State Fair: Sunday 8/10/08

On the last day of the Fair, we brought:

• Mango, 7 year old female Ducorps Cockatoo (resident)
• Buckie, 23 year old female Mexican Redhead Amazon (resident)
• Angel, 7 year old female Moluccan Cockatoo (adoptable)
• Lupe, 1 year old male Quaker Parakeet (adoptable)
  

You may notice that we take many of the same birds several times throughout the run of the Fair. We are very sensitive to the birds' needs. There are birds whose personalities indicate that they won't enjoy a trip to the Fair. There are also birds who revel in the attention, and those are the birds who accompany us more than once. We closely monitor the birds' interactions and reactions and will take them for a rest, or even back to the Center if they are unhappy.

The last day of the Fair again was great weather and big crowds.

Our presentations were on Mango, with our posterboard of how she looked when she came in to us, and of course her "after" being in person. People were amazed at how well she healed up. Additionally, we talked about diet with Buckie (who has severe disabilities and a shortened lifespan because of previous malnutrition), showcased Angel as an excellent cockatoo pet (once again, if you're considering adding a cockatoo to your home, spend hours reading MyToos), and talked once again about Quaker Parakeets (we currently have almost 10 up for adoption).

We sold a lot of toys today - I think people waited until the last day of the Fair to purchase what they needed. We were amazed at the sales - good thing, too, a lot less to carry back. Once 6 p.m. came around, we packed up all our belongings, cleaned our area, and headed back to the shelter - until next year.

Again, the director of the barn applauded us on our professionalism and the way we handle both the birds and the crowds. We have been invited back next year and, of course, we graciously agreed to return.

Another great year at the Fair - we really were able to meet a lot of new people this year and spread the word about what we do and our knowledge of birds.

Hopefully in the next few weeks, we will have lots of new visitors at the shelter. We hope this translates into some of our adoptable birds finding good, lifelong homes.

Can't wait for the 2009 Wisconsin State Fair!