We brought along a nice mix of residents, adoptable birds, and alumni. They included
- Bisbee -- 4 years old -- White-capped Pionus
- Joey -- 22 years old -- Umbrella Cockatoo
- Shelby -- 7 months old -- Cape Parrot
- Pretzel -- 8 years old -- female Quaker
- Big Fred -- 10 years old -- Moluccan Cockatoo
- Little Fred -- 10 years old -- Umbrella Cockatoo
The Freds are alumni and live in the same house. As you can imagine, it can get confusing; hence the modifiers of "Big" and "Little" before their names!
Since it was the weekend, there were 7 volunteers that came along.
Bisbee came to us several months ago. He was kept in a tiny cage, and had inadequate physical, psychological, and emotional care. We were told he was a vicious biter. After spending some time with us, we've found that nothing could be further from the truth! Bisbee is an adorable parrot that just needed someone that understood him. He stepped up for everyone, reveled in the attention, and is looking for his forever home!
Along with our normal presentation of the challenges of keeping birds in captivity, we had a cautionary tale. One of the volunteers, M., spoke about her experience last summer with Big Fred, a Moluccan Cockatoo. (This picture is not of Fred, but of another Moluccan Cockatoo that was in our facility).
Last summer, Big Fred got out of his carrier. He had chewed through the sides and M. didn't think that he could fit through the hole in the side. Was she ever surprised when he escaped and flew up in a tree! It took about a month to get him down. It was an interesting story and shows that accidents do happen. It's also a reminder to make sure that conditions are safe for your birds at all times -- they rely on us to protect them! Even birds with trimmed wings can fly away in the blink of an eye -- it only takes slight gust of wind and they can go quite far. CARE recommends only having birds outside when they are properly confined -- for example an outdoor cage, carrier, or harness.
Two of the volunteers that were with us on Sunday, B. and G., have been an incredible help with our toy-making. If you've been to the Center, you've seen all of the toys that we sell. We design and make many of them. All of the proceeds from the sale of toys and food go to support the Center. Our goal is to be self-sufficient and to not have to rely on the sometimes unsteady flow of donations. B. and G. have been purchasing, cutting, and drilling wood for our toys. Since they live over an hour away from CARE, this allows them to help out on a regular basis. Thanks!
Here is a picture of another Umbrella Cockatoo (not Fred). Unfortunately, I don't appear to have any pictures of the birds who went to the Fair Sunday on my computer!
And here is a quaker. Once again, not Pretzel, and Kelly, pictured below, has since found a home. We have many quakers currently up for adoption. Unfortunately, many people breed quakers because they are relatively inexpensive, so it doesn't take a lot of foresight or capital to set them up for breeding. This means that there is often a glut of quakers looking for homes. Additionally, they are illegal to keep as pets in many states.
If you are considering adding a bird to your house, please adopt from a shelter instead of supporting pet stores and breeders that are exacerbating the growing problem of homeless parrots.
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