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.

Meet Pickles

Meet Pickles, an approximately 6 year old senegal. He was owned by an elderly man who had to have invasive surgery. We offered to long-term board Pickles, but his owner thought that it wouldn't be fair to Pickles, so he surrendered him instead.Pickles was fed a great diet and is incredibly tame and sweet -- unless he's on his favorite swing, from which he is very aggressive. That's an easy fix -- just wait until he's elsewhere in his cage when you ask him to step up!

Please stop by if you'd like to meet Pickles.

Kahlua Update

The last we mentioned Kahlua was here. During the interim, he had been adopted, but was recently returned.
He remains incredibly sweet and tame. He needs a home that is willing to put forth extra effort. He is incredibly intelligent and gets bored easily. The perfect home for him will allow him plenty of opportunity to exercise his brain and body.

If you think that might be your home, stop by to meet him. It is very confusing to these intelligent creatures when they bounce around from home to home, so we want to ensure that his next home is permanent!

Kahlua Update

It's been almost a month since we've had a Kahlua update.We don't understand how he hasn't been adopted yet. He brings such joy to the volunteers here! It will be a bittersweet day for us when he finally finds his home. We've become attached to this little fellow!That Avicake is as big as his head! He's a strong guy!

Magi Update

Magi is doing incredibly well. While we normally don't advocate allowing parrots on shoulders as that can lead to face bites (even unintentionally), due to Magi's poor balance, he feels safest here. As his feathers regrow and he regains his balance, we will work on getting him off of shoulders and perching on hands/arms where the handler can watch his body language!

Meet Magi

Meet Magi, an absolutely adorable baby senegal. She was purchased from a local pet store. She is only 18 months old! It is heartbreaking.

At the time these pictures were taken, Magi had been with us for less than a week. During those few days, she has made incredible feather growth progress -- imagine what she looked like before!

Magi will be going in for a full vet work-up shortly (and by the time this post is published, it's likely she'll already have been to the vet), though we suspect she was pulling out her feathers due to a peanut allergy. In her previous home, she was fed a diet of almost exclusively peanuts and peanut butter. We have eliminated all peanuts from her diet.
We have to be very careful when handling Magi -- you will see one of our volunteer's hands behind her, ready to catch her should she fall. Because she has no tail feathers and almost no wing feathers, she would fall like a rock and risk potential serious injury.

Part of the reason Magi was surrendered is that she loved her owner, a woman, but hated that woman's husband. Instead of working out a solution that would allow Magi to stay in her home, the husband issued an ultimatum (either you get rid of that bird or I will). Because she loved her so much, Magi's owner did the compassionate thing and surrendered her to us.Magi willingly steps up and seeks out the attention of humans. She is not yet up for adoption, as we need to get her health issues figured out. But once she is stable, she will make a loving companion for some lucky person!

Kahlua Update

Kahlua, the senegal we introduced to you last month, is still here. He was helping us to stock the shelves last week. And by helping, I mean keeping us company! What else could you ask for from a parrot?Sometimes we get parrots who are so well-mannered we don't understand why they haven't been adopted yet. Kahlua is one of those parrots. Many poicephalus parrot are one person birds, and it's certainly possible that Kahlua will be one in a home environment, but at the Center, he has been an absolute delight to everyone.

He is very intelligent and curious. His eyes are constantly pinning, as a sign of interest, and he mumbles in his hard-to-understand senegal speak. He frequently laughs along with us, and is a joy to be around.

Of course, he is a wild animal, so there are no guarantees on his behavior in a private home; however we feel strongly that in a loving home where he is provided with the right environment, including activities to keep his mind and body active and healthy, he will be a much-beloved addition to the family. It's just hard to believe that he hasn't become so already!

Meet Kahlua

Meet Kahlua, an absolutely adorable senegal. He suffered the fate of many parrots in that once his family had children, they realized they were no longer able to give him the care and attention that he was used to and deserved.Before losing his home, he was a much-loved member of the family. And it's not hard to see why! Kahlua is so completely adorable. He is extremely outgoing and personable.

He is also very intelligent. His cage door must be locked with a key, or he escapes. His water dish had to be rigged so that he couldn't tip it over.

He absolutely needs a family that will work to make sure his intellectual needs are being met. This will involve different types of toys, and perhaps some trick-training. His eyes are constantly pinning when someone talks to him -- proof of his interest in interaction.

Niko Update

Over the past year and a half, we've occasionally posted updates about Niko, a senegal parrot who was surrendered to us in deplorable conditions. Here are those posts.

We are very happy to report that Niko found a wonderful forever home! Here is what his new family wrote to us:

Niko gets to see a nice variety of weather out his window. He has a very large cage. It is 30 inches wide and 20 inches deep, and 36 inches tall, plus it sits on a stand, so the top of the cage is at 61 inches tall. He gets to look out a sliding glass door and loves all the birds at the feeders in the back yard.

