As of February 8, 2001, Cherfan is celebrating her 8th hatchday. She's also been laying a bunch of eggs for the occasion. All infertile of course. I wish she would stop laying them.As of February 8, 2000, Cherfan is celebrating her 7th hatchday! On this day she hatched right out of an egg into our world. Congratulate her day by guessing the Bjork tune! E-mail me at Lndanie@vm.sc.edu if you know the song.
As of January 2, 2000, Cherfan, our supposed budgie boy, laid an egg. She got sick the next morning and I grew frantic and put her in quarantine but she did just fine. In fact, she laid another infertile egg the next day after that. Thankfully, she's laid no more eggs since then. She had problems with laying that first one and I don't want her to get eggbound--a common condition for captive birds. Basically, they can't expel the egg and it's rather painful,even fatal. As for Cherfan being a girl,well, everyone makes mistakes. The veterinarian was wrong and I was right from the beginning. Funny, huh? On another note, Cherfan has the ability to escape from a locked quarantine cage. How she does it is beyond me (she must squeeze pretty good). I'm almost tempted to put her in it to see how she got out of the thing. That would be rather rude, though.
As of October 26,1999, Cherfan is chirping just fine! Not that he ever had a problem with that. He chirps to Gabrielle just fine, and takes his mirror and bangs it against the wall. He's still kind of effeminate for a male budgie, but we're all cool with that.As of February 8, 1999, Cherfan is now 6 years old!
If you look at the top perch of this picture, you can see (thought not very well) Cherfan the budgerigar. Cherfan was given to me by some kind people when two of my budgerigars died (one of infection the other of a brain injury). I have had Cherfan for 5 and a half years now, and he is chirpy and bossy as ever. Last Christmas, he and his roommate Gabrielle contracted what was believed to be Chlamydiosis (also known more popularly as Psitticosis or Ornithosis), but he has been treated and is in good shape now thanks to persistent cleaning and injections of oxytetracycline. Now he just quarrels and eats most of the day.
| name | Cherfan |
| name origins | Named for the herder cat Cherfan in Clare Bell's book Clan Ground of the Ratha series. |
| sex | female |
| age | 8 years |
| species;common name | budgerigar [derived from an Aboriginal phrase meaning "good bird" or "pretty bird"] |
| species;scientific name | Melopsitticus undulatus [meaning "Undulating song parrot"--undulating refers to the wavy pattern over wings and mantle] |
| color/mutation | harlequin light green |