Tiny Tim and Mary (Masked-Weaver chick and his/her mother)

(preview of the full story still being edited)

Birds and animals are amazing. We can learn so much from them.

Yesterday I noticed that one of the weaver nests broke apart in the wind. By watching the behavior of the male, I knew where I would find the chick.

From past experience I have realized that leaving the chick to fend for itself meets with disaster, the chick always dies.

I just had to take it and feed it myself, I thought. It was too small for the bird cage, so I created a nice warm nest like padded cup and put the little thing in there, then I placed it in a little mouse cage with a sliding lid on top. The chick was very quiet. It just sat there with its mouth open.

I mixed some Pronutro, which we keep in the cupboard to feed injured birds, and gave him some until he no longer kept his mouth open then I put a wooly cloth over him and tucked him in for the night

This morning it was lying so still that I thought it died during the night, but when I touched it, it stirred - still in a deep sleep.
I cleaned the cage and gave him another two feeds of Pronutro. Because I expected visitors, I took his cage from the lounge and put it outside by the undercover braai on top of the music center but under an indoor washing line.

It is a very windy day and since weavers normally have a closed nest I put a cloth over the cage. The little thing never made a sound. I could not tell if it was stressed or comfortable.

While looking out of the kitchen window, I noticed the female weaver on the washing line looking around for her chick that fell from the nest the day before. It so happens that the tree where the nest was is next to the braai.

I then decided to remove the lid and cloth from the cage and returned to the kitchen window to watch what was happening.

The weaver soon returned and it did not take her long to spot her chick. She immediately flew away and came back with an insect in her beak. It took her a while to figure out how to get to the chick She hopped around the cage and jumped back onto the washing line and down again until she found herself above the cage on the line. Puzzle solved, and she jumped into the cage. I herd the response from the chick immediately. She fed the chick and regarded it as the nest from then onwards. She fed the chick about every 15 minutes or so until it fell asleep. Then she would just sit near the chick on the washing line.

My only worry is that the ants may find the cage during the night because of all the Pronutro I spilled in it. I think I shall bring it in tonight and clean the cage and put it out again tomorrow.

Humans can learn a lot about dedication and care for the young from birds and animals.

The thought came to me that without her chick, life must have lost its purpose because she spends all day looking for food and bringing it to the nest.

We still have a long way to go because the little thing has all its feathers but it is very small. Lets hope this one will make it and next-door’s cat does not catch the mother.

I like to name things so I think I shall call them Tiny-Tim and Mary. The male already has a name. We call all male Masked-weavers Boytjie because you cannot tell one male from the other.

It is a bit like how I named my chickens back in the days when I farmed with them. I named them by color. All the white ones were Aggie, the black ones Freda and the red ones Betsie. My friends were very impressed with my ability to remember all their names.

I shall keep you posted about the outcome.

Walkies no longer fun

Taking doggy for a walk is no longer fun.

I sling my old camera bag, containing yesterday’s bread plastic, over my shoulder and off we go on our walkies.

For some reason my husband decided that it is my job to carry the dog-poop bag.

From the moment we leave home, my upper lip and my brow moves closer to each other.  My face just goes into a permanent screwed up mode.

I will only relax when the dog poops somewhere where I can cover it with sand, but no chance.

Since I started carrying the plastic bag, she seems to think it is her duty to poop on the best cut lawn in the most public place.

The dreaded moment arrives for me to unzip the little bag. Slip my hand into the bread plastic like a glove and pick up the warm soft substance from the lawn then carry the bag between my forefinger and thumb while my whole face goes into a screwed up spasm involving even my lower jaw.

There is only one waste paper basket on our walk – at the play park; so that is where it has to go.   I see many people throw their plastic dog poop bags into the storm water drains.   It will possibly wash up in the river or the beach, if it does not block the drains.

My husband said that I am a nurse, I should be used to carry poop, but this is different.  I ‘gril tot in my klein toontjie’

I guess I am just not a good poop carrier yet, nurse or te not!

Doggy poop in plastic

Dog poop and plastic bags.


During our early morning strolls, when the dog takes us for a walk, we used to cover the doggy poop with sand, whenever possible.

Lately we are joining the recommendation from the municipality and we are using the old bread plastic wrappers to collect the dog poop and then place it into a bin, (usually at the park).

Some people just toss their doggy-doodle-bag into the long grass to be exposed when the lawn is cut.




