Dinosrawr
New member
- Aug 15, 2013
- 1,587
- 8
- Parrots
- Avery, a GCC born on March 5th, 2013 & Shiko, a blue IRN born on February 25th, 2014
I don't even know where to start... today was involved the most chaotic, stressful, and terrifying 40 minutes of my life. And beware... this is a LONG post.
It started off innocently enough, I went to my summer classes, was happy to receive a good grade back from my midterm that I did and was excited to be done classes early to come home and get some DIY projects I have on the go for Avery. It's absolutely gorgeous outside, and all I could think to myself is, "Avery would LOVE being outside in this weather!" On that train of thought, I decided I'd grab her old cage, clean it out, and decorate it and use it for an outside cage so that she could enjoy the sunshine with me as I washed branches and prepped them for her cat-tree stand.
After spending an hour cleaning the cage, going out and getting supplies, and getting it all done, I was so excited to bring Avery outside to enjoy the weather with me! I couldn't stop grinning thinking to myself, "Oh man! She's going to love the sunshine, the birds chirping, and the nice breeze!"
How silly of me to project my own feelings onto my parrot. How ridiculous of me to think that the way I felt was the way my bird would feel.
After being outside for 20 minutes, Avery started to settle down and enjoy herself. I was happy she was sitting there soaking up the sun! And then suddenly, something absolutely terrified her. I look for hawks, for large birds, ANYTHING that may have been scaring her, but couldn't find anything. Because she was scared, I decided it would be best to bring her inside to let her calm down.
It happened so fast... birds fly away SO. FAST. And there's nothing you can do but watch as the bird you love with all of your heart flies away with terror, knowing you can't even run after them.
As I was taking her out of her cage, my boyfriend's sister had opened the outside door to come say bye to me before she left, and this door is notorious for terrifying Avery for some reason. I wasn't expecting her to come out that door, but she did, and as she did Avery started scrambling in my hand. I immediately clamped down with my thumb onto her feet to stop her, but she started scrambling up my arm. Now, when she does this, she has ALWAYS gone to my shoulder. In my momentary lapse of judgment, I let go. I thought, "she'll feel safer close to my neck", and "she always comes to me when she's scared."
I will now never forget that parrots are wild, undomesticated, and use flying AWAY as a response to what scares them, even if something they know is there. Why? Because their flock mates FLY WITH THEM. I couldn't do that. All I could do is watch as she flew away as I scrambled to chase after her and call her name in desperation.
Thankfully, this story ends happily, but I know very well that I am one of the very, very lucky few who were able to find their lost bird again. I searched for nearly an hour, non-stop calling her name to the point of my voice becoming hoarse. I ran up and down the streets trying to find her, looking in backyards, shouting, asking random strangers if they saw her (you can only imagine the crazy looks I got when I said I lost my parrot). After becoming frantic, all I could think of doing is immediately printing out flyers with a $300 reward for finding her to motivate people to search for her. As I was running back to my house, I decided one last time to yell in my backyard for her.
And that's when I heard that ever-ear-piercing Conure call. I was so frantic! I heard her, jumped my neighbors fence, and searched their backyard nonstop. I called her more, and she responded to me again. All I could think of is how I might never find her despite her calling to me, that she would fly off when I did find her, or that I wouldn't be able to reach her. Thankfully, I found her on one of the HUNDREDS of spruce trees in the area, and on a branch only 9 feet high off the ground. I became so desperate to get her I started bawling my eyes out, frantically calling her to come to me and she looked oh-so-adorable and fluffed up that I was near and she was in a tree - not a care in the world! In the end, I had to scale up the tree, grab her, and then jump down as I couldn't climb back down with her in one hand.
All I can say is that I am SO lucky that she's safe, that she's alive, and that she's home. And that I will NOT be making that mistake again. After bawling my eyes out for the past 30 minutes as she happily played in her cage, all I can think of is that it is SO important to take every precaution necessary when it comes to flighted birds. You never know when they'll take off, no matter how well they're trained. And you never know if you'll be getting them back.
