Had a two year old Congo African Grey surrendered yesterday.  He's a super bird but is really scared.  We'll give him a few days to adjust.  He should be up for adoption soon - his name is Einstein.  We also had four English Budgies surrendered and they will also be available for adoption soon.  We're expecting 10-15 zebra finches from a shelter partner to be delivered tomorrow as well.  Driving up to Appleton today to pick up some supplies.  Have a good one.

Great day today.  One of our favorite customers who moved away (sad face) donated the $100 we needed to get the two moluccan cockatoos to sanctuary.  Thank you very much, Tim, we really appreciate it.  On another good note, Bonnie the Mexican Redheaded Amazon, went to her new home today.  She just came in on Saturday - we never even got her up on Petfinder.  Thanks, Janeen, for giving her a good home. It's been a long emotional day - can't wait to get home to my fur and feather babies!

Three Toos Left for Sanctuary Today

Just got back from taking the white cockatoos to Chris who will get them to the airport for their trip to Macaw Rescue & Sanctuary out in Carnation, WA.  Little Fred, Beauty and Casper will all have a great time living it up with their feathered friends.  No more unrealistic expectations from humankind.  I'm so happy for them. Thank you, Bob, for taking them in.  We still have the Moluccan Cockatoos to go out yet but we need another $100 to get them there.  If we can raise the $100 by next week, Big Fred and Buck will be on their way to Cockatoo Rescue & Sanctuary.  If you can help, we'd really appreciate it.

Toy Playing

On Sunday at the Open House that we attended at our Vet Clinic, we had three different people come and ask what we had for toys for doves. They didn't know they played with toys. I also had an email from a very good customer of ours thanking us for the rosy bourke she adopted and said that everything she read said that rosies were not good toy players, but that Poppy loved her toys. I told her that breeders often don't know that birds play with toys because they don't give them toys to play with. ALL birds will play with toys once they know what they are for. We were able to help these three individuals find appropriate toys for their doves and will continue to educate people the fact that birds need a job and toys, or enrichment as we call it, can be the difference between a healthy, happy bird and a feather plucked screamer.

Brook-Falls Vet Hospital Open House

Today we spent three hours at Brook-Falls Veterinary Hospital & Exotic Care for their Open House. Dr. Bloss and Dr. Waliszewski are the two veterinarians who take care of our shelter birds. We had a great time. The two other groups, Wanakia Wildlife and Schlitz Audubon were able to bring birds/wildlife but it was too cold for our exotic birds. We were in a tent outside. However, we took information and lots of toys and accessories to sell and had a really good day. Talked with several people with doves who didn't know they played with toys, so we set them up with some cool stuff. Can't wait to hear back from them. And it's still early enough to have some quality time with my pet birds and dogs. Have a great evening - stay warm!

Saturday at CARE

were adopted today. Lots of activity with the new ones coming in. We are now up to 308 birds surrendered this year. Still have 51 on the waiting list. Sherrie brought us boxes of material and miscellaneous items which we will go thru tomorrow. Thanks, Sherrie. She's always there to help us out. Have a great night. Tomorrow, Mary and I will be at the Brook-Falls Veterinary Hospital and Exotic Care Open House from 12-3. We will be there with lots of toys for sale as well as information about us. If you're in the Menomonee Falls, WI area, stop by and say hi.Wow - we were super busy today. BRATS dropped off three birds from DCHS - a male Mexican Redheaded Amazon, a Canary-Winged Parakeet and a very naked, but very sweet, Indian Ringneck Parakeet. We also had a 14 year old budgie and a 10 year old cockatiel surrendered, as well as one heck of a sweet Quaker Parakeet. Roxy, the Canary-Winged Parakeet, and Licorice, a beautiful dark factor Cockatiel,

Less Adoptable Pet of the Day: Pickles

Pickles has been here for about 6 months.  He is 6 years old and lived with an older man for the first part of his life.  The man had surgery and could no longer care for Pickles.  Pickles will be an awesome bird for a single owner.  He talks, makes all kinds of noises and is generally a nice bird for a single person.  Pickles wants ALL the attention and will do what he needs to get it.  If you are a single person, and plan to stay that way, and want an exceptionally cool little friend, Pickles could be the bird for you. 

