Polly

Polly's home. She's on soft food, mushy doggy bickies and antibiotics.

Bugs

I forgot to mention yesterday's strip.

Unreleases

When I went to feed the last little peewee in a cage, I was very surprised to discover he had a visitor. The white-plumed honey eater has squeezed between the bars to snuggle beside his baby bro. They must have slept together last night, just like they used to in the small cage. I set up the nectar feeding station and a slice of pear, and he went to town on the sweet food, stopping only to beg for some peewee food. He is quite free to come and go; quite often I see him perching outside the cage. The bars are too small for peewees but not too small for honey eaters.

One of the magpies I release has returned. He looks a bit beat-up and seems very depressed. He landed in front of an open cage and walked inside, hopped onto a branch and hunched down. I put food and water inside but he doesn't look good. There are no avian vets here and the zoovets are shut on Sundays. I'll have to get him out there tomorrow.

Chloraform is no longer available to the public. Looks like Dr Death will have to retire or switch to bottled CO2.

Temperature.

officially it's 38.5C, but that's at the airport. My outside thermometre says it's 40.5C now.