It started off innocently enough, I went to my summer classes, was happy to receive a good grade back from my midterm that I did and was excited to be done classes early to come home and get some DIY projects I have on the go for Avery. It's absolutely gorgeous outside, and all I could think to myself is, "Avery would LOVE being outside in this weather!" On that train of thought, I decided I'd grab her old cage, clean it out, and decorate it and use it for an outside cage so that she could enjoy the sunshine with me as I washed branches and prepped them for her cat-tree stand.
After spending an hour cleaning the cage, going out and getting supplies, and getting it all done, I was so excited to bring Avery outside to enjoy the weather with me! I couldn't stop grinning thinking to myself, "Oh man! She's going to love the sunshine, the birds chirping, and the nice breeze!"
How silly of me to project my own feelings onto my parrot. How ridiculous of me to think that the way I felt was the way my bird would feel.
After being outside for 20 minutes, Avery started to settle down and enjoy herself. I was happy she was sitting there soaking up the sun! And then suddenly, something absolutely terrified her. I look for hawks, for large birds, ANYTHING that may have been scaring her, but couldn't find anything. Because she was scared, I decided it would be best to bring her inside to let her calm down.
It happened so fast... birds fly away SO. FAST. And there's nothing you can do but watch as the bird you love with all of your heart flies away with terror, knowing you can't even run after them.
As I was taking her out of her cage, my boyfriend's sister had opened the outside door to come say bye to me before she left, and this door is notorious for terrifying Avery for some reason. I wasn't expecting her to come out that door, but she did, and as she did Avery started scrambling in my hand. I immediately clamped down with my thumb onto her feet to stop her, but she started scrambling up my arm. Now, when she does this, she has ALWAYS gone to my shoulder. In my momentary lapse of judgment, I let go. I thought, "she'll feel safer close to my neck", and "she always comes to me when she's scared."
I will now never forget that parrots are wild, undomesticated, and use flying AWAY as a response to what scares them, even if something they know is there. Why? Because their flock mates FLY WITH THEM. I couldn't do that. All I could do is watch as she flew away as I scrambled to chase after her and call her name in desperation.
Thankfully, this story ends happily, but I know very well that I am one of the very, very lucky few who were able to find their lost bird again. I searched for nearly an hour, non-stop calling her name to the point of my voice becoming hoarse. I ran up and down the streets trying to find her, looking in backyards, shouting, asking random strangers if they saw her (you can only imagine the crazy looks I got when I said I lost my parrot). After becoming frantic, all I could think of doing is immediately printing out flyers with a $300 reward for finding her to motivate people to search for her. As I was running back to my house, I decided one last time to yell in my backyard for her.
And that's when I heard that ever-ear-piercing Conure call. I was so frantic! I heard her, jumped my neighbors fence, and searched their backyard nonstop. I called her more, and she responded to me again. All I could think of is how I might never find her despite her calling to me, that she would fly off when I did find her, or that I wouldn't be able to reach her. Thankfully, I found her on one of the HUNDREDS of spruce trees in the area, and on a branch only 9 feet high off the ground. I became so desperate to get her I started bawling my eyes out, frantically calling her to come to me and she looked oh-so-adorable and fluffed up that I was near and she was in a tree - not a care in the world! In the end, I had to scale up the tree, grab her, and then jump down as I couldn't climb back down with her in one hand.
All I can say is that I am SO lucky that she's safe, that she's alive, and that she's home. And that I will NOT be making that mistake again. After bawling my eyes out for the past 30 minutes as she happily played in her cage, all I can think of is that it is SO important to take every precaution necessary when it comes to flighted birds. You never know when they'll take off, no matter how well they're trained. And you never know if you'll be getting them back.
, Male Cockatiel-Lusa (aka Bub =D)
