Just dropped Fajr off at a friend's house

[shiraartain]

So my mom abruptly sprung the news of traveling during this weekend on me earlier in the week. All of my friends in my city who I would trust with my bird either have cats or are also out of town. The options my parents were suggesting were people with very young children who I know wouldn't treat Fajr properly, or people who hadn't even treated their parakeets properly. (I think our family was the only one to have ours for several years.).

Fortunately, the girl who recommended Fajr's breeder to me wasn't out of town and agreed to take him in. My dad refused to drop him off since she lives ~30 minutes away, but my mom was equally horrified at the thought of leaving Fajr with an irresponsible family (I knew she had a soft spot for him even though she never lets him near her) and we dropped him off this afternoon.

He flew onto my friend's shoulder immediately and started chattering away. He was not disturbed at all to see us walk out the door. The travel cage and car ride made him nervous, but he's been having fun playing with her family ever since we left.

I was really worried he would be stressed, but it seems like he'll be fine for the weekend.

[Wolf]

Glad that you found a safe place for him to visit while you are off on your adventure.

[shiraartain]

So am I. I didn't expect regular updates but she's been sending me stories of all his antics. They're really enjoying his company over there. Apparently the entire time my friend was trying to take a nap, he waited by the cage door while saying "step up."

[KimberlyAnn]

Awww that's wonderful! Enjoy your trip knowing he's in good hands.

[Pajarita]

So glad you found a good person to take care of him. This is always a problem for people who keep parrots...

[shiraartain]

Thank you everyone! We did enjoy our trip a lot, but were so exhausted (none of us are in the habit of traveling anymore) that we ended up cutting it a day short and returning yesterday night. I will post pictures of the various birds we saw once we get our photos sorted out.

Fajr returned home today-he was not excited at all to see us again. Came out of his hut, and just looked at us from my friend's shoulder.

Unfortunately, the return home did stress him out, which I guess I should have seen coming since it was 2 environment changes in less than a week. He came home and clung to my dad until it was time for his evening meal. He perked up later and was calling to us the entire time we were eating dinner. It was his bedtime and I was determined that he go to sleep (was glaring at anyone who dared to make a move to take him out, lol), but even I gave in-just for today, mind you- when he started saying "mitthu", which is a word which we use to affectionately call to parrots in my culture. My Dad says it to him constantly.

He also apparently picked up "pretty bird" and "good boy" while we were gone.

His temporary absence from our lives did make my Mom's heart grow fonder, at least. She finally approached him and offered to pet him today. She loves birds as much as the rest of us, but is just wary since the heartbreak of having to give away our and .

[Harpmaker]

It sounds like he made it home, and has started to recover from the stress. It also sounds like you got snubbed at first for leaving him behind, but he has already started to forgive you. My cats act like that when I return from travel.