You've all seen this one coming - the mousebirds! The only question was which card would they grace?
I can't think of any more perfect home for them than the Three of Cups - the card of friendship, community, togetherness and celebration.
You've all followed Aubrey and Luna (and Kita before Luna) and so have an idea of what Mousebirds are like. I get a lot of questions about them with the most common been "what are Mousebirds like in the wild?"
The answer is that they are the same as my two.
Mousebirds are possibly the greatest model we have for ideal community living. They are incredibly social, living in flocks of up to 30, but usually around 10. As social as they are, they are also affectionate and caring, They cuddle and preen each other and sleep together hanging like a bunch of grapes with their tummies all to the middle. When it is cold, each one takes a turn to sleep in the middle of the bunch and be warmed, unless one is ill, then that one is looked after and kept warm by the others. This unusual sleep cycle cones from the fact they they are among the most primitive of birds - unchanged for 26 Million years and as a result have a very primitive digestive system, no down and cannot fully regulate their own body temperatures and go into torpor when it is cold, so they need the help of the sun and each other. They also need the sun or other external heat source to digest their food as their digestive systems are basically a fruit fermentation tank that relies on heat to get going - The darkest little mousebird on my card who is facing us while preening the other is in a typical mousebird sunning pose of fluffing his tummy up to the sun. Although they are monogamous, they do everything as a community from building a nest after which all the females lay their eggs together, which they then - male and female, take turns to sit on. They also communally raise the babies once they are hatched, they forage for food together and feed each other.
Our three are of two of the six different species - there are two speckled mousebirds,
and one white backed, of course this is Aubrey and Luna with Kita watching over them, but it is also an allusion to the fact that mousebirds are also friendly towards other species and do sometimes live in mixed species flocks.
They are happy, bouncy little creatures that love music and have a wonderful mating dance that includes drumming on a resonant surface with their feet. Their would be mate dances and drums with them to signal interest.
the wasps around the mousebirds and the wasp nest is an interesting symbiosis where mousebirds will frequently build their nests near wasp nests. The wasps protect them from predators, but don't harm the birds.
If you have the three of cups come up in a reading know that the answer to your question lies in your community and friends - that now is the time they will support you or that this is the time to share and love and celebrate together, preferably with some good music.