He still plucks his feathers and looks mostly like down. Mid-Summer he actually let all of his feathers grow back, just like a senegal should look. He was really beautiful!!!! I should have taken photos of him then, but I guess I thought he'd stay that way. Towards later summer he plucked them out again. I don't care though as long as he's happy.

He has a lot of perches and boings to climb on. I did this especially since he doesn't have feathers in his wings to fly, so he climbs around. He is a really good eater and
I love giving him a variety of seeds and nuts. You're right in that he loves almonds!!

He has his daily schedule of things to do for the day as well. First thing in the morning, he is very sleepy when I take his cover off his cage. His head is down like he's praying his morning prayers. So cute. Soon he's bright eyed and bushy tailed and making what I call his morning calls. He calls out to the birds outside perhaps. He makes the house very cheery in the morning. I really love hearing his morning chirps and tweets (and some screechy notes thrown in) as he's just so happy!! A couple times during the day he likes to nap.

When I come home, he sees me through the glass and usually greets me with a certain call that sounds like a couple trucks screeching to a halt, and I really love that as well. I come right over to his cage to greet him properly as well!!

My mother has moved in with me as she started with mild ahlzeimers, and she loves him as well. I also have 2 dogs, a basset hound and a shih tzu. So the bird and dogs keep her busy when I'm at work. When I come home, she always has some stories about all that went on during the day, and often it's Niko she talks about.

At night, he loves to watch TV with us and especially likes the noisy parts of the shows and especially music. He loves to add his notes and it's really funny to listen to him and how happy he is being part of the nightly entertainment!! ha!!

My step nephew and neices came up with the nick name of "Firecracker" as that's just what he sounded like they said. That fits him also.

So, I wanted to let you know all is well with little Niko. He is happy and well in his new forever home, and, he is most certainly loved here and thoroughly enjoyed!!!

Hope this finds you well and doing good also.

Thanks for taking such good care of him before us.

Blessings.... and a BIG THANK YOU to you from NIKO !!!!

We LOVE getting reports like these. It's what makes everything worth it. When we first met him, he was terrified and we could not get the smell of cigarette smoke off of him. His foster home did a wonderful job of getting him to trust people again, which ultimately paved the way for him to finally find happiness.

What a great report!

Daphne

Meet Daphne, an incredibly sweet senegal parrot. Daphne was found flying outside, a stray bird. Luckily she was brought to animal control -- a move that likely saved her life since parrots like Daphne can't survive long outside in our climate.

We don't know why Daphne was outside. Perhaps she escaped; perhaps she was let go when her caretakers tired of her (you'd be surprised how frequently that happens, which often means a terrifying death for these tropical birds).


Extensive work was done to try to reunite her with her family, to no avail. If someone was looking for her, she would have been found. Given her gentle personality, it seems likely that she was loved and treated with kindness at some point in her life. We're hoping to bring that to her again by finding her a home where she will be safe.

Daphne is suffering from a mouth infection, so she won't be up for adoption until she gets a clean bill of health -- probably in about a month.

Niko Update

Niko the senegal has been with us for a year now, and he really needs a good home! Here is a link to his story, along with pictures.

What a difference a year makes! Niko is a fantastic bird! He loves coming out of his cage and receiving attention from loving, caring people.

He's been in foster care much of this time, but due to circumstances, his foster home can't keep him much longer, which will mean he'll have to come back and reside at the Center. We'd love to find him a home before that, in order to lessen the stress on him. It will be easier on him if he can move directly from one loving home into another without making an interim stop at the Center.

If you have room in your life for a new friend and think Niko might be a good fit, please fill out a Bird Wanter Questionnaire. We can work together to see if he'd be a good fit and, with any luck, he can be in his new home before Valentine's Day!

Niko's ready for his new home!

We wrote earlier this year about Niko, a scared senegal who came to us from less-than-ideal conditions. He has been living in a foster home for the past several months, and is now ready for adoption!

Here's a picture of Niko shortly after he was surrendered to us:

His foster home writes:

It's been awhile since I've updated you on Niko -- it seems like he is
always doing something new.

I know some of the last pictures I
sent to you were somewhat blurry, but, he has completely grown all of his
chest feathers back. No more white, fuzzy patches, it's all green and orange.
His wings are completely feathered as well...he is still growing his primaries
in, and seems to be leaving them alone. He chewed off the ones that grew in
about a month ago, but seems to be leaving the current ones alone...the same
holds true for his tail feathers. He looks like a completely different bird!!!
(Editor's note: Parrots are so resilient! It's
amazing what a smoke-free
environment and proper diet can do!)

He still doesn't care to be
handled...when I do handle him, he gets stressed, and
crawls back into his
shell for awhile (sometimes a day or two).

I leave his door open
whenever we are home, and he has taken to sitting in his doorway and looking
around. When he sees my other parrot walking around on the floor, Niko looks
like he might try and fly down, but he isn't sure of himself yet. If he does get
to the point that he can fly, we will be sure to trim his flight feathers. He
has crawled around the outside of his cage, but has gotten scared when he has
done so. I think he is still testing the waters (so to speak) of the outside of
his cage.

