What a difference 2 days makes! Anyone who works with rescue birds knows how resiliant these magnificent creatures are. We expected Mango to make improvements, but the speed surprised and amazed us!

Here she is on Monday, July 30 -- about 48 hours after she was surrendered to us. She has spent much of this time eating, playing with toys, and preening. She is very dusty, which is a sign of good health!

Her vet appointment is scheduled for today at 9:30 in the morning, and we'll let you know how that goes.

She appears to mostly be leaving her chest wound alone. She is very loving and solicits attention from the volunteers. We are all so pleased with how things have been going so far! Here is a short video of her preening herself -- watch how the dust comes off of her.

On Saturday July 28, 2007, a cockatoo was surrendered to CARE. This unfortunate bird exhibited some of the most extreme physical manifestations of neglect that we have ever seen.

Mango's beak was severely overgrown, to the point where one wonders how she could even possibly eat. In addition, she has mutilated her chest repeatedly.

CARE has scheduled her for the first available vet appointment, which will take place Tuesday July 31. In the meantime, we trimmed her beak to a more acceptable length.

Despite the neglect/abuse that she has suffered, Mango has an incredible personality. She did not become aggressive in any way during her intake examination, and solicited hands-on affection from the person who trimmed her beak after he had finished with the procedure.


Here you can see a close-up of the mutilation on her chest. We can tell from the way the wound is a granuloma that she has been doing this to herself for a long time; perhaps years. She has never seen a vet for her condition.

If you would like to contribute financially to Mango's vet bills, you may do so through Paypal by going to our home page and clicking on the "Make a Donation" button, or by sending a check to CARE at: 3053 Beechwood Industrial Court, Ste 1, Hubertus, WI 53033. As we are a 501(c)(3) charity, all contributions are tax deductible.



In the above pictures, you can see a before and after of Mango's beak. These pictures were taken approximately 30 minutes apart.

Oscar is a friendly, gorgeous 10 year old amazon that we can't believe hasn't been adopted yet!

Surrendered to us as a blue-front, we believe that he is a mix of blue-front and double-yellow-head, due to his coloring.

Oscar is cage aggressive, but away from his cage, he is an entertaining gentleman. Someone interested in trick training would have a blast with this guy.

He has been exposed to dogs and cats, and would do fine in a home with respectful older children.

If you are interested in adopting Oscar or any of the other birds at the shelter, please fill out a Bird Wanted Questionnaire.

Baby Maggie, a cockatiel that hatched at the Domes, is ready for her new home. She loves people and runs to the front of her cage for attention.

At the Center, we normally deal with older parrots, so it has been a different experience for many of the volunteers to see these cockatiels from the time they're babies!

In addition to Maggie, we've pulled 3 other babies from the Domes. One has already found his home and 2 others are too young yet to find their homes.

If you're interested in adopting Maggie, or any of the other birds that we have up for adoption at the Center, please fill out a Bird Wanted Questionnaire!

Daisy is a young female budgie that is currently up for adoption at the Center.

She is currently somewhat tame, but with handling will become a wonderful pet.

Budgies enliven any house with their cheerful chattering and zest for life! They do require quite a few toys as they are voracious toy players.

They require interaction every day, just like big parrots, and need to be included as part of the family. Unfortunately, too many budgies never realize their potential as people don't realize the love and intelligence that is wrapped up in such a tiny package!

If you're interested in adopting Daisy, please stop by the Center!

It is with deep sadness that we announce that Fandango, our lovely gold-capped conure, has passed on.

His health had been rapidly declining, with no apparent reason. Many tests had been run and he was on some medication that was not improving his condition.

Our wonderful vet did a necropsy on him. His heart was enlarged and he had a large tumor attached. He was a young, 5-year old bird whose condition was apparently congenital.

He lived out his last year in a wonderful, loving home, as part of a well-cared for flock. Our condolences go out to his family.

We still have quakers up for adoption! This is a picture of George. Isn't he adorable? If you're interested in learning more about the birds we have for adoption, please stop by the Center!

We currently have quite a few doves up for adoption. Doves can make great pets for gentle children, with parents' help, of course!

Here is some more information on keeping doves as pets. The doves that we have up for adoption are several variations of ringneck doves.

Another baby cockatiel was found recently at the Domes and brought to the Center.

This guy was starting to have deformities on one side of his body, most likely due to the placement of the nest. However, it was caught early enough and he shouldn't suffer any permanent damage.

He is still being hand-fed, although he is bigger than the other two baby cockatiels that we've received from them this year.

As for the other babies, one went home earlier this week, leaving one incredibly sweet baby. She runs to the front of the cage for attention and loves being around people!

We wish everyone a great weekend and will be back with more on Monday!

