Thanks for watching and voting, guys! The best part is, I wasn't the only one to support a parrot-specific shelter this year - there was one other participant who covered a local shelter near them as well. As far as I know, I was the only one last year who made a video promoting parrot care and conservation, so to see even such a tiny increase this year made me pretty happy.
Pajarita - I did WPT last year and didn't really want to do the same thing again this year. But, since getting Akimi, I knew that I did still want to do something to support parrot care and conservation again.
I went to one of Parrot Partner's educational presentations, and then visited the facilities and was really impressed. I learned a lot about the kind of work they do when I went in to do filming and talk to the volunteers. There's a lot of stuff they do that I didn't even see on the website, like the rehabilitation boarding and behavioural support they offer parrot owners. I thought that was really awesome and unique.
Also, getting to talk birds with other bird-obsessed people is always a lot of fun, and I got referrals to lots of other good resources and Facebook groups. My friends and family are well aware of my love of parrots, and even have some appreciation for it, but they don't really get it in the same way as other people who share similar levels of passion.
One thing I didn't mention in the video is that the manager of Parrot Partner is the first person in Canada to have gotten official certification as a parrot trainer, and one of the volunteers is well on her way to becoming the second - she really only has to finish clocking in all her hours with the birds. While it's true you don't need to be certified to be a good parrot trainer, I just thought it was really cool that they were dedicated enough to jump through all the necessary hoops to get the official recognition. Having volunteers with the appropriate certification can certainly help make Parrot Partner even more reputable than it already is (and I got a good look behind-the-scenes - they're doing an incredible job).
They're working on getting new facilities closer to Ottawa now and can use all the support they can get. Though that means they'll be even further away from where I currently live, which makes visiting even occasionally more difficult than it is now. Nevertheless, they're doing an awesome job and I was delighted that they let me come in to film and meet the volunteers.
