MY BIRD BRAIN

Posted by: ann on: 8 January 2007

• In: thoughts
• 31 Comments

Believe it or not I love birds… I find them enchanting and entertaining and in my old home I had bird tables both in the front and the back of the house. In a former life, we built a massive aviary and bred budgerigars. It was bizarre how it happened. No.1 son wanted a budgie so he watched as an egg was hatching and after the right time we brought *Magic* home. Not long after we found a lost bird in our garden and managed to capture her and put her alongside him in the cage. Apparently just as well it was that way, because you can put a hen in with a cock, but not a cock in a hen’s territory. Eggs were dropping so we added a nesting box and lo and behold two babies.

Of course it would have been cruel to keep them caged, hence the aviary. Over the years we had up to 50 birds and they were great fun and it attracted many more birds to our garden. An enormous sparrowhawk used to terrorise the budgies and a very red and vicious macaw appeared for about a week and destroyed the bird table, eating its way from the roof downwards. I sought advice and was told in no incertain terms not to go near the creature. Also many lost budgies found their way, attracted by the birds call. My ab fab fav was a a very mild, gentle grey hen I rescued and she was a fantastic breeder.



One of my greatest delights was getting the opportunity to visit a place called Boulders Rock near Capetown in South Africa. It houses a colony of African penguins and I don’t know how many times I revisited the place, I was drawn their like a magnet. They are so comical and you can’t help but come away feeling so good… the best therapy ever.

I do regret never buying a pair of lovebirds. I talked about it, but was concerned to put them in with the budgies… birds can be spiteful… and I wanted them to have space and not be caged indoors. They are so beautiful.

Something I have not done in many years is birdwatching in Israel. The country, located at the junction of three continents, is crossed by migrating birds on a scale unparalleled anywhere. Studies over the past decade show that about 500 million birds cross Israel’s narrow airspace twice every year in the course of their migrations. Consequently, Israel has become an attraction for bird enthusiasts worldwide. Research on migrating birds in Israel, based on satellite and radar monitoring, makes it possible today to track the birds from Israel to their winter nesting grounds in Africa, and back northward, via Israel, to their summer nesting grounds in Europe.

I HAVE A QUESTION

My boss asked a question the other day that has preyed on my mind. I came up with what would be a typical Ann answer, but was shocked when independently both he and his secretary said the same thing and believed that it would be the response of most people. At this point I won’t give their answer, but I will ask the question and I would love to hear what you think and I will be interested to see if their theory is correct. I don’t want to prove them wrong, but it made me think.

If you could have just one question answered, that would be impossible to know, what would it be?