Alumni story: Mali

We like to post updates from parrots who have been placed through CARE.  One benefit of this is to show people that older, rehomed parrots can make great companions.

That's the case for Mali, a senegal parrot (named Penelope when she was at CARE.)  Unfortunately, we never featured her on the blog, so I can't link to that post, but we just received a wonderful update on her progress that we wanted to share!

From her new owner:

Mali is doing great! When we brought her home, we gave her a short tour of  the 1st floor of the house, and then we put her in her cage. She walked right in, checked it out side to side and top to bottom.

Within 2 days, she was saying Grami (probably because the kids say it so often). By the end of the week, she added a garbled version of Mali, and every time we ask her to "step up" out of the cage, she says "aww." She says Hi, Adri, K'mere (come here) every day. One day she said "I love you", clear as a bell! It was so perfect, I was shocked, because it sounded more like a 4 year old child than her normal Senegal voice, but I can't seem to get her to say it again.

We had 18 people here for Thanksgiving, and she was very sweet to anyone that wanted to hold or talk to her. I've had some sort of sinus thing for almost 3 weeks, so of course, she is copy-coughing. She gets really excited with her morning routine of cage cleaning, water & food.

I'm learning what she doesn't like so much, and also her favorites. Every day, the first thing she grabs from her bowl, is the Nutriberry. At dinner, she is a chatter box. Her cage is by my chair, and I share a bite of everything with her. 

I can't thank you enough for allowing us to adopt her! She is the perfect addition to our family, we all love her and I can't imagine life without her.

Snickers Update

We introduced you to Snickers here. He was going to be one of the birds featured last week because we couldn't understand why he took so long to find a home. He'd probably tell you it's because sometimes good things are worth the wait!

Thank you to his new owners for giving him such a wonderful home. We look forward to hearing about his exploits in his new home!



He's been in his new home for over a month now, and doing really well! Here is a recent picture, along with an update:

From his new family:

In less than 3 weeks, Snickers has blossomed into an unexpected delight. Having 3 Senegals, I wanted a bigger bird that talked more and was easily trick trainable. When I went out to CARE to get a few supplies, I was not specifically looking to adopt. I wanted to see the greys Lori had.

Well, Snickers kind of attached himself to me. He talks all the time, some things we can't understand. Others come out as though a person was speaking, like "Better call a lawyer", hmmmmm.

Last night he said, something and "shoot me". He is becoming very gentle. I am absolutely thrilled to have him. He is very happy here, I can tell. Lori and the gang at CARE do a wonderful job rehabbing these precious creatures to be adoptable. I call Snickers my new used bird and always get a chuckle. Thank you.

Skye Update

We introduced you to Skye, here.

Skye turned out to be very lucky, as she was adopted into a wonderful home!

Here she is, meeting her new flock-mate, Edison:

And eating some of her favorite food:

Skye is quickly settling in to her new life where she will be a much-loved member of the family. Though her early life wasn't the best, that's all changed now.

Thanks to her new family for giving her a fantastic home!

Alumni story: Tango & Ellie

It's been three months since our last update on Tango -- he's still doing extremely well! Look at him -- does it get any cuter than this?

Tango's owner was so pleased with how everything was going that they were considering adding another bird to their house.

What perfect timing as CARE had a parrot that desperately needed to go into a foster home -- a Congo African Grey, Ellie. While most parrots do very well at the Center, there are some that don't do as well. They have trouble adapting to the relative chaos after having lived in a private home. In those cases, we work to place the bird in a foster home.

Though a grey hadn't been what they were thinking about, Tango's owner agreed to foster Ellie, and things have gone even better than expected!

Here are the two of them, hanging out:
With the nicer weather, they have been going outside to get some natural sunlight. It's important to remember to always have your parrot properly restrained when they are outside -- in a cage, (like here), carrier, or harness. Even if their wings are clipped, they can be gone in an instant, never to be seen again.

Tango has a big attraction to greys. He doesn't physically interact with them, but he loves to talk to them and they perk up his spirits. When he was at the Center, whenever he'd see a grey, he'd get excited and start saying "hello!" Interestingly enough, he did this with every grey, and with no other species of parrot!

Ellie went to her foster home, and the magic happened. As Tango's owner wrote, "Tango likes Ellie. And Ellie likes me."

Sometimes when a new bird is added to the house, the old bird can act jealous of the interloper. In this case, Tango welcomed a new friend and both birds quickly adapted to the new routine.

A big thank you to Tango's owner for giving Tango and Ellie such fantastic lives. What a fabulous success story!

Alumni Story: Bart

Earlier this year, Bart, a male cockatiel, was adopted. Here he is with his new buddy, Mork:Since parrots are flock animals and learn from their flock, Mork has become friendlier since Bart arrived, actively seeking human interaction.

