- Mar 27, 2012
- 1,023
- Media
- 8
- 2
- Parrots
- Red Front Macaw, Elvis, 10,male RIP
Red Front Macaw, Erin, 1.5,female
Goffin Cockatoo, Blossom 2,female Rehomed
Blue & Gold Macaw, Oscar, Male, 21 years old, Rehomed
American Bulldog Mix,
So the longest weekend ever. Took Erin out to the local park for some free flight. She squealed and hollered with delight the whole way there. Put my arm out to let her fly and she took off beautifully. Circled over head about 200 ft up, did a lap around the 3 mile perimeter lake, hovered above my head and started lowering to land on my head (dont ask- sheseems to feel more comfortable landing on my head than arm) when this gust of wind came and blew her 15 ft to a nearby tree.Well my plan was to wait itout and wait for her to get hungry enough to climb down (she has never been in a tree before and hates landing on things so she was def scared.) Well good old park security comes and says he will get her out. I say no thanks my hubby will be here in an hour or two to help lure her down. The man laughs and says that he will get her out and without any warning shakes the tree! Therefore she gets really spooked and flies away out of sight. The security man looks at me and shrugs while saying sorry I was just trying help. UGH! It took me 2 hours find her and when I did nightfall came and security kicked me out the park. Sunday came very cold. The hubby and I went out 7 am the next day and you could see your breath. By 11 it was raining and by 1 our feet were numb. Thankfully we were able to spot her about a mile from her original spot and she returned our calls with kisses and squeaks. Family came to help and kept trying to scare her down as she was up 40 to 100 ft in unclimbable trees and they threw sticks, stones, etc to scare her and it worked, she got scared but she would fly away out of sight. After 2 more hours of rains and chasing I was exhausted and numb and she stopped answering our calls. I gave up. If we were to find her so what? We would watch hopeless 100ft below her with no way of getting to her. We went home a few hours before the park even closed. We laid in bed after another hopeless day knowing we were defeated. There was no way to get her or for her to come to US. Even she gave up and stopped calling. But the more we looked at her empty stand the more I wanted to at least try to find her once more even if it was just to see her a last time. Passed out I dreamt the same dream 3 times in a row that I was out in the woods reaching up calling for Erin and from above she steps onto my hand. I woke up went to park with my hubby and we found her only 20 ft up in a climbable tree. It was a miracle! Hubby climbed up and reached out to grab her when she flew out of sight startled by the shaking limb. She was a foot from his hands. We called and called with no response. We walked half a mile before I heard a shriek. Looking around I hollered. No response. I walked back and another shreik, walked forward 20 ft another shriek. She was shrieking when I was in a certain view to her. After 3 more shrieks I found the spot and looked around at all the green and red foliage, and then one more shriek and there she was on the other side of the gully. I ran down and up the side she's in and ran into a thorn brushel. Laying down my jacket I laid across and stretched out my hand she weakly stepped up. She was mine again. I wrapped her wet body up in my jacket and hugged her tight the whole way home. We soaked in a hot shower, she ate probably 30 pinenuts and had some water and slept. I can't explain how happy I am to have her back.
We took her to an amazing avian vet in robbinsville nj. Dr. Doolen at the north star vet hospital is amazing. He treats them like his own and people travel all over to see him and it's well worth it. He used to own his own aviary and breed but stopped. He has over 20 years of experience in avian care and bred for over 30 years. He is a fan of not clipping but letting birds fly safely. Something's we disagreed on but he didn't try telling me I was wrong or horrible or naive or stupid, he was very courteous. He held Erin and kissed her the whole time. He looked at her feathers for US too and we found out all the hoopla about full spectrum lighting, allergies, loneliness, malnutrition, miracle drugs to reduce stress doesn't help a bit. There's never been actual study claiming any of that is the cause or cure for over preening. Which would explain why everything we've done hasnt helped and has all been pretty expensive. He says it's the sexual maturity causing problems. That they mature between 1-10 years but there's no problems with when they mature in the wild with preening because their flock doesn't allow them to reproduce until around 8 years at least because of food and survival which makes it hard and not a concern for them. But we as owners allow that readily as they don't have to fight to live and reproduce. We protect and hand them food. which lets them have the urges and extra hormones for repriduction. Anyway so he gave us a $150 estrogen killing shot, which she should respond to in 1 to 3 weeks. The emergency visit was $135 and he took blood to look over her kidneys cholesterol and liver etc for $119 since we never had her bloodwork done and she's over two. We ended up paying only $200.40 because we told him it was all we had being it was an emergency visit. I would def pay the full amount to see him as he was amazing and he talked and explained everything to us for about 1.5 hours and he took the blood in front of us and gave the shot in front of us, he owns his own birds and knows what it feels like to be the owner and all the love he gave Erin was amazing and meant a lot. Then we got to talk with his personal technician for 45 minutes or so after about getting more hormone shots, microchipping etc. We felt valued and important and were given all the time we needed. I really recommend him.
We took her to an amazing avian vet in robbinsville nj. Dr. Doolen at the north star vet hospital is amazing. He treats them like his own and people travel all over to see him and it's well worth it. He used to own his own aviary and breed but stopped. He has over 20 years of experience in avian care and bred for over 30 years. He is a fan of not clipping but letting birds fly safely. Something's we disagreed on but he didn't try telling me I was wrong or horrible or naive or stupid, he was very courteous. He held Erin and kissed her the whole time. He looked at her feathers for US too and we found out all the hoopla about full spectrum lighting, allergies, loneliness, malnutrition, miracle drugs to reduce stress doesn't help a bit. There's never been actual study claiming any of that is the cause or cure for over preening. Which would explain why everything we've done hasnt helped and has all been pretty expensive. He says it's the sexual maturity causing problems. That they mature between 1-10 years but there's no problems with when they mature in the wild with preening because their flock doesn't allow them to reproduce until around 8 years at least because of food and survival which makes it hard and not a concern for them. But we as owners allow that readily as they don't have to fight to live and reproduce. We protect and hand them food. which lets them have the urges and extra hormones for repriduction. Anyway so he gave us a $150 estrogen killing shot, which she should respond to in 1 to 3 weeks. The emergency visit was $135 and he took blood to look over her kidneys cholesterol and liver etc for $119 since we never had her bloodwork done and she's over two. We ended up paying only $200.40 because we told him it was all we had being it was an emergency visit. I would def pay the full amount to see him as he was amazing and he talked and explained everything to us for about 1.5 hours and he took the blood in front of us and gave the shot in front of us, he owns his own birds and knows what it feels like to be the owner and all the love he gave Erin was amazing and meant a lot. Then we got to talk with his personal technician for 45 minutes or so after about getting more hormone shots, microchipping etc. We felt valued and important and were given all the time we needed. I really recommend him.
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I was literally biting my nails as I was reading about your attempts to get her back, and then almost in tears when you didn't succeed right away.
