PEACHFRONT SPEAKS

THE PEACHFRONT CONURE FILES
MY KENYA DIARY: IN QUEST OF EAGLES
MADAGASCAR DIARY: SERPENT-EAGLES, GOSHAWKS, AND MORE
TROPICAL STORM BILL CRUSHES OUR HOUSE LIKE A BUG PHOTOS
Hurricane Katrina Disaster Recovery and Photos
A Very Partial Index to the Entries
BIRDS***BIRDING***WILDLIFE GARDENING
SF/BOOKWORM***NUCLEAR/SPACE
POKER *** BLACKJACK*** TRAVEL
a donation is never required to read my site, but any you care to give will go to the bird food fund

photo copyright © 1987 by Elaine Radford, all rights reserved

100 things about me

Read this before you email me for the first time. Personal mail only. No spam. No mean people. If you can't say something nice, I'm not interested.

Recent entries
some death-defying species from madagascar, my death defied and her extinction defied, yeah both in one trip - 2009-08-11
the borg - 2009-08-10
appearing soon in your hometown - 2009-08-10
tweet - 2009-08-09
don't be talking about me in front of my face, yall - 2009-08-06

By public demand, and after a delay of an embarrassing number of years, I've finally put my notorious essay, Ender and Hitler: Sympathy for the Superman, free on the fabulous internets.

A bibliography of my published books and stories.

Here's my card-counting FAQ.

Visit my original website but I recommend putting pop-up/banner blockers on first.

A Sadean take on Asimov's classic Three Laws of Robotics can be found in Roger Williams' NOW REVIEWED ON SLASHDOT!!! The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect. Adult readers only please -- explicit sex and violence. For updates on the "Dead Tree Project" and other topics, you may visit the localroger diary.

Visit Peachfront's Cookbook, for recipes that are fast, cheap, and good. A work in progress.

The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill blog by Mark Bittner about feral Cherry-Headed Conures in San Francisco.

more sad news

2003-06-17 - 10:32 p.m.

I'm back from Panama, and of course I rushed to the nestbox to see how the baby was doing. Even though it was already dark, I could see that Ronnie was no longer sitting in the nestbox, so I knew in my heart before I checked and saw for myself. The baby chick died, perhaps the very morning I left for my trip, as he didn't look any bigger.
I tend to blame a combination of inexperienced parenting, with Ronnie sitting almost ridiculously tight, and the extremely hot weather because they hatched their eggs so late. I really don't think poor nutrition could be a factor, as I was feeding the Zupreem and then the Exact conure pellets, and both parent birds are looking so well filled out with beautiful glowing feathers.
There is the usual self questioning. Could the baby have been saved by handfeeding and endless fussing? But, despite doubts at dark moments like this, I know that I made the decision to allow the parents to raise their own chicks for very good reasons. I want my birds to be aware that they are birds and to have the ability to understand and enjoy their own kind, as well as humans. And it is very difficult to do that with a bird who first opens his eyes to see a human hand giving him food.
I'm hoping Ronnie and Courtney will take a rest now for the summer. Next year will be soon enough to fulfill their biological destiny.
Please click here to return to the Peachfront Conure Files.
Note: My trip to Panama was fantastic and mind-croggling in the amount of birds and other wildlife seen in a short period of time and space. A full report will be coming very soon. Watch this space!

back - next

All Rights Reserved, Copyright © 2002-200- by Elaine Radford