This past weekend, we had 23 birds surrendered to us, and an additional 13 so far this week, with more scheduled. 17 of those were zebra finches, which means that we now have 28 zebra finches up for adoption. If you have been considering adding some of these charming little beepers to your life, you could not find a better time than now!

If you are experiencing behavior problems with your parrot and are considering surrendering him or her, please contact us about a behavioral consultation. We would much rather work with you to help you keep your bird. Unfortunately, the avian community is reaching a point where there are so many unwanted parrots and not enough qualified homes available. And with the long life spans of these wild animals, things are only going to get worse.

Millie and Cleo have now been happily living together for over a month. They are starting to play a lot more and come to the front of the cage for attention from passing humans. They are not yet to the playfulness level of our naked pair of white-eyed and mitred conures (Sasha and Kellie), but we're hoping that they get there!

Millie and Cleo are looking for the home that will just allow them to be birds. A home where they can have a huge cage to play in and around, lots of toys, and good nutrition. They like to have some verbal human interaction, but not so much physical human interaction -- they have each other for that!

This is related to neither parrots, nor our Center, but it is bird-related, and it made me laugh, so I'm posting it!

Here is a link to an article about a thieving seagull in Great Britain.

We wish everyone a fantastic weekend and maybe we'll see you at the Center on Saturday!

Lucky is an approximately 13 year old Moluccan Cockatoo. He is the adoptable bird that has been waiting the longest to find his new home -- over a year. He is plucked but his skin is in good condition, and he has shown feathering improvement in the time he has been with us. He prefers women and loves to show off to children. He is handlable and is happy to be on a stand where he can see you - he is not necessarily a velcro bird. He also loves to chew up wood toys. He has learned several tricks without any formal training schedule, and would do well in a home that works hard to stimulate him mentally and physically.

Cockatoos are very difficult birds to keep successfully in a home environment, and male Moluccans are among the very hardest to keep, which is one of the reasons he has been with us for so long. If you are considering adopting a cockatoo, please visit this site: www.mytoos.com and read everything in their files.

Please stop by the Center if you are interested in adopting Lucky, or any of the other birds that we have up for adoption!

Here is a picture of Hector taken last Saturday, along with a piece of wood. If you remember, Hector was surrendered to us with a severely overgrown beak. He did not have any toys or perches.


We have been working with Hector and arranging his environment to encourage perching and wood chewing. We are happy to report that he is more comfortable perching and has been destroying his wood toys!

Severe macaws are very challenging birds and we are looking for an experienced macaw owner for Hector. Since becoming more comfortable at the Center, along with the diet and exercise improvements we have made, he has started to let his spunky personality show.

Many people believe that severe macaws make easier pets than the larger macaws because of their size. This is not true! Severe macaws do not generally adapt well to living in captivity. They tend to be overbearing, opinionated, destructive, and loud. One of our volunteers has a severe macaw that goes through approximately a 2X4's worth of wood every two weeks. They tend to bond strongly to one person. They are extremely intelligent, which means that their owner has to work very hard to keep them mentally and physically stimulated.

Here is a video of Ditto, a B&G macaw that was surrendered to CARE recently. She has a wonderful personality! She loves to hide her head under her wing (as you can see in the video) and she'll often yell "peek-a-boo!" afterwards. Of course she wouldn't do that when I had the camera on her!

Ditto has already had several homes, including stints totalling about a year on consignment at a local pet store. It is very important that we find her a home where she can live out the rest of her days as a loved companion, with the routine and stability that helps parrots thrive.

We have many lovebirds currently up for adoption. Here are some of their pictures. Most of them are living in pairs, and we do not want to split up those pairs. The six pictured here are not hand tame at this point, but they are relatively friendly, great toy players, and love to come out of their cages and hang out on their favorite people. If you are interested in adding a lovebird to your home, please fill out a Bird Wanted Questionnaire, or stop by to meet these beauties!