Migwe, Migwe, Birdy in the Cage and Other Adorable Animal Antics

Warning: this is a long and rather pointless post. I just feel like rambling tonight. As you can tell by my unnecessarily long warning.

I don't know if I've ever mentioned this before, but my mom has a canary named Migwe. Migwe (seen above) is a 2-year-old male canary.

Migwe likes to sing. My brother calls it screeching, but it is really very pretty when it's not really loud and piercing. When we first got him in late January, 2008, he didn't sing. The only time he sang was when my mom played her CD of Kenyan music that she bought in Kenya. The CD was recommended to her by the tour's driver, named Migwe. He enjoyed singing along with the music too, which is how Migwe the Canary got his name.

Now he sings all the freaking time and never shuts up. If the kitchen is lit, either by sunlight or electricity, he is singing. Even if there's a dim light on, he'll wake up and whistle quietly for a few seconds. I love it. I enjoy his singing. I might be a little hard of hearing though, and I usually don't notice loud piercing noises.

One of the cutest things he does though, is click and stamp. When he stands on the north side of his cage, he can do this weird clicky noise with his beak. I think it's an echo of his beak closing, because it never touches the bars, just between them. If I knew Morse Code, I might be able to tell if he's trying to communicate something. Good thing I don't know Morse Code, otherwise my hopes would probably be dashed.

Anyway, while he's clicking, he sometimes stops and stamps his left foot furiously and in the same pattern. Funniest thing ever. I just wish I knew what it meant. Maybe it means he's really bored and we should find him a girlfriend.

Another cute animal antic: Yesterday, as I was staring aimlessly out my window, Blackface the local doe and her two fawns dashed into our backyard. (Her name is Blackface because her face has a lot of black on it. I'm not trying to say anything about racism or anything.) The fawns were dashing back and forth and leaping over little trees and our garden wall and their mother and each other as fast as they could. Blackface, less energetic than her twins, was trying to catch up to play with them, but was stuck jogging back and forth across the yard, only to have them tear past her going the other way. Eventually, she started play fighting with them, butting heads and doing a weird pouncy thing. It was so cute. Then they all jumped over the garden wall, took a drink from the pond, and took off down the hill. It made my day. : )

There's also a cat who visits my yard every now and then. It is a dark brown tabby, kinda fat (so not a stray, otherwise I'd worry about it). I haven't seen him while I've been outside, so I don't know for sure what his gender is, but he looks rather hefty, and my hefty cat was a male, so based on uneducated, childlike projection, I'm gonna say it's a he. Anyway, he comes and gambols around our backyard once a day or so. He enjoys laying in the warm grass in the sun. Although the other day he came, and it was cold and damp from the rain, so he crouched on the garden wall and looked grumpy. He's not the most active or playful cat, so he doesn't usually do much that's cute. This just made me chuckle. He looked so miserable. His ears were back, and his tail was lashing slowly back and forth. For non-cat people, those are two signs that a cat is unhappy. Cats and dogs have opposite body language. It's probably why they don't get along so well. Unless of course, you have a cat or a dog that is stupid, or thinks it's the opposite species. Then they get along just fine.

I love animals. Angela crowed today. Dwight buffeted her with a wing. Good times. : )

I would blog about humans as much as animals, but I think people might get embarrassed. Or I wouldn't be nearly as flattering about humans. I can communicate with humans, you see.

"The more I get to know people, the more I love my dog."

I want a dog. A big, fluffy, happy mutt who likes to cuddle.