Jinji, part two

See the magnificent creature on the left? That's what that little fluff-ball grew into! After just a few weeks, he started developing reddish feathers. I realized this was no starling. The older he got, the clearer it became: he was a cardinal! You don't see a lot of cardinals in Brooklyn (there are an awful lot of Jews here, so the Pope would rather they hang out at the Vatican). I've seen a few, but not many. I've also seen bluejays, woodpeckers and quaker parrots. But I had a real live cardinal living in my apartment. The fact that I went online and discovered that it was illegal to keep cardinals in captivity didn't stop me; I was keeping Jinji. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Migratory_Bird_Treaty_Act_of_1918

He was a blast to have around. I'd let him out of his cage and he flew around the room like he owned the place. He had favorite spots to land. He showed no fear whatsoever. He'd land on my shoulder and pick at the hairs on my neck. Or fly down to my thigh. I don't know why he liked my thigh, but he did. After he got tired of zooming around the room, he'd dive bomb at full speed back into the cage, never even coming close to hitting the sides of the door...he'd fly on a straight line right to the perch. Every once in a while he'd land on Oscar's cage and Oscar would look at him like he was breakfast, but he held his ground unless Oscar made a move toward him (I never, EVER let them both out of their respective cages at the same time!). He was brash and cocky, not cuddly. I really loved that bird. It all had to do with that conversation I had had with the bird rehabilitator who said I couldn't do it. I was sooooo proud of Jinji! I had raised him from infancy and he was strong and healthy and apparently happy. I had figured out how to take care of him on my own, trained him to step up on my finger, given him showers with a spray bottle that he didn't particularly like but sat still for. In short, I felt accomplished as a surrogate father for my little avian charge. The fact that he might have been contributing to my becoming deathly ill didn't even enter the picture. I'm very bright that way.