He gets excited to see me (and my husband) when we come home
for work, or in the morning when he knows he is getting fresh "nummies". Even though he
isn't a people bird, I think he still enjoys having humans around. He still hops
around the bottom of his cage when he feels like being silly, and he will either
hang on the side of the cage, or sit in his doorway and flap his wings. When he
hops, or flaps his wings, I say "wheeeeee", and it seems to encourage him to do it
more.

He loves my other parrot, but is sassy. I will hold my other
parrot up to Niko, and Niko will try to bite my other parrot (I always make sure
to keep distance between the two). Even though he tries to bite my other parrot,
he always watches what he is doing and tries to get as close as he can to him.
My other parrot still has no interest in Niko, which I suppose is good in that
it means he won't miss him too much when he does find a home.

He
certainly isn't the same bird that I brought home a couple of months ago.

That's it for now...I just wanted to update you on how Niko is doing.

If you can provide a home to Niko where he can be a bird and take things slowly, please stop by and we can make an arrangement for you to meet him. It's truly amazing to play a part in the transformation of a sad, terrified parrot into one with confidence and moxie!

Niko is a wild-caught senegal that was released to our Center last weekend. We know that he is at least 17 years old. His owners in his previous home were chain smokers, which we suspect played a role in his feather destructive behaviors. He was kept in a budgie-sized cage and never let out or handled.
When he came to us, we gave him a bath, as it had been years since he'd had one and we wanted to get rid of his smoky smell. After a drenching bath, we towel-dried him, only to realize that both he and the towel STILL smelled of smoke. Taking a cue from wildlife rehabilitation, we gave him a bath in Dawn to help remove the residue. It worked! After his bath in Dawn, we thoroughly rinsed him with plain water and towel-dried him with a new towel. The smoke smell was mostly gone.

In this video, he is stomping around in the bubbles. Note that plain water is usually best for bathing parrots. In this case, extra ammunition was needed, and he was closely supervised for the duration of his bath.

Niko is not currently up for adoption, as he still has some rehabilitation to do. He had a full vet workup earlier in the week, and we await some test results; however, he seemed healthy upon examination. He currently has some balance issues as he has destroyed most of his wing and tail feathers. We hope that his feathering will improve on a better diet and removal from his smoke-filled environment.

Second-hand cigarette smoke is very detrimental to parrots. The adage of "canary in a coal mine" in apt. They have very sensitive respiratory systems. In addition, since most parrots use their feet to bring food to their beaks, if they are perched on a smoker's hand, they are likely to ingest nicotine or any of the other carcinogens that are present.

Niko's life was likely shortened by his time spent in the presence of so much smoke. Once his health has improved, we are looking for a wonderful home for him that will allow him to live out the rest of his days in smoke-free happiness.

Time has been flying by -- we can't believe that 2007 is already half over! During the first 6 months of 2007, CARE had 165 birds surrendered to us. The breakdown by species is as follows:

5 African Greys
5 Amazon Parrots
26 Budgies
46 Cockatiels
3 Cockatoos
8 Conures
13 Doves
13 Finches
1 Lory
24 Lovebirds
7 Macaws
10 Parakeets (Quaker/Mustache)
3 African Parrots (Senegals/Meyers)
1 Button Quail

We are gearing up for the second half of the year, which historically doubles the amount of birds that come in during the first part of the year. As you can see by the diversity of the above list, many different types of good homes are needed on a regular basis.

Please continue to spread the word about our organization so that we can continue to find good homes for these deserving birds.

Although some birds come to us with behavioral problems, others are surrendered because their owners have experienced a change in circumstances, or just have lost interest in their bird.

We have many tame, sweet birds right now that are looking for their forever home. They'd love for you to stop by and meet them!

Toys play such an important part in captive parrots' lives. At the Center, we strive to provide every parrot with several types of toys, including wood, other destructible, preening, foraging, puzzle, leather and beads, etc., etc.!

Strategically placed toys can also provide a hiding place for your prey animal when she just doesn't want to be seen. This is especially important if your parrot's cage is in front of a window, as he will need to have a hiding place in case he sees anything scary outside.

We sell many different toys at the Center, through our retail area and our online store (which we are currently in the process of updating). All proceeds from these sales go directly towards the parrots under the Center's care.

Keeping some parrots in toys can be an expensive proposition! Every year we have parrots surrendered to us with only plastic toys, and sometimes with no perches because "he just destroyed them anyway." But that's the point! Parrots need to destroy! Luckily, there are some low-cost alternatives. Many parrots love chewing on catalogs, magazines, magazine inserts, phone books, adding machine tape, and other inexpensive items.

If you're having trouble finding the perfect toys for your parrot, stop by and we may be able to help!

Here is our wall of Chip'n Chew toys. These wood toys are designed and manufactured by shelter volunteers. We also sell many other toys, manufactured by us and others.



Here is a picture of a senegal parrot on one of her favorite toys that her owner bought at the shelter. It's a very versatile toy because is can be used as a perch, destructible toy, and foraging toy!