Cockatoos to Sanctuary Part 2

Thanks to a very generous donor, we have reached the halfway point in getting these cockatoos to their new home.  We'd like to get them out there next week, so if anyone can even donate $5, it will be a help.  This is the link to where they are going. http://www.macawrescueandsanctuary.org/.  We have previously sent two senior wild caught Goffins out there, and they acclimated very well.  Casper, the Goffins we are sending out (pictured above), is also wild caught and not hand tame.  They tell us the wild caughts acclimate almost immediately.  Casper has lived in a cage all his life - it's time for him to be in a flight with his own kind.  Both male toos have aggression issues and are not adoptable - this will be a place where they can just be birds.  Please help us out if you can.  We appreciate it.

Today was a slow day - we need those every once in a while. However, DCHS contacted us about taking a plucked Indian Ringneck Parakeet, a Canary-Winged Parakeet and a 27 year old female Mexican Redheaded Amazon. Even though we have a long waiting list for surrenders, we never turn down a shelter partner, so I'm guessing these three birds will be arriving either tomorrow or Saturday. Will update you more when they arrive.

Less Adoptable Pet of the Day: Lucy

Less Adoptable Pet of the Day is Lucy, a 9 year old female Blue and Gold Macaw. She is not interested in being handled, although she steps up on a stick. She is plucked but some feathers are coming back, don't know if she'll ever be fully feathered again. She is hilarious though. She talks and sings and is very social in her cage or on a stand. We all love her here. She would be fine with an experienced large bird owner but she is definitely not a first-time bird. Contact us if you are interested in learning more about Lucy. She has been vet checked, including bloodwork.

Good morning.  We have really good news today.  We have a couple of cockatoos here that need to go to sanctuary - they are not adoptable for various reasons.  Yesterday Bob at Macaw Rescue & Sanctuary agreed to take all three of them.  We previously sent several Goffins out to Bob and they are thriving in his environment.  Seems like I am always asking for money, but we need to get them to Bob, along with a donation to Bob for their care.  We will need to purchase tickets for the three, plus purchase carriers for the flight.  You can't just use dog/cat kennels - they have very specific criteria for birds - no one wants to get bit.  So we are asking if you all can help us raise $600 in the next few days.  If we can raise this amount, we can order the carriers and get reservations for them to go next week. Not only is this great news for the birds but it will also open up three cages for us.  We now have 51 birds on our surrender list waiting to come in.  Thank you in advance for you help.  We couldn't do it without you.

Less Adoptable Pet of the Day: Darla

Less Adoptable Pet of the Day is Darla, the Lesser Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo. Darla is a male of unknown age. In February 2010, we got a call from MADACC asking us to help remove parrots from a home on the south side where the woman died and had no surviving relatives. There were 18 of them. Luckily, she had written their names on their cups so at least we had names on them, but that was all.

Darla is the last of those birds looking to find a new home. Darla is a man's bird and chooses his friends. He likes to play with toys and isn't the loudest cockatoo we've ever seen. He needs a nice man to take him in and love him. He's been vet checked and is in great feather. He is a fun little man. Hope his new family comes to get him soon....Sorry we don't have a current pic of him ... will get that up tomorrow.

Less Adoptable Pets of the Day today are Peeps and Squirt, two female lovebirds. They are not handlable but get along really well and it is a lot of fun just watching them play and interact. Untame lovebirds are usually here at lot longer than the handlable ones, but for someone who doesn't have a lot of time and wants a bird, these ladies would fit the bill perfectly. Let us know if you're interested in adopting Peeps and Squirt.  That's Peep looking out of her hut - Squirt is behind her.

Wisconsin Humane Society Workshop

Last night we did a workshop at Wisconsin Humane Society for staff and volunteers. It was great fun and I think everyone enjoyed it. We took Joey, our U2 mascot, and he was a riot as usual. It was an intensive 2-hour workshop on how to take care of birds properly, including nutrition and cage setup. I was so impressed with the amount of people that attended. And their questions were awesome. We all need to work together to help our animal friends and I am really glad WHS reached out to us for education. We enjoy working with other shelters. Joey is really crabby today, though, cuz he was up two hours past his bedtime :)

This week is Celebrate Adopt-A-Less-Adoptable-Pet Week and we will be featuring a "less adoptable pet" each day this week. Today we are featuring Macchu Picchu, our teenaged Sun Conure. His special need is that he only has one leg. He gets

around his cage just fine, though, and will step up nicely on a stick for you. He is also very friendly with like-sized birds. If you think he would fit nicely into your home, give us a shout.