Rhode Island Parrot Rescue

[Navre]

Well, she was super attached to me. I just couldn't get the rest of the family on board to take her.

[Pajarita]

Oh, 'her', sorry, I forgot. Yes, she did like you a lot and would have, most likely, bonded with you if you had been able to adopt her but you had unresolvable issues that prevented you from doing it so her getting adopted is, actually, a wonderful thing for her.

[Navre]

Oh, 'her', sorry, I forgot. Yes, she did like you a lot and would have, most likely, bonded with you if you had been able to adopt her but you had unresolvable issues that prevented you from doing it so her getting adopted is, actually, a wonderful thing for her.

I am happy for her. But I'll miss the her whistling for me every time I'm out of sight, and I'll miss her meowing like a cat, and I'll miss her calling me Mary. She called me John, too, but she called me Mary more often.

It's actually good for all the birds when someone gets adopted. The rescue needs the intake fees and the adoption fees to survive. A steady turnover of very adoptable birds helps pay for the care and housing of the long-term residents, the special needs birds, and the medical supervision birds.

[Navre]

Another one of my Greys, Hope, was gone when I got here today, too. I'm glad they're getting homes but this is hard.

[Wolf]

It is hard ! First because you care about them enough to try and make things better for them and secondly because you get attached to them and their is no off switch for this.

[Navre]

And today, Maya, the Double Yellow headed Amazon who was always so sweet to me, flew out of her cage and attacked my arm like a pit bull.
I managed to get us both to the floor and I sat with her for a while. She put her head on my leg, let me scratch her head, and then attacked my hand with a vengeance. I stuck my hand back in her cage and she dropped off. I'm cut up in about 10 places.

And the 'too who screams all day is being quiet.

This place is strange today. Might just be few birds leaving and some cages being rearranged.

I'm taking a break since I can't use my right hand anyhow.

[Wolf]

One of the difficulties with birds is that you can't effectively hide your emotional state from them so they are already bothered by the sudden changes around them with birds disappearing and then you are also bothered, it can easily make a volatile mix so try to make sure that you take a few deep breathes and calm yourself before approaching them and learn to read their body language better as it will help you to avoid getting bitten so much.

[Pajarita]

Well, one of the problem with rescues is that there is no real status quo as things and humans change all the time - and change is hard for parrots.

It's actually wonderful that these birds were adopted but it is hard as one does get attached to them. You sound quite dejected, my friend, and I am very sorry for it. I wish I could say something to make you feel better but I don't know what...

[Navre]

As far as reading Maya's body language, she always greets everyone with pinning eyes. With me, and with most men, she usually transitions into going to the floor of her cage and fanning her tail and displaying her wings. She will then let me scratch her head while clucking like a chicken.

She is quite beautiful. She is a 6-year-old female DYH Amazon. She almost always bites women. Maybe she is going through puberty? I don't know what age that is for a DHY. I also don't know what her life was like before she got here.

Perhaps, because I was feeling emotional, she thought I was a woman (sorry. Too easy)

The one thing I did differently was that I turned my back on her to talk to someone else. It was a quite determined attack. She flew out of the cage and landed on my arm, biting me four or five times. The good thing is they she got such large chunks of my arm in her mouth that she didn't really break the skin too badly. She left huge welts and bruises, only breaking the skin with the tip of her beak and her bottom beak. She had too much flesh to really rip anything off. I just went to the floor with her and she left my arm and strutted around on the floor for a bit. She then came over and put her head on my leg and let me scratch her head. She then clamped onto my hand like a pitbull. Since she was on my hand I just put my hand back into the cage and she eventually let go. She never did get her cage properly cleaned yesterday. Other than taking out her chop at noon, we left her alone for the rest of the day.

Recently, our only other DYH, a male, was adopted. Haley and Hope, 2 Greys who were near Maya were adopted this week. The cages were also moved around and Maya is now between 2 other 'zons, an Orange Wing and a Mealy. She has been next to the Mealy before, but based on behavior, I'd bet that Marvin is a female. Taco, on the other hand, is new to being next to Maya, and based on behavior, I think he is a male.

[Pajarita]

No, at 6 she is past puberty and a full-fledged adult. Going by what you described, I don't think she was attacking you, I think she was telling you not to pay attention to the other person. But I also think that this moving cages and birds is not a very good idea when their 'next door neighbor' leaves. They should have waited a couple of weeks before rocking the boat more than it was already with the adopting out of a bird she got used to having next to her...