A wise cockatoo

A sulfur crested cockatoo was hunting around in a courtyard for food. While she could not find any seeds there were a number of tasty looking pellets. She bent down to eat one, stopped, and had to reconsider. Why?

She realized she was in a pellet court.

Happiness is a full stomach

When I was taking anthropology in college I studied a group of people called the Ik. The Kenyan Government had stripped them of their culture and tried to turn them into agriculturalists, an attempt that did more than fail. By the age of six most girls had turn to prostitution and starvation had become mode of life.

What I learned about those people is something that is important to the lives of parrots as well, especially those who are newly brought into sanctuaries. Colin Turnbull, who studied these people firsthand, learned that the word for happiness was exactly the same word word as the word for full stomach. After watching what happened to Sugar when she came here I now understand that: it is terrible to be hungry; it is terrible to be separated from your former life; how much more terrible it is to be hungry and separated from your former life.

The first goal that should be achieved when rehabilitating a new member of the flock should be a full stomach.

Our resident Houdini, thief and burglar

Cecil is amazing. He grew up mistaken for a female and abandoned because he didn't produce eggs. What he does well is Clandestine operations. Perhaps he should've been named James Bond. He doesn't just break out of cages he busts tack welds like they were nothing. He makes his own toys. He breaks into forbidden territory.

Keep your daughter from him. He's a Casanova, too.

Sugar on my shoulder

My mother always stressed that if we spilled salt we had to throw some over our shoulder. Rather than do this, my new method is simply to put sugar on my shoulder. It is somehow much more satisfying.

Cozma at play

Cozma has become much more playful of late. She has overcome that look in her eyes that resembled a doll.

Ah, Peace

With mating season still in full swing peaceful moments like those depicted in this picture are rare. Here is Lauralei taking that rare nap.

Peaches' Diet

Our Peaches, our girl with six fused vertebrae and recently recovered from major surgery, has a wide ranging diet now. Today she ate some of the mash, some banana, and tangerine as well as some of the muffin.

The healing process

As Peaches heals strange things are happening. Today she started crying like a one-year-old baby; that's not terribly unusual but she generally has particular reasons to do that. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out what the heck she was crying about. After trying several things I offered her her dinner.

It's a first. She has never cried for dinner before. And she ate like she hadn't eaten in a week.

Having fun

When you have a damaged neck how do you play and bounce around? This is Peaches solution.

Fountainhead

Originally purchased to help Peaches drink water, it is now one of her greatest sources of joy.

Roman Bird and The Happy Life

Being an Executive Director of a bird rescue is a daunting task. Sometimes there is so much to do that I just juggle everything and a few things fall to the ground. I keep my eye on the goal: happy birds and happy homes. One of the great pleasures that I have is the opportunity to blog. This is my fun time when I can chat about the little things that make being the person in charge of 11 birds at the Sanctuary (and the many birds in our care in foster homes) with pleasure and no worries.

This guy is Roman. He came to us with functional autism and deep psychosis because he been moved from one location to another,  put in a different cage and not given the same kind of care that he was used to. He might appear to be aggressive in the picture above but he's not. He is simply checking out the phone taking his picture. When he first came here he wouldn't even come out of his cage. I had to disassemble the cage that he was staying in to move him into the larger cage we bought for him.

Roman is such a pleasure. When he came here all he would do was shake and runaway. Now he says I love you, jumps up on my arm, and sits with me snuggling. He plays with lots of toys and sometimes prefers being petted to treats.

Most cockatoos come running directly to me; they trust me for some reason I don't fully understand. He wasn't like that. When he cries for me to come to him or refuses a treat just so he can be held it sends warm shivers down my spine. There is nothing in the world like seeing a bird come back to enjoying life.

With 11 birds vying for my attention I somehow manage to give them what they need. Sometimes they keep me running like a waitress on a busy friday night. That's okay. There's nothing I'd rather do.

I'm looking forward to the Renaissance Faire in Escondido soon. Chloe loves it more than anything and we both have good friends there. But that's another story...