Mimi's Progress

[Wolf]

Yesterday evening when it was getting close to bedtime for the birds, Mimi started very sweetly saying " Nite,nite bird ". This is not unusual but not an every night occurance, but then she went inside of her cage and pulled her cage door closed behind her. She did a repeat performance of this again tonight, it is so cute to see and hear from her.

[liz]

She melts my heart. I love to hear of her progress.

[Wolf]

In so many ways, Mimi is without a doubt the sweetest bird living here, although I must say that Kiki, Senegal is running a close second.

[liz]

Just think what she would be like if she had not gone through the trauma.

[Pajarita]

Amazon hens are the sweetest things when you treat them right. But I don't think that Mimi was treated that badly in the past... I mean, obviously it wasn't the best place but seeing other birds die and not getting any physical interaction or a good diet is not the same as getting physically abused or spending hours and hours by themselves in a dark closet, for example.

[Wolf]

Don't know if she was physically abused, I do know that some of the time that some of the birds were isolated for several days at a time, but don't know which ones or how often. The fact that she has a very large human volcabulary speaks that she at least had non physical interaction a large portion of the time. Not sure how to read that she doesn't speak any parrot.
Don't want to read more to it than there was, 14 years of it was long enough to create some major problems for her.

[seagoatdeb]

Wolf, I am so glad she has you. What a heart warming story. One thing about rescue birds is they know when they have it good because they have had it bad and they can be the sweetest things ever.

[Pajarita]

Well, not all of them. Birds that have been physically abused might not ever trust a human being enough to be consistently sweet again...

[seagoatdeb]

yeah, they can have bad days, I had a rescued senegal many years ago and he was a screamer when I got him. Every day he screamed when you were there and he screamed when you were gone. He had a long history of being homed and rehomed due to screaming and no one knew his age, but he was an older bird. He had two different colored eyes, one was yellow and the other was silver. With a lot of hard work, I got him to eventually stop the screaming, and he was a real sweet bird but very needy. But every once in a while something would set him off and he would scream. I was always worried my Red Belly who was a baby at the time would copy his screaming, but thankfullly she never did.

[liz]

I don't know what level of abuse Mimi went through but I am sure she was physically abused. She did not learn to not touch people by just being told. She suffered some kind of punishment if she was that afraid to touch Wolf. Wolf's gentle personality comes through even to critters. For her to be afraid of Wolf is proof that she suffered physically as well as emotionally.

They do remember where they have been. Myrtle was only a year old when I got her 4 years ago. Even though she was that young and has been with me and showered with love she still remembers. She may not remember details but she remembers the fear. It is like PTSD. Sometimes the Phsyc doctor has to root around for a long time to bring back the memory that caused the PTSD so it can be treated. Since they cannot tell us the fear is there for the rest of their lives and can cause flash backs. Reading about Mimi, she may some day tell Wolf what they did to her.

Myrtle was smart enough to depend on me even before she trusted me. I believe that never putting her in a cage made the difference. It was not until she was hormonal this year that she would present her head for scritches. We wrestle and she even gets on her back to foot fight but she still does not tolerate confinement. From being touched on her back to being closed in a room, she will scream until released. That can only be a PTSD flashback.
They can have pains or upset stomachs as we do. They can feel the same as we feel to the point of just having a bad day. Myrtle has had days that she was more of a terrorist than my baby. When I realize that I am saying "stop that", "get out of there" or just "no" that I know she needs help that day. Not knowing what else to do, I take popcorn with me to my recliner and wait for her to be drawn in with food. We can then calmly eat our popcorn and tell secrets together until she gets out of that mood and become my baby again.

Since I know no other birds than mine, I have to use examples. Sorry to always talking about my kids but it is easier to give examples.