Finches

My person and I were watching some goldfinches this morning. They’re very interesting little birds. They were perched all over the stalks of evening primrose plants feasting on the seeds. I can understand why they like to eat that kind of seed. The evening primrose plants are mostly dry and brown by now, with just a few little yellow blooms left on their very tips, and the brown and yellow finches blended right in with them, so they weren’t that easy to see. So I know they felt very safe from predators while they were eating their breakfast. It’s just like when I'm outside, I only like to be where everything is green like my feathers, or else inside my carrier, so predators can’t find me. So I totally understand why those finches chose to eat their breakfast where they did. I’m not sure about those evening primrose seeds though. I wonder how they taste. I bet they’re not anywhere near as delicious as sunflower seeds are.

Huh?

I got an e-mail the other day about my recent post on cereal, in which the writer mentioned that his favorite cereal is Grape Nuts. Grape Nuts is a kind of cereal? What? I know what grapes are and I know what nuts are. They are two very delicious kinds of food, but they are certainly nothing at all like cereal. Hmmm. Since I like grapes and nuts so much, maybe I would like Grape Nuts, too. I’ll have to ask my person to buy me some. As soon as I find out what Grape Nuts are really like, I’ll be sure to let you know.

More on Predators

Here’s something else I can’t stand—cameras. Talk about predators! When that thing sticks its big fat eye out at me and flashes its bright light, you’d better believe I go into attack mode. I’m not going to just sit around and let that black monster go after me with its flashing and buzzing and zooming. No way! I fluff up my feathers and puff out my wings and scrape my sharp beak along the ground and put on my meanest vulture look. That’s the only way to scare those predatory cameras away. And believe me, it works. I always manage to get that thing to pull its ugly eye back into its face and go hide in its case. My person says that one reason she got the camera was that I am so cute and photogenic and she wanted to take pictures of me. What was she thinking? Flattery will get you no where, at least where there’s predators involved.

The End of Hummer Season

It’s been at least a week since we’ve seen any hummingbirds at the feeder. I guess they’ve left for their winter home already. I sure will miss having them around. My person and I enjoyed watching them all summer, fighting over the feeder and flying around the flower garden. They’re really nice birds to have around, even if they do migrate like dumb robins. My person says she’ll miss them, too, but that she won’t miss having to keep their feeder clean and filled. Wow. I sure hope she doesn’t feel that way about MY feeder. What a thing for her to say!

Cereal

I just love eating cereal, but there’s more to cereal than just the eating. The great thing about cereal is that it usually comes in a cardboard box, so when you’re done eating the cereal, you get to play in the box. It’s really fun to hide in the box, and it’s even more fun to chew it up. This week I’m chewing my way through a shredded wheat box, but even though shredded wheat is my favorite kind of cereal, I’m sure a cornflakes box or any other kind of cereal box would taste just as good. What about you? Do you like cereal? Do you like cereal boxes?

Vacation

My person and I went on vacation last week. My person went to the beach and I went to Trouble’s house. I don’t get what the big deal about vacation is. All it meant was sitting in my own cage at someone else’s house and my person wasn’t there. What’s so fun about that? The one good thing is that Trouble’s person gave me grapes. I hardly ever get to eat grapes at my house, and I just love them. They’re so juicy and seedy. So I guess going on vacation means taking your cage to another place and eating a different kind of food. Big deal.

Anticipation

If you know me at all, you know how much I loooooove walnuts, and that getting walnuts in my dish every morning is the high point of my day. So I really can’t explain how it happened that the other morning I somehow missed the chance to eat my walnuts before I went outside with my person to mow the lawn. It wasn’t until I was zipped inside my carrier and on the way out the door on my person’s back that I remembered. I knew those little walnut bits were in my food dish just waiting to be eaten and I hadn’t yet tasted even one and here we were going outside and getting ready to mow the lawn. Normally I enjoy helping my person mow the lawn. While she pushes the mower back and forth, back and forth, I ride in my carrier and survey the land. I watch out for dumb robins and squawk at the neighbor when she walks to the end of her driveway to get the newspaper and squawk at any joggers or cyclists who happen to pass by and just generally keep an eye on things, but that morning it was really hard to pay attention to all those things because all I could think about was those lonely little walnuts back inside in my food dish just waiting for me to eat them. As my person pushed the mower towards the road, I pictured those walnuts in my mind. As she pushed the mower back towards the woods, I thought about how they would taste. I was thinking so hard about those walnuts that I almost forgot to squawk at the neighbor when she came outside. When we finished mowing the lawn, my person put the mower back into the shed and we came inside the house and she let me out of my carrier. I scrambled as fast as my little parrot feet could carry me up my person’s arm, into my cage, and over to my perch, which is right next to my food dish. I stuck my beak right in the dish and picked up a piece of walnut. Mmmmmmmm. That walnut sure tasted good. Anticipation makes the best condiment.