The 24 hour Chronicles of Xiao Huang

Lunch?

Xiao Huang perched on my finger

Xiao Huang looking all puffy and pissed. Apparently its a sign of sickness... :(

Introductions between Bird and Beast

On Thursday, I succeeded in catching three songbirds whilst I was assisting in the conduct of the IPPT test. The first two birds, including Xiao Huang, were easy to catch. However, catching the third and largest of the three, took me about half an hour. One of the two songbirds had a little bump on its head, so I decided to let it fly off. The last bird to be caught was rather aggressive and upon discussion with the rest, I decided to let it off too. 

I was all for the idea of keeping this cute little bird as my new pet. The guys in the office took turns constructing a little nest for it made out of toilet roll and old cardboard boxes and feeding it fruits and giving it sips of water. I found an old A4 paper box and placed the bird and its newly constructed "home" in the bigger box. The bird was really adorable, no doubt about it, squealing and squeaking like clockwork at regular intervals. What was more fascinating however was watching 14 over young adults, fitness specialist of the army, fussing over the tiny creature... simply hilarious. 

I brought the bird home, and cared for it through the night. For the very first time the next morning, I was awoken not by the callous ringing of some electronic alarm clock or as a result of a brutal pawing session by Sumo, but by the gentle tweets and cries of the little bird, which had been affectionately named "Xiao Huang" by two of the PTIs in Camp. I browsed through some articles on the net before finally deciding on feeding the bird small bits of dog food soaked in warm milk and bits of papaya. Xiao Huang chomped down on the food rather aggressively, which was a good sign to me, before closing its eyes and snoozing off whilst still chirped on my finger. 

I had to leave in the afternoon for a haircut so I locked Xiao Huang in my balcony. I left the window open (my bad...) for ventilation purposes and closed the balcony door to stop my every-so-famished dog from consuming the poor bird (note pictures above...). 

After my haircut, I rushed to a neighborhood bird shop and asked the owner for some advice on how to house and care for my "precious ". The gentleman took one glance at my photo, shook his head and advised me to free the bird. Apparently this little bird fed on the nectar of large flowers, something which I obviously couldn't provide... 

As I made my way home, I started making plans to free Xiao Huang. As soon as I entered the front gate, the silence which greeted me immediately triggered alarm bells in head. I jogged to the balcony, peeped into the box and realised the Xiao Huang too had made plans for itself that very afternoon :) Have a happy life my sweet little thing :)