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New horse and a new bird
Apr. 27th, 2009 03:06 pmSeems we have a new addition to the bestiary - or perhaps that should be bird-stiary - at the stables. Not surprisingly, there are a lot of birds living in and around the barn. With horses come grain and hay and manure, and that attracts insects and rodents. Plenty of ready food and nesting materials, coupled with lots of beams, rafters, and nooks and crannies for nests means that we have a lot of feathered residents.
For the most part, the avian residents are sparrows, swallows, and grackles. Outside it's not uncommon to see plenty of robins, crows, turkey vultures, and the occasional oriole. Heck, now and then we'll have a hawk inside the barn that came in after some smaller bird or rodent and decided to hang around for a bit. The latest addition to the chirping population is somewhat more unusual, though.
Shortly after arriving at the barn, I was walking down the boarder aisle and noticed that the hay trailer had been moved. Up until 7 or 8 years ago, hay would be brought into the indoor ring and moved up onto hay mounts at one end of the barn. After that time, the hay started getting delivered in a pair of tandem trailers. That was convenient because they could be closed up to protect the hay and one could be parked behind the barn at the end of each aisle. Lately, a single 53' trailer was parked on the side of the barn. Looks like this most recent delivery was parked out back.
Anyway, I went out back to check out the new trailer and see how much hay was in it. The trailer left this time was formerly a United Van Lines trailer. Kinda nice, that, since it means the floor is closer to the ground and easier to get in and out of. As I came around toward the back of the trailer I spotted a white bird. My first thought was that maybe it was a dove, but it was way too small for that. I thought perhaps it was some kind of albino sparrow, but it had too big a tail. Once I got a little closer, I realized it was a parakeet.
He (or she) was a beautiful bright white with a very pretty patch of blue on his back and a little dab of blue on each cheek. Obviously he was someone's pet who got loose. Whoever owned him obviously hadn't clipped his wings since he could fly quite well. At different times during the day, a few of us tried to see if we could catch the lil guy to no avail. You could get fairly close to him, but not within arms length. I nearly did get a chance to try to snag him at one point while squatting down and being still for a long time. He inched closer and I was considering making a try when the breeze gusted a little and blew the trailer door so that it bumped against the fence. That scared the little fella off.
I don't know how well a bright white bird like that can survive 'in the wild.' He may be clever enough to avoid cats or other ground predators, but I imagine a hawk would spot him a mile away and make a meal outta him. I don't know what we'd have done if one of us did catch him. It's not like there are spare bird cages at the barn. I guess we could've called a local vet to see if anyone had reported losing a parakeet. The bird did have a band of some sort on its left leg. Perhaps that had some kind of ID number on it.
In equine news, Snoop, the tall and very friendly horse that's been at the barn for a while on a trial basis went back to the seller last week. He's a great horse, but he had some back issues. While it wouldn't have been too much of an issue for a private owner, the amount of work and variety of riders a school horse deals with would've been too much for it. I liked Snoop. He was supposedly all quarterhorse, but really looked more like a thoroughbred. I wonder if he wasn't an appendix quarterhorse like Zip.
When Sandy dropped Snoop off, she came back with another gelding named Chico. Chico is a pinto. He may be a paint, but I didn't ask Sandy if he had papers verifying that. He's not a bad looking fellow, though I think that Clay has a much nicer looking coat. When I arrived at the barn yesterday, one of the students was riding him while a number of folk watched. Chico moves well and seems to have a willing friendly disposition. Hopefully he'll work out well.
For the most part, the avian residents are sparrows, swallows, and grackles. Outside it's not uncommon to see plenty of robins, crows, turkey vultures, and the occasional oriole. Heck, now and then we'll have a hawk inside the barn that came in after some smaller bird or rodent and decided to hang around for a bit. The latest addition to the chirping population is somewhat more unusual, though.
Shortly after arriving at the barn, I was walking down the boarder aisle and noticed that the hay trailer had been moved. Up until 7 or 8 years ago, hay would be brought into the indoor ring and moved up onto hay mounts at one end of the barn. After that time, the hay started getting delivered in a pair of tandem trailers. That was convenient because they could be closed up to protect the hay and one could be parked behind the barn at the end of each aisle. Lately, a single 53' trailer was parked on the side of the barn. Looks like this most recent delivery was parked out back.
Anyway, I went out back to check out the new trailer and see how much hay was in it. The trailer left this time was formerly a United Van Lines trailer. Kinda nice, that, since it means the floor is closer to the ground and easier to get in and out of. As I came around toward the back of the trailer I spotted a white bird. My first thought was that maybe it was a dove, but it was way too small for that. I thought perhaps it was some kind of albino sparrow, but it had too big a tail. Once I got a little closer, I realized it was a parakeet.
He (or she) was a beautiful bright white with a very pretty patch of blue on his back and a little dab of blue on each cheek. Obviously he was someone's pet who got loose. Whoever owned him obviously hadn't clipped his wings since he could fly quite well. At different times during the day, a few of us tried to see if we could catch the lil guy to no avail. You could get fairly close to him, but not within arms length. I nearly did get a chance to try to snag him at one point while squatting down and being still for a long time. He inched closer and I was considering making a try when the breeze gusted a little and blew the trailer door so that it bumped against the fence. That scared the little fella off.
I don't know how well a bright white bird like that can survive 'in the wild.' He may be clever enough to avoid cats or other ground predators, but I imagine a hawk would spot him a mile away and make a meal outta him. I don't know what we'd have done if one of us did catch him. It's not like there are spare bird cages at the barn. I guess we could've called a local vet to see if anyone had reported losing a parakeet. The bird did have a band of some sort on its left leg. Perhaps that had some kind of ID number on it.
In equine news, Snoop, the tall and very friendly horse that's been at the barn for a while on a trial basis went back to the seller last week. He's a great horse, but he had some back issues. While it wouldn't have been too much of an issue for a private owner, the amount of work and variety of riders a school horse deals with would've been too much for it. I liked Snoop. He was supposedly all quarterhorse, but really looked more like a thoroughbred. I wonder if he wasn't an appendix quarterhorse like Zip.
When Sandy dropped Snoop off, she came back with another gelding named Chico. Chico is a pinto. He may be a paint, but I didn't ask Sandy if he had papers verifying that. He's not a bad looking fellow, though I think that Clay has a much nicer looking coat. When I arrived at the barn yesterday, one of the students was riding him while a number of folk watched. Chico moves well and seems to have a willing friendly disposition. Hopefully he'll work out well.