Rhode Island Parrot Rescue

[Pajarita]

This may be neither here nor there (I love that expression), but...
Once, when the Rbird was first getting his big-boy hormones, he was just acting like a Tazmanian devil... biting me and flapping and screaming. He was still clipped at that time (about 3 years old) so I was able to wrestle him back into his cage. I went to the door of his room and looked back at him. He was literally shaking with rage, beak open, breathless. Suddenly he reached down to his breast and ripped out a beak full of feathers, which flew up and around his head. I was shocked and clueless and after a few moments' thought , decided not to reward it. Towards bedtime, he had calmed down and we said goodnight. A tiny bare spot was visible, but soon grew back. I've always wondered what that was all about...

It's sexual frustration, Gail. In my opinion, the number one reason why parrots pluck.

[galeriagila]

You *ARE* blessed!

Every year is something of a repeat of the first time... demanding and surly! The good part is that his little mating dance and swagger are adorable. Just watch out for that beak!

What wonderfully alien little beings.

[Pajarita]

Well, I guess it all depends on where you stand because I am sure that they think we are the weird aliens!

But they are wonderful, no doubt about that! I've had birds my entire life (no exaggeration, there were birds in my house when I was born and I've never been without one for more than a couple of months) and doing serious research on them for years and years and there isn't a single day that I don't find anything that completely blows my mind about them!

[galeriagila]

You are so right: there are times every day when I catch the Rbird staring at me as if he can't believe what he's seeing.

I have a picture of me with a turkey chick when I was about a year old... grandparents had poultry and ornamental fowl. Still got to find that photo. I'm topless in it!

[Navre]

Casey, a goffins cockatoo got adopted. He was adopted by one of or volunteers. They absolutely LOVE each other. She has been waiting almost a year to be able to take him. So glad to see another cockatoo going home. So glad Casey won't bite me anymore!

Why did she have to wait an entire year? Also, it seems that volunteers end up adopting a goodly number of the birds there, doesn't it? Not that I am criticizing or anything like that, mind you! I think it's fabulous for the birds because they not only already know their new human but the humans already know all the quirks of the birds!

She was waiting to move. She couldn't have a bird where she had been.

I think maybe about 20% go to volunteers? A lot of people volunteer just to find the right bird. This volunteer is a long term, permanent volunteer, but a lot of people come in for 3 or 4 months, find the bird that bonds with them, and then leave shortly after they adopt. It works out well as it give a chance for education, too.

[Chantilly]

Casey, a goffins cockatoo got adopted. He was adopted by one of or volunteers. They absolutely LOVE each other. She has been waiting almost a year to be able to take him. So glad to see another cockatoo going home. So glad Casey won't bite me anymore!

Why did she have to wait an entire year? Also, it seems that volunteers end up adopting a goodly number of the birds there, doesn't it? Not that I am criticizing or anything like that, mind you! I think it's fabulous for the birds because they not only already know their new human but the humans already know all the quirks of the birds!

She was waiting to move. She couldn't have a bird where she had been.

I think maybe about 20% go to volunteers? A lot of people volunteer just to find the right bird. This volunteer is a long term, permanent volunteer, but a lot of people come in for 3 or 4 months, find the bird that bonds with them, and then leave shortly after they adopt. It works out well as it give a chance for education, too.

That is so awesome :3

[Navre]

So this means that there are only 4 birds still here who were at the rescue when I started.

Bucca, the Wild-caught Moluccan.
Snowball, 26-year-old Goffins
Neco, Blue and Gold Macaw
Maya, 7-year-old DYH

[Navre]

I really didn't like Cheerios cage. Since we are now an A+E cage dealer, I ordered a cage for him from A+E.
His old cage was 36x30, this one is 36x28 but it has a big dome top and I thought it would give him more room to play. I put it together last Friday, but didn't get a chance to build perches for him. I finally got everything put together this Wednesday.

I was worried that he wouldn't want to get into it. After all, it's not "his" cage. Rachel opened Cherrios old cage to get a toy from it, to hang in the new cage. Cheerio rushed out of his old cage, and in to the new one, and claimed it as his own.

This is me, using my baby voice that Paj said cockatoos would like.

https://youtu.be/k4_srouS880

[liz]

That is so sweet how he tells you he likes it.

Rambo is a cage inspector and must check out any new cage even if he has to squeeze through the door of a little cage. He does not claim them but they must be inspected.

[Pajarita]

OMG, WHAT A CUTIE!!!! I just love cockatoos! They are such hams, aren't they? Well, not all of them but the better adjusted ones are. And see how he did like the higher pitch, happy baby voice? Not all species like the 'high energy' voice though... I think that amazons tend to prefer a soft voice and words spoken in a slower and more marked cadence.