Friday, July 25, 2008

Niko's ready for his new home!

We wrote earlier this year about Niko, a scared senegal who came to us from less-than-ideal conditions. He has been living in a foster home for the past several months, and is now ready for adoption!

Here's a picture of Niko shortly after he was surrendered to us:


His foster home writes:

It's been awhile since I've updated you on Niko -- it seems like he is
always doing something new.

I know some of the last pictures I
sent to you were somewhat blurry, but, he has completely grown all of his
chest feathers back. No more white, fuzzy patches, it's all green and orange.
His wings are completely feathered as well...he is still growing his primaries
in, and seems to be leaving them alone. He chewed off the ones that grew in
about a month ago, but seems to be leaving the current ones alone...the same
holds true for his tail feathers. He looks like a completely different bird!!!
(Editor's note: Parrots are so resilient! It's
amazing what a smoke-free
environment and proper diet can do!)

He still doesn't care to be
handled...when I do handle him, he gets stressed, and
crawls back into his
shell for awhile (sometimes a day or two).

I leave his door open
whenever we are home, and he has taken to sitting in his doorway and looking
around. When he sees my other parrot walking around on the floor, Niko looks
like he might try and fly down, but he isn't sure of himself yet. If he does get
to the point that he can fly, we will be sure to trim his flight feathers. He
has crawled around the outside of his cage, but has gotten scared when he has
done so. I think he is still testing the waters (so to speak) of the outside of
his cage.

He gets excited to see me (and my husband) when we come home
for work, or in the morning when he knows he is getting fresh "nummies". Even though he
isn't a people bird, I think he still enjoys having humans around. He still hops
around the bottom of his cage when he feels like being silly, and he will either
hang on the side of the cage, or sit in his doorway and flap his wings. When he
hops, or flaps his wings, I say "wheeeeee", and it seems to encourage him to do it
more.

He loves my other parrot, but is sassy. I will hold my other
parrot up to Niko, and Niko will try to bite my other parrot (I always make sure
to keep distance between the two). Even though he tries to bite my other parrot,
he always watches what he is doing and tries to get as close as he can to him.
My other parrot still has no interest in Niko, which I suppose is good in that
it means he won't miss him too much when he does find a home.

He
certainly isn't the same bird that I brought home a couple of months ago.

That's it for now...I just wanted to update you on how Niko is doing.

If you can provide a home to Niko where he can be a bird and take things slowly, please stop by and we can make an arrangement for you to meet him. It's truly amazing to play a part in the transformation of a sad, terrified parrot into one with confidence and moxie!

1 comment:

Mary said...

What a sweet update!