Night Fright
Posted: Sat May 25, 2013 4:57 am
Hi all.
Night before last there was an bit of an Incident in the bird room (formerly known as the living room). I was in the computer room, dogs were in the bedroom asleep, lights out in the rest of the house - a perfectly normal late night, in fact.
There arose a commotion in the Budgie and Ringneck cages. When I went in to check on them, the Ringneck was still but hanging on the wall of the cage. The Budgies were in an all-out panic. I was not able to find any source for their concern. I was not really able to talk them down, so I put on all the lights and left them in peace. About an hour later they all seemed fine, so I put out the lights and went to bed. The Canaries in the dining room were not affected.
In the morning it was clear to see something else had happened afterwards. The Budgies' bird bath that hangs in the small feeder door had been knocked apart and ended up propping the door slightly open. One of the Budgies was out of the cage and hiding or lost behind the furniture the cage sits on. She was pretty upset, but stepped up for me and I sent her home. I checked on them frequently through the morning and all was well.
Last night when I checked on them in the middle of the night, the Ringneck was sleeping on the normal perch, but the Budgies were crammed up close to their ceiling on perches they do not usually use for sleeping. They did not seem alarmed, however.
We have never had such a night fright before. The birds are always awakened briefly in the middle of the night when I go through the room, so they are used to that. We have no other humans or pets besides the dogs who had not been in the room at the time. We have no evidence of mice, and I am pretty sure I would see droppings by the birdseed if we had them. One of the dogs is a serious hunter and would surely alert me to any animal pest in the house. If there were a prowler shining a light in the room I also feel the dogs would have let me know.
Has anybody got experience with night frights in their bird room? Can you think of anything I may have missed in trying to diagnose the source of the problem? I've kept birds in this house for several years, and never anything like this before.
-MissK
Night before last there was an bit of an Incident in the bird room (formerly known as the living room). I was in the computer room, dogs were in the bedroom asleep, lights out in the rest of the house - a perfectly normal late night, in fact.
There arose a commotion in the Budgie and Ringneck cages. When I went in to check on them, the Ringneck was still but hanging on the wall of the cage. The Budgies were in an all-out panic. I was not able to find any source for their concern. I was not really able to talk them down, so I put on all the lights and left them in peace. About an hour later they all seemed fine, so I put out the lights and went to bed. The Canaries in the dining room were not affected.
In the morning it was clear to see something else had happened afterwards. The Budgies' bird bath that hangs in the small feeder door had been knocked apart and ended up propping the door slightly open. One of the Budgies was out of the cage and hiding or lost behind the furniture the cage sits on. She was pretty upset, but stepped up for me and I sent her home. I checked on them frequently through the morning and all was well.
Last night when I checked on them in the middle of the night, the Ringneck was sleeping on the normal perch, but the Budgies were crammed up close to their ceiling on perches they do not usually use for sleeping. They did not seem alarmed, however.
We have never had such a night fright before. The birds are always awakened briefly in the middle of the night when I go through the room, so they are used to that. We have no other humans or pets besides the dogs who had not been in the room at the time. We have no evidence of mice, and I am pretty sure I would see droppings by the birdseed if we had them. One of the dogs is a serious hunter and would surely alert me to any animal pest in the house. If there were a prowler shining a light in the room I also feel the dogs would have let me know.
Has anybody got experience with night frights in their bird room? Can you think of anything I may have missed in trying to diagnose the source of the problem? I've kept birds in this house for several years, and never anything like this before.
-MissK
