Up at the crack of dawn and on the road on this last short leg, so that we could reach home early enough to accomplish the massive chore of scrubbing out the motorhome since it needs to be returned by 10 AM tomorrow. We sure don't want to pay for another day's rental!!

We got home around 1 PM, and the first thing I did was turn the dogs loose in the yard to have a good run, and then go check on the birds. Loki the parrot was fine... the neighbor had obviously been taking good care of him, his food and water bowls were absolutely overflowing. The aviary birds also looked fine; the huge feeders I hung for them had not been eaten up, and the big water dispenser was a bit green with algae but still had plenty of water in it. Joan the female canary was sitting on her nest, as usual. Darby the male canary was sitting on top of the spiderplant, but he looked wierd! He was all pale and washed out, and just sort of different looking. Then Darby flew up from the feeder.... the bird I had been looking at was not Darby!! When I left, I had a pair of canaries; but now I have 3! I recounted several times... 1, 2,... 3!

When I left, Joan was sitting on a single egg. During the 18 days I was gone, that egg hatched into a chick and Darby & Joan raised the chick into a real, feathered, flying young canary! What a miracle. And now Joan is sitting on a whole new clutch of eggs. Will these also turn into actual canaries? May be! Certainly she was getting nowhere with sitting eggs when she was in a cage in the house, but she seems to be much more in her element now that she is living out in the aviary.

The miracle bird, whose name appropriately enough is Miracle, is an exact intermediary between his parents. Joan is solid tangerine-orange; Darby is variegated yellow. Miracle's yellow parts have an orange tint, and he has about half the amount of variegation as Darby does.

What a neat homecoming!!