need to upscale. A crow can eat a lot of mealworms, and the buggers grow very slowly. I want to do a series of serious intelligence experiments with Fig, but I have had to postpone all until next year when the mealworms are in better supply. Too pricey to buy. Hopefully I will have 50 beetles to lay eggs soon if winter doesn't kill them all first. And to think I started with only 9.
Well...more later?
1. How do we play together?
2. What am I training her to do?
3. Where did I get with APHIS/USDA, F&W, F&G, in regards to a possession permit? Nowhere. There is a ban on imports of any and all wild birds from Japan right now. I want to write in depth about this. Alas, life illegal goes on... I am very dismayed about the fact that I can go on line with a credit card and buy a permit to kill, or maim just about any living creature, but the minute I want to care for one, and show it love, and compassion, and some quality of life, then I'm an instant outlaw. I truly cannot get the world sometimes, especially the inanity resulting from bureaucrazy. Who wants to live in a world where it is a crime to seek out understanding, to empathize, or exhibit compassion? It ought to be illegal not to do those things.
Fig's Mom is a regular visitor now. She visits every morning and throughout the day. She ate a hole in the roof on Fig's balcony and brought Fig some food presents, which she leave on the roof, rather than putting them into the hole she made.. Fig is awful lazy in the morning as I have her on our family bedtime, and she prefers to sleep in her warm, insulated, dark, sound insulated sleeper box until 10-11am, sometimes later. When the mother visits in the morning Fig will answer her calls very loudly from inside the box without bothering to emerge, lazy thing. Anyway, she is better off on our schedule as she gets a lot more social interaction time than when I was putting her to bed shortly after sundown and waking up at 7am. As long as she can sleep well for a solid 12 hours per night then she is fit as a fiddle. For a while there, I thought Fig's parents were working on a rescue plan, but I think local food is plentiful in this season, and their other kids are off socializing so Fig is just nice for them to have around to chat with, especially for her mother it seems. I have never given them food, and Fig cannot have physical contact with them, but they certainly maintain close social ties, and communicate daily which is very nice for lonely Figgy who picks up new seasonal vocabulary which she then tries to teach to me.
Fig is very affectionate now. She not only sings to me, but dances too, wiggling her tail wildly, raising her "arms", fluffying up, sticking out her neck, blinking wildly, and a whole assortment of calls, noises, mimicks, growls, gurgles and the such. She and I will play growl right in each others faces and I am sure if any other person on earth were to experience this it would frighten them rather well. Fig is not afraid to voice a disagreement about anything and she can growl like a Tiger if she wants to; it is impressive, but she means to do absolutely no harm; she is as gentle as a lamb, and sweet as candy. She always says thank you, and I love you, and gushes gratitude never ending. I gave her mealworms with a bit of cheese tonight, which she had not had in a few days, and she just went made lovey gushing appreciation.
She does not hate the cat, but she cannot overcome her fear of the cat. She has become a great lap Crow now in spite of the cat, however. She sits on my knee for 30 minutes enjoying TV, a game of chess, or classical music before she requests a bathroom break. Generally her behavior at home, and at the park continues to just get better and better. I am very proud of her. Crows are afraid of everything, and anything but Fig has learned to trust me very deeply, even when confronting a serious fear. The other day, a new robe which she had never seen was hanging up in the bathroom. She was on my shoulder, and the anxiety about it boiled over and she flew off and had a major run all over the house...that is how Crows are, anxiety builds until a breaking point at which point they take flight. Anyway, she ran all over the house, a real full tour (you know, she milks it, she really, really milks it) leaping over the cat a few times in route, but very dutifully not pooping anywhere as she knows that's a nono, eventually bounding back to me, to confront the new robe again having dispelled a bit of anxiety. Once I let her peck it a few times, it faded into the wallpaper. We go through this routine with anything new, or out of place, be it a sock, one of her own feathers (especially feathers are to be feared or worried over), or anything too close to her space. She will make a big racket about anything suspicious until I either reassure, reeducate, or shoosh her, which I seldom do as it is far more interesting to have a conversation with the phobic anxiety case so I can figure out exactly what's got her anxious. She certainly has an eye for minute detail, and naturally plays a game of Spot the Difference in her environment.
Fig's daily need to vent is incredible, and seems to get a few seconds longer every day. She'll go on for ten minutes sometimes. She needs to tell me what is on her mind a couple of times a day minimum. This means she talks, and I just listen, and pretend to understand everything. When she is satisfied, she fluffs up, and quiets down. This is a vitally important routine to maintain her mental health. I sort of understand the topic, or the gist of her utterances, but I'm lost on the details. It's generally something along the lines of: I talked to my Mom today in the morning did you see her? Man, am I in a super mood, I slept fairly well, but did you hear that motorcycle last night? Heck of loud or what! Today's food was pretty good. I'm not complaining, but you forgot to give me some peanut butter. You know that, right? It was damn hot this afternoon, huh? Why were you five minutes late getting home by the way? You didn't forget me right? God damn it I love you, have you got any roast beef in the fridge? All done, fluff, preen.
So Fig is doing super. Healthy, clean, happy, well loved, played with, and socialized. Bless her little heart, she's a dear sweet birdie.
The mealworm farm is a success, but I need to upscale. A crow can eat a lot of mealworms, and the buggers grow very slowly. I want to do a series of serious intelligence experiments with Fig, but I have had to postpone all until next year when the mealworms are in better supply. Too pricey to buy. Hopefully I will have 50 beetles to lay eggs soon if winter doesn't kill them all first. And to think I started with only 9.
Well...more later?
1. How do we play together?
2. What am I training her to do?
3. Where did I get with APHIS/USDA, F&W, F&G, in regards to a possession permit? Nowhere. There is a ban on imports of any and all wild birds from Japan right now. I want to write in depth about this. Alas, life illegal goes on... I am very dismayed about the fact that I can go on line with a credit card and buy a permit to kill, or maim just about any living creature, but the minute I want to care for one, and show it love, and compassion, and some quality of life, then I'm an instant outlaw. I truly cannot get the world sometimes, especially the inanity resulting from bureaucrazy. Who wants to live in a world where it is a crime to seek out understanding, to empathize, or exhibit compassion? It ought to be illegal not to do those things.
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