Far too often, people overlook the smaller parrots, but they bring just as much joy as the larger guys, and here's another story that proves it!

Alumni story: Tango

We last updated you on Tango, the severe macaw, here. In case you don't want to go to the link, as a reminder Tango was a very personable severe macaw who'd stolen the hearts of all of the volunteers and many of the visitors to the Center. He had an amazing personality and loved to sing and dance -- reveling in being the center of attention!

Tango had been with us for quite some time; over a year. We needed a very special home for him. One that could deal with the emotional demands of this spitfire, and also the physical demands. It's a bit hard to see in the pictures, but Tango has a scissor-beak which requires frequent trimming. We needed to be sure that his new home would be able to provide this service to him, as otherwise his lower beak could overgrow and he would have trouble eating. We'd had him surrendered to us like that, and couldn't risk it again.

Tango agrees that it was worth the wait for such a perfect home! They sent us this recent picture entitled "Dancing Before Dinner":
Of course this happy fellow would be dancing -- what else could we expect from him?

Tango and his new family hit it off immediately. And, to make things even better, his new owner works in a vet office and is friends with a vet, so he gets in-home servicing of his beak.

Over the months, Tango has become a cherished member of the family. In fact, his owner recently sent this to us: "I know everybody thinks this about their own birds but we have the best green bird ever. Can't imagine life without him. We must have been being real good cause we have been blessed with him." I know the feeling is mutual! The first few years of Tango's life weren't the best, but he's made up for that now.

Alumni story: Super Squirrel

Sorry it's been so long since our last update. I've been writing this too often lately and will try to be more vigilant! Things have been fine at the Center; the volunteer who writes the blog (me) has been busy but I promise to recommit so you can see what's going on up here!

Though the vast majority of our placements are birds, we do occasionally help to place other animals. We work closely with animal control and will do what we can to make sure no other animals are euthanized for space, although birds remain our priority.

Not too long ago, we were asked to take a gerbil from animal control. He was placed in a great home and is doing very well! Here's a recent picture:
He is eating very well and exercising on his wheel. He is very loved, and is just one of the many animals getting a second (or third, fourth, fifth) chance thanks to your support!

Alumni story: Bobber (MoJo)

A few months ago, we introduced you to Bobber, a gorgeous male cockatiel. He had such a wonderful personality, we knew whoever adopted him would be very lucky as he is a joy to be around. It took a few months, but he's found that perfect home!

Here he is, giving a kiss to his owner:He thinks it was worth the wait!

That dirt on his face is leftover fresh food. Cockatiels can be messy eaters!

His family renamed him MoJo, and he's looking at this name change as a new start in life. We love to hear these success stories! As we've written many times here, cockatiels are often overlooked because of their small size. This is a shame, as they often have fantastic personalities and just need someone to help them develop their potential.

MoJo really lucked out. Thanks so much to his new family for making him so happy!

Alumni story: Fred

Meet Fred, a beautiful Moluccan Cockatoo. It is very rare to see an adult fully feathered Moluccan Cockatoo in captivity, as they are among the parrots that suffer most in our homes. Though Fred was hatched in captivity, he didn't really have any exposure to humans until he was 8 years old. We suspect this might be the reason he is so well-adjusted now.Fred was adopted by a very patient woman who allowed him to come to her on his own. As stated above, he wasn't used to people, but he learned to trust his new owner. Soon, an amazing transformation took place as an incredible bond formed.

Fred had an adventurous summer several years ago. His owner was bringing him here for a nail and wing trim. She placed him in the carrier she always used. Being a cockatoo, Fred had steadily enlarged the holes in the plastic of the carrier and escaped through them while being brought to the car!

Fred ended up spending over a month outside, flying around the trees in Milwaukee. His owner never gave up hope and, with the help of friends and neighbors, managed to get him back. The vet bills necessary to bring him back to health after his escape totaled over $2,000! But he is back to perfect health now.

He serves as a reminder about how important to make sure your bird is safely contained while outside. His story had a happy ending, but not all do.

Fred was recently boarding here while his owner was on vacation. He is very mechanically inclined and managed to escape out of several different cages, despite our best efforts at rigging up a Fred-proof cage. Finally, we found a cage that could contain him. His owner told us that he has escaped from his cage at home on occasion as well!
As always, if you're thinking about adding a cockatoo to your house (not Fred -- he's got a home!) , please visit mytoos. As always, if you're going there at work, be aware that cockatoo noises will start while you're on the welcome page.

Alumni story: Cinder

Cinder came to us several years ago when a local pet store shut down. He had spent several years living in the pet store. That is not a good formative environment for a bird! He was frequently harassed by people sticking their hands in his cage. As a result, at a young age, he learned to defend himself by biting.