Ruby is a sweet, beautiful ruby macaw (hybrid of a greenwing and scarlet). She is approximately 26 years old. She needs to pick her person, as she has very definite feelings about whether she likes someone or not! The first picture was taken when we were getting ready to put the birds to bed last week. She kept begging to come out some more!

She will make a fantastic companion for the right person. If you're interested in Ruby, please fill out a Bird Wanted Questionnaire.

Time has been flying by -- we can't believe that 2007 is already half over! During the first 6 months of 2007, CARE had 165 birds surrendered to us. The breakdown by species is as follows:

5 African Greys
5 Amazon Parrots
26 Budgies
46 Cockatiels
3 Cockatoos
8 Conures
13 Doves
13 Finches
1 Lory
24 Lovebirds
7 Macaws
10 Parakeets (Quaker/Mustache)
3 African Parrots (Senegals/Meyers)
1 Button Quail

We are gearing up for the second half of the year, which historically doubles the amount of birds that come in during the first part of the year. As you can see by the diversity of the above list, many different types of good homes are needed on a regular basis.

Please continue to spread the word about our organization so that we can continue to find good homes for these deserving birds.

Although some birds come to us with behavioral problems, others are surrendered because their owners have experienced a change in circumstances, or just have lost interest in their bird.

We have many tame, sweet birds right now that are looking for their forever home. They'd love for you to stop by and meet them!

We currently have six society finches up for adoption. We just love how pretty this picture turned out -- and we were able to capture5 of the 6 birds in this picture!

These birds were very well taken care of and are eating an excellent diet.

If you are interested in adopting these finches or any other birds at our Center, please fill out a Bird Wanted Questionnaire.

How quickly they grow up! Our two babies (above) that were hatched at the Domes are growing up! Here they are below, almost ready to find their new homes!

BATHING!

Bathing is so important to our companion parrots. The most recent issue of Companion Parrot Quarterly had an article about this topic. Here is another great article about bathing.

Watching a parrot that enjoys bathing partake in a shower is truly a joy to watch! Amazons are known to be among the most exuberant with their showers! Sometimes owners think their amazon parrots are not enjoying the bath because they take a wing and seem to protect their head from the water -- they are actually rubbing the water into their skin -- they love it!

The amazon pictured here goes into the shower with his owner and then dries off and preens himself on the shower curtain as she finishes.

Here is a severe macaw in the shower. Isn't he adorable? This is Drew, who is currently up for adoption.

Some parrots may prefer to bathe in dishes of water or roll around in leafy greens. It is so important to find a method that your parrot likes, as bathtime should be a joy for all!

One of our volunteers puts on some fast music that the parrots like and sprays them with a water bottle. All of her parrots clamor for more water and the fun finally stops when the bottle is empty and her arm is sore.

We wish everyone a fantastic weekend!

This is Jackie, one of our frequent boarders. Jackie is a beautiful african grey. She also appeared on The Morning Blend TV show a few months back.

Jackie's upper mandible was bitten off by an umbrella cockatoo. In the past, many vets would have recommended putting the bird to sleep or perhaps trying a prosthetic beak.

Jackie has adjusted to her predicament amazingly well. She plays with toys, talks, gets around her cage -- pretty much everything that a "normal" bird can do.

Pretty much the only accommodation Jackie's owner has to make for her is feeding her soft foods, like Harrison's mash, and occasionally filing down her lower beak.

Yet more proof of how amazingly resiliant birds are!

Did you know that for an average population of 75 birds, it takes:

2 hours each day to feed & water and
2 hours each day to vacuum & change papers?

Over the course of a year, that is 1,460 man hours to provide for the minimum basic care of the birds. Add to that rehabilitation efforts, medical attention, socialization, facility upkeep, toy-making, cage-cleaning, home inspections, grooming, and so much more, resulting in even more volunteer needs. Increase the bird population and required volunteer time increases dramatically.

If you are interested in volunteering at CARE, please fill out a volunteer application.

We hope that everyone has a fantastic holiday! Fireworks can be scary to your companion animals. Although the preceding article is geared towards dogs, parrots can also be afraid of these loud, scary noises. Try to keep things as normal as possible and be there for them to reassure them that everything is ok!

Seven members of Girl Scout Troop 606 from Richfield Elementary School in Richfield, Wisconsin recently earned a community service badge by each providing 15 hours of community service to CARE, resulting in 105 man hours over 2 consecutive Sundays.

They cleaned our utility room & toy manufacturing facility on one Sunday, and concentrated on public areas the next Sunday. We are very grateful for the donation of their time!

We really appreciate all of the work they did to help us, and the birds and volunteers send out a big THANK YOU!!!