Forget that image of birds dating or flapping their wings happily during spring: in my balcony, there are no peaceful white doves. Ever since some parakeets started to come by daily, starting at 6:00 am, what I see the most are bird fights.

In one of their brawls, three parakeets monopolized the can of sunflower seeds and didn’t allow a forth one to get anywhere near it. The poor thing tried to approach from one side, then another, but it was always thrown back. I decided to come up with a larger bird feeder—preferably shallow and very long—to keep those sharp claws and beaks very far from each other.

I made do with a flowerpot hanger, made of iron. It holds a large rectangular tray which, luckily, fits perfectly in the bottom part. This allows me to pull it from the hanger as if it were a drawer to take off the shells before replenishing the buffet. The new device was welcomed with excitement by the greenies, as you can tell by the large number of tails and wings here.

Today, in the middle of a quarrel, I saw a tiny little head fighting for seeds, very noisily. I ran to tell the Omblogsman: “We have a baby-parakeet!” Still sleepy, he took a look at that beaky thing and told me with amazement that he had already seen one of them in our balcony. “I thought it was a sick parakeet… it kinda looks like a leper, doesn’t it?”

In fact, the “thing” looked like a product of a voodoo session: its wings are already green, but its chest and head are still covered with that feathery fuzz so typical of birds that are barely out of the egg. After a closer look, I realized that there is another baby. However, this one is a little more “well-finished,” let’s put it this way.

Judging by the pace of the births, my window will become greener and greener…

– Carol, what’s that little package in the fridge?
– Hmmm…
– Carol?
– I’m out here!
– What are you doing there on the floor?
– Getting Tak’s lunch.
– Whose???
– Eustáquio’s.
– Eustáquio?
– Yep. What did you ask?
– There’s a package in the fridge…
– Don’t touch his food!
– Food? But it’s a very small package…. What’s in it? Peas?
– Well, I wish it was… But I’m the only vegetarian in this house.
– Carol, I’m sorry, but what’s that that you’re doing?
– Getting Estáquio’s lunch, Val. It’s hard. They escape from me. And I don’t want to kill anyone. He needs them alive. But, because he’s too small, he can’t eat them fast and the meal escapes. Because of that I put one in the fridge, to let it a little groggy. It’s almost as if it was put under. This way it’s less cruel.
– There are ants in the fridge?!?!?
– Just one, Vale. Don’t panic, I closed the package really well.
– There’s a living ant in the fridge?
– Asleep.
– I never worked for someone that kept living ants in packages in the fridge to feed a carnivorous plant!
– There’s always a first time …
– I want a raise.
PS: After a long and gloomy winter sponsored by Net, I’m back, missing you!

Read the original post in Portuguese (Guindaste Blog): O almoço.