There are five baby birds, four of which have now started flying, one of which is just being a wimp and poking its head out regularly, but not actually bothering to *fly* yet. Maybe today that will happen. Anyway, one of them is four weeks old as of yesterday, the other four are three weeks old as of this weekend. Twig (grey all over), the oldest one, is relatively tame, and considering I've had nearly a week of being able to hold him (I think it's a male, at least), that's not a big surprise. The only problem with him is that he likes to take off flying across the room. He's pretty easy to catch again though, so that's okay... I can deal with it.
The other three fledglings are a little more difficult to deal with. They haven't been held as much, mainly because they only just emerged from the nest a couple of days ago, so they're still getting used to the idea that my hand actually is something safe to be sitting in. So, anyway, Pine and Spruce (both are grey with white wing tips) are pretty much okay with being held, so long as you keep an eye on them. They will fly to whatever cover they can discover if you don't pay pretty close attention though! Pine chose to land on our overhead fan yesterday morning... now that was fun getting him down from!
Birch (white wings with grey back) is another story, however, and the story of yesterday. I had got "him" out, because he was the only fledgling out of the nest at the time, and I like to at least try to get the birds out for five or so minutes each a few times a day. I figure if I have them out enough times they will eventually be tame enough for any one to get them, let alone for me to get them. Birch was happily sitting in my hand, until for some reason he decided to attempt his horrible landing and perching skills (he hasn't figured those out just yet!) and attempt to land on one of the lamps in the living room. That was fine, except that he didn't quite make the landing, and ended up down behind the lamp instead.
Okay, so I managed to get him out, and we were contentedly sitting on the couch together, and what does he do? Takes off flying again! But this time he couldn't be good enough to fly to somewhere easy to access! This time it was his intention to fly behind the couch! So, after he disappeared down the back of the couch, I pulled it out from the wall, and looked down on the floor expecting him to be there, and didn't see him. Then I realized, he was "perched" on one of the white flowers (part of the print of the couch) at the bottom of the couch. Now, keep in mind that I'm over 40 weeks pregnant now, and yet need to catch this baby bird before it hurts itself. Right... now how in the world am I supposed to bend over the couch and actually reach him? I don't know! While I may not look big, babies do not exactly allow you to bend at the waist regardless of your size at this point in the game! Hips yes, waist no. Anyway, thankfully he decided to hop off the couch, onto the floor behind, and scoot himself along until he ended up under the lamp at the end of the couch. But, would he be good enough to be within arm's reach?? NO! So, I had to pull everything out except the lamp in order to grab the poor bird who was now entirely flustered over being forced to get out from behind his newest hiding place!
I finally managed to catch him, and thought it might be best to put him back in his cage... and when I put him in, he wouldn't get off my finger. So, I had to stand there waiting for nearly five minutes while he decided to actually hop onto the stick in the cage. I don't think I saw him out of the nest for the next hour or so... but he seems to have recuperated just fine now, so I don't think he was *too* traumatized. :-)
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