It's been a while since I've updated you on our birds.  We still have Chip, the neurotic Cockatiel, two Parakeets (I call them Frick & Frack), and the daddy Zebra Finch, who I refer to as Daddy. 

For those of you who may not be familiar with our bird world, we had at one time 11 Zebra Finch.  It started out as 2, but they were a very happy couple, and the 2 soon became 11.  They were so loud & destructive that I decided to let all the babies move out on their own.  Unfortunately, I accidently released the mom, too.  So we've just had Daddy for a while.

But Daddy seemed lonely, so I bought another female.  I called her Little Mama.  However, once I brought LM home, the male parakeet decided that he loved the male zebra finch & wouldn't let LM get near Daddy.  They were constantly together, grooming and nibbling on each other.  Frack would chase LM away if she got too close.  (By the way, there goes "natural order" right out the window!!)  So, Little Mama was left by herself.

I tried caging the parakeets to give the finches a chance.  Our birds are all free to fly around our atrium.  And yes, it has a roof.  But even after Frack was kept away from Daddy, he & LM never bonded.

The last couple of days I couldn't find Mama.  I went out yesterday and looked all around the atrium & felt down in some of the plants, but no Mama.  This morning I went back out and looked again.  I found her on the ground under one of the potted plants.  She was dead.  So I picked her up and carried her to the trash can.  As I was opening the baggie, I mean casket, and she was still in my hand, I saw the thing that will inspire nightmares for weeks to come. 

A half inch long silverfish backed out of her eye!!!!!  OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!  Stephen King - eat your heart out!!!!