chick update 5

Fri, Aug 5, 2011

They’re gone. But to a much better place. It was getting too difficult to feed them as they’d fly up against the netting across the top of their pot and I was afraid I’d end up injuring them if they flew into the tweezers. So I phoned the vet to ask for advice and they put me on to Grace Yoxon at the International Otter Survival Fund a couple of houses down the road. I duly phoned and she got back to me saying she could take them as now that they’re flying they need an aviary to exercise their flight muscles. I think they’re reaching the stage where they need to be outside but with a stable base where they can get food and water. That would have meant the bothy windowsill on the inside as the window is open and they could come and go, with us feeding and watering them. But Grace can take much better care of them but I was chuffed when she said we’d done a good job getting them this far.

We’ve grown quite attached to them and it’s easy to think the ear piercing cheeping and gaping mouths are a sign of them being glad to see us. In fact it’s prolly a sign of terror at the sight of a huge fleshy thing bearing food that doesn’t at all look like them. Which is ideal. Apparently if there had only been one, it wouldn’t have stood a chance as at around 14 days they “imprint”.  What they associate with is the nearest thing. In our case, that’s each other, which is perfect as they now think they’re birds. If it had been one, it would have thought it was one of me! Yuck! We’ve kept contact to a minimum, only going near them to feed them with tweezers. Mealworms, real worms, the odd insect and cat food. And they’ve come along beautifully.

We shall miss their chirruping of an evening and the quiet of the morning when we take them out of the boiler cupboard, still fast asleep, curled up against each other and wait for them to wake to feed them. My office will be quieter too, much to the relief of my fellow video conferencers no doubt!

They’re now in a shady aviary with plants and bushes and nooks and crannies to explore. Grace is going to let us know how they get on.

So I’m off to donate to the IOSF to say thanks and to keep them in the life of luxury they’re used to. I don’t think I’ve ever resorted to extorting money from the good readers of my poky blog, whom I consider friends and fellow luminaries of the outdoor world (you can see where this is going!) but if you have a few spare coppers and want to see a couple of wee fellas alright, please throw them Grace’s way.

Hopefully we’ll have an update on their progress back to the wild which Grace thought was definitely on the cards. Thanks for the kind comments folks. I’ve passed them on to the wee ones.