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July 6, 2010 [LINK / comment]
Summer doldrums for canaries
Like many other bird species, canaries go through a "molting" phase during the mid-summer months, as they shed worn-out feathers and wait for new ones to grow back. They scratch and shake themselves quite often, and they spend a lot of time in the sun, which seems to soothe them. You can tell that Luciano and Lucy just aren't comfortable lately, and they seem to get more irritated with each other as well. We find two or three old feathers every night when we clean their cage, and sometimes more. We provide them with special dietary supplements for canaries during their molting phase, and try to avoid upsetting them unduly. Luciano stopped singing entirely about three weeks ago, and he probably won't start again until mid-August, at least.
Even though they are more subdued and often rather nervous while molting, our canaries remain trusting in us. Lucy is more wary, probably because she remembers the months last year when we had to give her medicine every day, in an attempt to cure her persistent cough. Her breathing has improved in the last few months, but she has lost so many facial feathers that she looks rather homely, like a baby bird. She also has hygiene problems related to her poor respiratory capacity, and needs help in bathing occasionally. I hope those conditions are not permanent. Lucy does not like to be handled, and whenever we pick her up to give her a bath, Luciano flies around us and calls in an alarmed tone, as if he is trying to rescue her. They still have not mated, because Lucy is just not healthy enough to build a nest or lay eggs, but they are sometimes affectionate toward one another. As for Luciano himself, he is the same friendly guy as always, as you can see in this photo which Jacqueline took just yesterday:
Lucy watches from a safe distance as the daring Luciano nibbles on flowers in an odd place.
Posted (or last updated or commented upon): 06 Jul 2010, 8: 32 AM
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This (or that) year's
blog highlights
January 18, 2010 Earthquake leaves Haiti in ruins
January 18, 2010 Our new governor: Bob McDonnell!
January 29, 2010 Obama: "We can do it together"
February 27, 2010 Huge earthquake strikes Chile
March 20, 2010 Procedural ploy to pass Obamacare
March 21, 2010 House passes Senate's Obamacare*
March 29, 2010 Rebuilding a Republican majority
March 31, 2010 Augusta County GOP reunites (for now)
May 11, 2010 R.I.P. Yankee Stadium (1923-2010)
May 17, 2010 Did Tories win British election?
May 18, 2010 The final mission for Atlantis?
June 9, 2010 Strasburg makes a historic debut
June 24, 2010 Nationals sweep the Royals (almost)
August 5, 2010 Ballpark blitz: 4 stadiums in 2 days!
August 14, 2010 Friday the 13th: Nats get lucky
August 19, 2010 "Ground Zero mosque" hysteria
September 15, 2010 Tea Party triumphs in Delaware
September 17, 2010 The U.S. Constitution and Freedom
September 27, 2010 Nationals spoil Braves' hopes, again
October 6, 2010 Photo gallery extreme makeover
October 27, 2010 Tempests in the Tea Party
November 3, 2010 Decision 2010: two cheers for the GOP
November 5, 2010 San Francisco Giants: world champions!
November 27, 2010 Goodbye to Luciano, and to Olive
December 6, 2010 Nationals sign Jayson Werth
December 29, 2010 Extreme weather disrupts sporting events
Blog highlights have been compiled for the years 2010-2012 thus far, and eventually will be compiled for earlier years, back to 2002.
Explanation
The "home made" blog organization system that I created was instituted on November 1, 2004, followed by several functional enhancements in subsequent years. I make no more than one blog post per day on any one category, so some posts may cover multiple news items or issues. Blog posts appear in the following (reverse alphabetical) order, which may differ from the chronological order in which the posts were originally made:
- Wild birds (LAST)
- War
- Science & Technology
- Politics
- Latin America
- Culture & Travel
- Canaries ("Home birds")
- Baseball (FIRST)
Also see: My blog practices.
Blog errata (Nobody's perfect.)