Things took an unexpected turn in the world of Tappy yesterday, when we discovered 4 finches loitering around the feeder.

According to our new-found House Finch knowledge, two of them were male and two were female. Tappy was definitely there, but so was ANOTHER red finch that looked disturbingly like Tappy.

He was a little bit fatter and his feathers were more ruffled. He was basically a slightly beat-down version of Tappy. We named him Crappy.

At one point we couldn't tell which was which. It was more alarming to a group of grown men than it should have been. In a scene straight out of a bad science-fiction movie, all the birds needed to both start saying was "I'm the real Tappy." "No, I'M the real Tappy!"

Luckily Tappy flew up to the window and started tapping on it. Because he's a genius.

Crappy darted off in disgust and we haven't seen him since. I like to think he chirped "You haven't seen the last of me!" as he flew away, but I like to think lots of stupid things.

I tried to get a picture of the 2 of them on the feeder, but I'm sure you understand -- this was a very stressful time for all parties involved.

(For the record, we've also determined that Tappy's full name is: Tapioca H. Finch.)