Cinder lucked out by finding a great home, with a family who'd recently lost their timneh. He realized that he didn't need to bite to communicate, though he still will occasionally try, so his family has to be on alert for his body language!

I'm not sure why these pictures are showing up so small, but here is Cinder on one of his play stands:And another picture:
Cinder is definitely one of the lucky ones, despite an unhappy beginning.

Meet Jerry

Meet Jerry, a mousebird. He stayed at the Center for several months while looking for the right home. Mousebirds (micebird?) are not very common in captivity. They do well when housed with other mousebirds.

Jerry was so social that he even perked up when housed near finches! He wouldn't be happy as an only mousebird, so we kept up the hunt for a home for him where he could have a companion.

And wouldn't you know that we found that home for Jerry? His new owner is very experienced with mousebirds. She was able to cuddle him immediately upon meeting him -- it was love at first sight for both of them!

She's told us that he gets along well with her other mousebird. What a happy ending for Jerry!

Meet Keegan

Meet Keegan, a white-capped pionus who's approximately 4 years old. Actually, we featured Keegan on this blog several years ago, as an alum. Like all adoptions, when it happened, we hoped that Keegan would live out his life in that family. However, that didn't happen in his case.

He's a victim of family upheaval -- his owners are getting divorced and no one was able to take him with them.
When I put my hand in his cage to have him step up, he ran over and jumped on my hand -- perhaps he remembered being here before? He then started emitting this wonderful happy Pionus scent. Yum!His previous owners reported that he can be cage aggressive at times, but other than that is a very sweet bird.

Pionus have incredible feather coloring that this photographer didn't do justice to. He is inquisitive and intelligent and will really thrive in a loving, stable home. If you think that might describe your house, stop by to meet him to see if sparks fly!

Alumni story: Henry

Henry is an extremely large Harlequin macaw. He was surrendered to CARE last year when his owners' illnesses worsened and they had to find new homes for all of their parrots.Henry stayed at the Center for several months, awaiting the right home. Because he's so large, he intimidates many people. When macaws sense fear, they frequently play a "scare the human" game. We've seen it hundreds of times here. Sometimes, the macaws even laugh after they've scared the human! This is a problem because if it's allowed to continue, can lead to aggression and biting.

When Henry met his human, it was love at first sight. Last week, Henry came in to get his nails trimmed. His owner agreed to let me take this picture and put it on the blog.

What a wonderful life Henry now leads. I guess he just had to scare away all of those potential adopters because he knew someone special was waiting for him.

Alumni story: Scooter

Scooter is an alumnus that we featured several years ago, here. When he was surrendered to us seven years ago, he was very phobic. We thought he might become a resident because his behavior made him extremely difficult to place. And he did stay with us at the Center for about two years. Then, although still very scared, he went home to live with a volunteer with whom he'd formed a bond.

What an amazing transformation this volunteer and her family made on this bird! It wasn't easy, and it did take time, but just look at the results!


Scooter was up at the Center last week to be groomed. I was going around, taking pictures and videos of the birds and asked who this playful, happy umbrella cockatoo was. Imagine my shock when I was told it was Scooter.

It's hard to believe this is the same creature. Years ago, he would tremble in the corner and try to avoid human contact. Last week, he was dancing and showing off for me, and literally jumped on my arm when I asked him to step up.

Once again, a success story and testament to the amazing resiliency of parrots.

Alumni story: Chipper

The best part of what we do is when a bird finds a great home. We love hearing success stories and post some here when given permission. Especially when there are adorable pictures!

The reason that Chipper found a home was a sad one, but turned out to be good luck for him. A family had a happy flock of four finches. One died after spending several days at the vet, and they wanted to even up the numbers again in order to have harmony. That was Chip's lucky break.

Here are all four of the finches. Their owner had rearranged all of the cage furnishings in hopes of lessening any territoriality and aiding finch friendships to form.

If you look closely, you can see parts of all four finches in this picture:
Here's Chipper, the CARE alum and new bird on the block:
And here is Chipper with his new flockmate, Holmes:
Chipper's owner discovered that he loves cucumbers, so he now gets them regularly. What a lucky bird he was to have found his way to such a wonderful home!

Perky -- another happy story

What a wonderful week we've had in terms of updates from parrots we've placed! Perky is a sulfur-crested cockatoo that was particularly challenging to place. He had severe aggression issues and we needed to find exactly the right home for him. This was a case where the bird really needed to pick his person instead of the other way around.

Perky made a good choice, as the person he picked was interested in adopting him!

Here is an update we recently received, along with this picture:

As I am E-mailing, Perky is in the cage right next to me. He is doing fantastic! He is so soft and fluffy now; remember how he had no downys at all before?