My concern is: "Are we adding to  carbon footprint by bagging the dog poop.
I have the following two reasons for saying this:
1.   Doggy-doodle-filled bags are not recyclable.
2.   Do we know the relationship between the organisms that decompose animal faeses in the wild, and the growth and distribution of fynbos?

In the early days our open spaces crawled with animal life.

Now that lawn mowing is commonplace, even in many of our reserves, we are drastically reducing the ability for animals to coexist on our open spaces.    The result of this is less animal faeces.
Whenever you remove one aspect of nature, you remove a whole life cycle of insects.    Do we fully understand the relationship of the insects that breaks down the animal faeces to the group of insects that helps with the fertilization and pollination of the plants in the wild?

Should there be a suggestion that if your doggy poop on open space, it is better to just leave it there and let nature do it's thing?

Frustrated dogs

We went to the beach this weekend and saw for the first time a lot of angry frustrated dogs on leads.

Dogs also need the freedom to play and run.   Some of them love the water.
They are like little children.   Keeping them tied up on such a large playing field is cruel and frustrating for them.   It can turn a friendly natured pet into one that is frustrated, angry and vicious.

If the only reason that animals should be kept on leads is for the safety of beach goers, then perhaps the municipal law should allow for animals run and play on the beach if they are wearing muzzles.

Draft dog by-law

Find link to previous dog law post

By-laws to restrain dogs - Cape Town - South Africa

The proposed by-laws through the eyes of my dog. 25-09-2008

There are so many complaints about dogs, barking, dogs running loose and dogs attacks, it is difficult to distinguish between the genuine complaints and those coming from “bekrampte” people, who are so miserable that they can not stand seeing anything else being happy.

During the thirty years of taking my dogs for two walks a day, they have only been involved in fights twice. Only once was it necessary for medical treatment after a dogfight. Not one of my dogs ever attacked other dogs. Interestingly, the two who were attacked were both spayed females being attacked by un-sterilized male dogs.

Tobie, a local dog does not like my female dog one little bit. If he gets half a chance he will do some damage. I do not know what male dogs have against spayed females. Perhaps they give off a strange odor.

Animals are born to be free. Dogs particularly have an abundance of energy, while young, with a body structure and nature to run and roam around.

Animal lovers cannot always afford large back yards, for their dogs, which does not mean that they should be denied the loving companionship of a dog for a pet. Other people choose to have dogs for protection.

Dogs, like people and wild animals, have needs. One of those needs is to be able to just run free and have fun. Dogs need to exercise and most of them love swimming in the sea. They have in their DNA that memory of being children of the bush. They yearn to explore, sniff around and to experience new things.

Keeping a dog in a small enclosed back yard and then on a leash for a slow walk for the rest of his life is cruel.

Such a by-law would be cruel.

When the Cape City council approves bylaws regarding dog ownership, they should also set aside areas of beach, as well as open space in each region, where dogs can roam

We must also remember that stray animals are not necessary a sign of negligence.

Animals often stray after a burglary or because workers left a gate open without the owner's knowledge.

Lets hope that those who make the bylaws regarding dog ownership, are able to see life through the eyes of a dog.

While we are on the subject of council bylaws, I hope that there will be a bylaw to prevent people, bordering on nature reserves, from owning cats. It is near impossible to keep cats out of reserves.

Imagine the damage cats can do among chicks from nests that are on the ground and who are unable to fly, like the plovers on the beach, or the various bird and duck species that breed at Rietvlei reserve. One year Mother Goose, at Rietvlei, lost all twelve of her chicks. Every day there would be one or two missing.

Another consideration could be that ID chips are implanted in animals at their first vaccination.

Such a chip could also record the breeder, or adopted parent’s ID number and vehicle registration number.

This could help to re-unite stray animals, with their owners, and to trace their medical history. The veterinary surgeon that does the implanting of the chip should be responsible for keeping the database of the animal's history (both social and medical). The vet's practice number can also be recorded on the chip.

These records can prevent illegal trading with animals and identify people who abuse animals.

Unfortunately, any such bylaws will only apply to the middle and the upper class. People living in low-cost and informal settlements will still do as they please. Animals come low down on their priority list of fighting crime.

When one considers the free-for-all when it comes to breaking rules and laws by those governing the nation, animal by-laws seem petty and unnecessary. When one considers the country's inability to cope with serious crime, it will only place further strain on an already stressed legal system.

One can end up with a situation where someone is jailed, for not being able to pay the fines for a barking dog, while a murderer roams the streets.

Doggy survival jacket

See the photograph here