Joey turns 25!

Today, February 14, 2011, Joey turned 25! Here he is with Lori, his favorite person.Like most parrots, cockatoos can live a very long time. Joey is probably not yet middle-aged. But now he can rent a car :)

Reminder: Rainforest Night at the Domes

Just a reminder that CARE representatives will be at Rainforest Night at the Domes tonight from 6-9. The Domes are located at: 524 S. Layton Blvd., Milwaukee, WI 53215.

Here is Joey, who will be there. He loves going out in public and meeting new people! When we reminded him yesterday that he'd be going today, he got very excited!Other birds scheduled to be in attendance include: Tango, Daisy, Tangy, and some alumni birds.

We hope to see you there!

Joey performs

Joey, our mascot and resident umbrella cockatoo, frequently brings laughter to our lives. One of our favorite things is when he starts talking about "the puppies."

In his previous home, Joey lived with a dog breeder who frequently had puppies in the house. Even though he hasn't lived with a dog breeder in almost a decade, he will still occasionally talk about the puppies. This is something we've hoped to get on video for a long time!



It's hard to hear on the video, but he's saying "get the puppies" and says that the puppies are "in the chichen (kitchen)" Sometimes he'll call the puppies, or tell us that the puppies want to go outside (though not in this video). It's a bit hard to hear, but he also pants like a dog in between talking about the puppies.

The supervisor

We have some amazing volunteers who buy, cut, and drill the wood we use in many of the toys we make. Other volunteers dye the wood and assemble the toys. These toys are sold to help support the Center, and also are given to birds who are (temporarily or permanently) staying with us. (And, if any of you are reading this, thanks again!)

Joey, the Center's mascot, was supervising wood dying last week:Parrots love to be part of the action! They are flock animals. In the wild, a lone bird is often a dead bird, as they are more susceptible to predator attacks. Frequently being left alone and unable to communicate with their flock is one reason why many companion birds develop behavior problems, including screaming (for attention) or plucking (from frustration).

One way to deepen your bond with your parrot is to have him "help" you with your day-to-day activities. It can be helpful to have perches or playstands in various rooms of the house for this purpose.

Of course, you have to be sure that the activity is parrot-safe, and that the parrot can't escape or be injured by the activity (be careful of chemicals)! But, if you're taking a shower, let your parrot perch on the shower curtain. Doing laundry? Mine love to come downstairs and perch on the dryer. Reading the paper? There's a parrot on my lap!

It may take longer to get the task accomplished -- having to stop and acknowledge the parrot is a given! -- but it will help to make your bond even stronger.

If you've visited the shelter, you've probably met our mascot, Joey. His story was told in a previous entry. Here is a video of him in our retail area. Can you see the dark marks on his crest? Joey loves to play with newspaper!

Today is Joey's birthday and he's 21, not 22. How could I forget his finally turning legal! He got a special toy today, with lots of corn on it - that's his favorite but he doesn't get it very often, so it's still a treat for him. I am using the corn as his reinforcement with his clicker training so he only gets it for special occasions. His eyes lit up when he saw the toy - I'm sure it will be gone by morning, but it's worth seeing the expression on his face. Stop by soon and say hi to Joe.

Wednesday, February 14th, is Joey's 22nd birthday! As most of you know, Joey the Umbrella Cockatoo is our mascot and Lori's bird. He has been with the Center for almost seven years and Lori adopted him over five years ago.

Joey was surrendered to the Center in October 2000. Lori's sister-in-law ran into a friend of hers at Tosafest that year and asked if she wanted another cockatoo. At the time, Carmen was being fostered by Lori's brother's family. Deb said no, but that Lori was running an exotic bird rescue if they had a bird that they needed to surrender. It was this person's aunt's bird. The aunt called the Center and asked if we could come and pick up her "naughty bird". We took and van over so we could also pick up his cage. Lori told her she's have to sign a release form - and the woman said she would sign it and have Lori sign a form to say she'd never bring the bird back.

What we found out from this woman's caretaker was that Joey's cage was just out of sight of the kitchen, and this woman spent most of her time in the kitchen. Joey would scream for attention and when she couldn't stand it anymore, she would beat him with a fly swatter.

When Joey came to us, you could pet him but he didn't know how to step up and did not trust people at all. It took Lori 1-1/2 years to get him to that point. As soon as he could step up, Lori started taking him everywhere with her, always telling him "it's okay Joey" if he got scared. (To this day, he still says "it's okay Joey" if he gets scared.)

When Lori finally decided that he was adoptable, she found a nice home for him. What Lori didn't realize what how much she loved him and how adopting him out was a horrible mistake. Luckily for Lori, Joey didn't like his new home either. After about a month, the new owner called and said it wasn't working out with Joey. Luckily, there was another really nice male umbrella cockatoo at the Center ready for adoption, so Joey came back and the other cockatoo went to his new home. Lori adopted Joey and they've been together ever since.

Joey has a huge vocabulary and can put words into sentences by himself. He's always asking "puppies, want to go outside? Okay, let's go." He loves to be the center of attention and he's great at our PR events.

If you happen to come in this weekend, remember to say "Happy Birthday" to Joey.