He and my Congo African Grey talk back and forth. I have never put them together as I do not want to risk any physical aggression between the two, but they like being side by side in their cages. One of their more humorous interactions comes when my CAG says, "What's your name?" and he replies "Perky Bird!" They also exchange a lot of hellos (what polite and gracious parrots I have!).

He is out with me most of the day when I am home. I'm still trying to figure him out and what triggers his screaming. But, from what I hear about Toos, it's just something they do. And I'm lucky because he doesn't do it that much, just occasionally.

He'll also yell, "Bye Bye!" and I really think it's when he wants to be alone.

Alumni story: Sage

As we mention to adopters as they leave with their new flock member, and as we've said on this blog numerous times, we love getting updates about our former residents!

Our goal is to place every parrot into a home where they will receive the love, care, and attention they deserve. It's so nice to receive confirmation when that happens!

Sage is an Indian Ringneck Parakeet that was adopted from us.



Her owner sent these pictures, along with the following update:

She is a total ham, and easily has the biggest personality of all of my birds. She also out-talks my Amazon, and is an absolute chatter box.

She now lets people pet her which surprises even me! My Dad comes over and takes video of her, he likes her so much.

She was in BirdTalk magazine a few months back (I think it was Jan 09) in the Watch The Birdie page. Did you see her?! The little star;) She is very happy, healthy and well adjusted. She is super active, and a big acrobat. I can't understand how someone would have wanted to give her away. She is such a little charmer!

Stories like this are part of why we continue to do what we do. Previously unwanted and unappreciated, Sage landed in a wonderful home where she flourishes.

What a beauty! I love the nuances of color; especially on her wings and head!

So often people think that birds in rescues have problems that preclude them from being happy, loving companions. As most people reading this know, that couldn't be further from the truth!

Dancing Amazons

One of our volunteers made this video of two of her amazons dancing, singing, and whistling.

A nice reminder to take some time out of your day to enjoy and have fun with your parrots!

Their owner was diagnosed with alveolitis and had to rehome some of her birds. CARE helped to find a few birds homes with volunteers. Rio boarded with us on a long-term basis until Rio went to a sanctuary.

Alumni story

We received the following in an e-mail, and the author gave us permission to put this story on the blog. Paco is an African Ringneck Parakeet that was adopted from CARE and Punkin is a Peach-faced Lovebird.

Just wanted to tell you that I purchased a 3-4" ball from CARE last night along with food for the birds at home. The ball was for Paco because of its size. I got it home and showed it to him and he was completely terrified of it and climbed to the back of his cage and literally yelled at me.

So time to employ Plan B.

Punkin's cage is in the other room and she can see pretty much the length of our house. I threw the ball on the floor and sort of played soccer with it all the way to her cage. She was completely overwhelmed by the time I got within 5 feet of her cage. I picked up the ball and let her look at it, then dropped it in her cage. She spent the next hour just squealing and chirping and pushing that ball around like we have never seen her do before. It just made us laugh. It was the best $3 I have ever spent!!!

PS: I know that once Paco sees that Punkin has so much fun with it he'll want one just like it.

As we've stated before, we love hearing stories about how well birds that have come through CARE are faring! Many of our former residents come back for grooming and/or boarding, and it's always fun to see a familiar face again!

State Fair: Saturday 8/2/08

Today was Alumni Day at our booth at the Fair.

We had several volunteers who brought their second-hand parrots along. These birds included:

• Sydney -- Moluccan Cockatoo -- adopted three years ago
• Marco -- Congo African Grey -- 4 years old -- adopted one year ago
• Charmin -- Eclectus -- 4 years old -- adopted three years ago
• Boca -- Bronze-winged Pionus -- 4 years old -- adopted three years ago
• Addison -- Moluccan Cockatoo -- 3 years old -- adopted one year ago
  

Peaches, an 8 year old Moluccan Cockatoo currently up for adoption also came along.

We had a good time greeting lots of people - the weather was perfect and the crowd was huge. As usual, the birds were fantastic and let lots of people handle them. If a bird ever does not enjoy going to events like these, he or she is taken back home as we don't want to stress them out. Luckily, most birds love the new experiences and attention.

Our presentations were about the alumni, plus info about Moluccans and, of course, the fact that Peaches was available for adoption.

As we've mentioned here before, parrots are amazingly resilient, and it's wonderful to see how quickly they can adapt to new and improved living environments once they find the right home.

If anyone is interested in adopting Peaches, or in adding a cockatoo to their home, please first visit MyToos. (Please note that loud cockatoo screams are in the background of the first page of this site, so be careful if you're at work!) Cockatoos are wild animals requiring conditions that the average pet owner cannot provide and, as such, often face terrible neglect in captivity.

Marco:Addison:Peaches (up for adoption):
All in all, it was a very pleasant day and the birds (and volunteers) had a great time. Hope the weather holds for Sunday!