Hear Me Roar

Do you remember the 1992 movie Batman Returns when Catwoman puts a colorful bird in her mouth?

Well that bird was a Lady Gouldian Finch or sometimes referred to as a rainbow bird. These finches are a colorful passerine bird endemic to Australia’s tropical savannah woodlands. A passerine is any bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. A notable feature of passerines is the arrangement of their toes which facilitates perching. These finches are popular in aviculture because of their bright coloring, low maintenance and easy breeding.

I collected more birds from today and there were two Lady Gouldian Finches! I’m jazzed to have the opportunity to Taxidermy this species for the first time, but they will be tough because of their tiny size. The pet store is usually very discreet when handing over the dead birds I collect in store, because after all they are dead, so people might get upset. But not this time. They just come walking out to the register with the birds in a cardboard box lid while customers mill around. I could see the ladies face who works behind the cash register turn to shock. I quickly gave them a friendly hug to say thanks while the lady dashed to ring me up for all of the birds. Still mortified she comments to me, “They usually don’t do that!”. The worker who handed me the birds seems calm and cool, totally unphased by it. I was laughing in my head about the situation unfolding before me. I think in old age we all start not to care so much about what others might think. If only I could be more like that in my daily life.