Bedtime

Lately, his favorite time of the day seems to be when the girls are ready for bed and reading.  Stevie snuggles in one of their hands while they read under the blankets.  The baby finches I've known in the past, perch or nestle themselves pretty perpendicular to the ground.  I'm sure it's because he can't see, Stevie leans his body up against whoever's hand, cheek, he's on.  I'm sure it gives him a stronger sense of security.  It's pretty sweet.

Still alive...

Stevie is starting to experience new things, as you can see below.  He seems to enjoy sitting in my window box right over the kitchen sink, in the afternoon sun. 

One of the worries we're having though, is that he hasn't learned how to eat on his own yet.  He can't see, so he can't pick at seeds out of a food dish.  Or drink water.  Below is a shot of him, after my husband attempted to get him to 'drink' water...

And finally, Stevie meeting our gentle sweet soul Stella.  

Stella wishes we could carry her around in our palms, like we do with Stevie.

Singing with Soul

Since his vision is impaired, Stevie makes up for it with his enthusiastic vocals.  This little guys' got a serious set of pipes on him!  So I fashioned him a little keyboard.

Here he is, singing his heart out.

Napping Spot Discovery

Here's Stevie making himself very comfortable AGAIN, this time on my daughter's shoulder.  He started out on her shoulder, but then crawled up towards her neck.  He finally could go any further, getting himself wedged in nice and snug behind her neck, against the back of the sofa, and stayed there happily for quite a while.

  

Head shot

Booty shot

3 weeks

It's amazing how he changes by the day.  He's about 14 days old here.  His eyes opened a bit, but the lids don't go down all the way.  And although they are cracked open a tiny bit, he doesn't really respond to movement around him.  But he's growing beautifully.  Feathers filling in, he is busy preening.  Still keeps cozy and sleeps a lot.

He's sort of taking peeks at me

But doesn't track movement...

The diva is tired of the photo shoot

Makes himself comfortable...

What's going on?

After we'd had him for a few days, I realized I never saw him with his eyes open.  They should have already been open around the time we got him, or shortly after.  So we took a video of him, to send to our finch raising friend.

Our daughter decided to name this little fellow, Soren (after a character in her current favorite book series, Guardians of Ga'Hoole).  I started calling him Stevie Wonder.  Steive, Soren.  Tomato to-mah-to.

Arrival

I have experience hand raising finches, so a friend who raises beautiful finches, gave us a hatchling of Java Sparrow a couple of weeks ago.  I love baby birds.  You think puppies are cute?  Look again my friends!!

 9/11/13 

He's probably about a week old here.  I had just brought him home as a surprise for the kids, and he hadn't been named yet.  Those yellow dots around his neck are seeds.  We'd just fed him some dinner, so he is full and content :)

Below is a video of him learning to eat.