Ten, count 'em– ten birds. The shapes of the puzzle pieces make this puzzle special–fun, too (click pic to see detail–when you see a microscope, click again for most satisfying enlargement). One becomes accustomed to the conventional shapes of most puzzle pieces: I don't know their technical names, but usually you find no more than four or five shapes (all different colors, of course). As you begin a puzzle you can group all your pieces into four or five piles, and you can also tell, as you're assembling the puzzle, which pile you'll select your piece from.
Conventional pieces have about five universal shapes: two tabs, each sticking out of opposite ends of the piece; one tab only, sticking out of one end of the piece; two tabs sticking out of two congruent sides of the piece; three tabs sticking out of three sides; or pieces with four tabs but no actual corners (kind of star-shaped). Tabs can be circular or tear-shaped.
Unconventional puzzle pieces, in contrast, are shaped in all manner of ways; virtually no one piece is alike, leaving the puzzler little option but to group pieces by color (not by shape). The birdhouse puzzle (manufactured by Serendipity) fits into the latter category. Whenever I assemble a puzzle like this, I'm continually doing mental high fives, feeling myself to be so clever for identifying matches in unpredictable places. Fun!
In fully interlocking solidarity, Jigsaw Maniac
Loose lips sink ships—keep busy with jigsaw puzzles ✌
