Adoption Stories

[sora no tori]

This thread is dedicated to the parrot owners on this forum who have taken on the often very difficult, but endlessly rewarding task of taking in a bird with a less than ideal past. Neglect and abuse are sad realities in the world of parrots. If you've taken in a re-home, tell us how you came to find your adopted feathered child, what their life was like before you, how they felt about you when you first brought them home, and finally, how their lives are doing today.

I'll start:
My white-faced pearl cockatiel, Logan (about 1.5 years old) spent his younger days inside of a flee market crammed in a cage with dozens of other cockatiels that attacked and plucked him. Then one day, a woman came in to the market, saw him on the bottom of the cage and begged the owner of the market to sell him to her. The woman was a volunteer at a local adoption agency for ferrets. (Yes, ferrets. It's not a typo). She nursed him back to health, contacted the head of the adoption agency, and put an add on petfinder.com. I had lost my budgie some months ago and was looking for a bird to share my home with. I stumbled across the add. I actually had no interest in cockatiels up until this point, but something about Logan made me curious enough to send the agency head an email to ask about his story. When I heard it, my heart went out to the little guy. He had recovered, he was fully feathered, but a bit feral. I immediately consulted my bf. We were unsure at first about taking him in, but the agency assured us that if he turned out to not fit our lives, we could take him back any time and he'd go back to his loving savior, his foster mom. So, I drove an hour, and came back with him one April day. At first, he was very wary of everything. He constantly hissed, and lunged, but rarely bit us. Six months later, he's a little songbird who loves scritches more than anything else, and who spends his day singing, wolf-whistling, and more recently, trying to talk. He's by no means as cuddly or as accepting of hum contact as Conrad, and I doubt he ever will. But, he's come a long way. He may not beg to be let out of his cage, but it's evident in his behavior that he sees us as his flock mates and his friends.

[dohcsvt]

That is a very touching story. My wife and I have to wonderful two little conures that we bought (read: rescued) from a big box pet store about a year apart. We love our little guys immensely, and spoil them rotten. Recently my wife has been thinking of getting a macaw and we have agreed that a rescue bird will be the route we are going to take, so not a true rescue story right now but maybe before the end of the year.

[coral]

I've always wanted a bigger parrot and when I was younger we had cockitiels and budgies. I really wanted a cockatoo did some reading decided not the best bird for me at the time. I prefer to get rescue animals and I was looking on craigslist or a cage and saw people were actually selling birds on there so I figured it wouldn't hurt to look I found Marty on there did research on blue headed pious and they seemed like great birds so I called the owner saw Marty fell in live with his cute little face and brought him home and he was evil lol like fly and bite my grandmas face for no reason evil. Turns out he was neglected and the guys wife was very mean to Marty so Marty hates women. He got used to me and he bonded to me but it took a lot if tine and I have a lot of scars from him. He still hates pretty much everyone else. He was also very sick when I got him and never had fresh food ir toys ever. He's a very happy birdy now

[sora no tori]

Wonderful story coral dohcvt, I'll bet the parrot you bring into your loving home will also be a very happy bird. Thank you both!