Many of us who have the pleasure of keeping birds have found that they have come into our lives in an unexpected way. Some people searching for an animal to love at the pet store would come home with a cockatiel unable to explain the attraction to their non-bird friends. One thing is for certain: once a bird grabs a hold of your heart, it will never let go. This is my story:
When I was about nine years old, I woke up one morning to find a big surprise in the house. Inside of a mammal cage that was set up in spare room was a small, gray owl. I squealed with joy and plopped myself down on the floor in front of the cage. After a few minutes, I found myself looking over my shoulder to see if anyone was nearby, and I opened the cage door. To my delight, this beautiful bird stepped right onto my hand.
My mother came into the room, startling me, and the bird jumped off of my hand and ran to the back of the cage. She scolded me harshly for frightening our newest house guest. She reminded me that I knew better than to be so forward with a new animal. And, of course, she was right, I did know better. It was just that we had never taken in a bird before.
We lived a rural area and it was a frequent occurrence that one of us kids would come home with a report of an injured or orphaned animal found in our daily travels. We kept mammal cages on hand for this reason. There was a man that lived in the next town over who was considered to be the local wildlife expert. He paid frequent visits to our house to tend to the needs of our latest guest, never at any charge, and would advise us on how to best care for them while they were in our keep.
He was very careful to instruct us that we should have limited contact so they could be successfully returned to the wild without any human imprinting. It was his opinion, and mine later in life, that it is best for the welfare of a wild animal that it be as far from human civilization as possible. Humans do not always do the right things in the presence of nature. My parents had to keep careful watch over me to see that I followed these instructions. I found it unbearable to not be able to play with my new friends, but I did what I was told. Except in the case of the new owl.
Willy, as we named him, had an injured wing. He was a baby screech owl and was found standing in the roadside earlier in the day by my two oldest brothers. It became apparent that no adult bird was caring for this baby and sometime around midnight, my father gathered him into a box and brought him home.
Any hopes of returning this bird to the wild were soon abandoned for two reasons: 1) his wing never healed properly and would not fully extend to support decent flight, and 2) I regularly disobeyed orders to limit contact and this bird now loved his new family. My parents made the announcement that we would be keeping Willy, and shot a stern look in my direction. Later in life, my mother admitted to me that she was happy about this turn of events because she, too, had fallen in love with this sweet bird.
We had a happy life with Willy, who had a particular fondness for me. He spent countless hours on my shoulder while I watched tv or did my homework and chores. He made his home in a new bird appropriate cage that was kept in the kitchen, the center of activity in our house. We did the best by Willy that we knew how. Our direction came from that one kindly, old gentleman whose own knowledge was limited to personal experience. When he died, Willy attended his funeral.
And so began my love affair with birds. I was very fortunate in my youth to have been given exposure to the marvels of wild nature. These experiences have always been cherished.
Author Patty Jourgensen specializes in avian health, behavior and nutrition and has been working with and caring for rescue birds since 1987.
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I have a ducorps cockatoo,which i’ve had for three years now, and for the first time yesterday i’ve placed a harness on him, (took me a week to train him) i was so proud of him for just being in the garden with me, i know it was only half an hour in the warm sunshine, it bought a lump to my throut, and today he’s been out for his first walk out with me, i felt so proud of him, Its always been a long time passion to own a bird that i could walk around with and allow to feel as if there is more than a cage life, (he flies free in the house) but its still not like feeling the wind under their wings like a free bird would do, the smell, sounds and noises, so i thought i’d just let all you bird lovers know how i felt, and theres nothing like letting your bird, no matter the size or breed feel that there is more to life … and the enjoyment it brings to the birds owner …. he is my baby.
I’ve have a ducorps cockatoo,which i’ve had for three years now, and for the first time yesterday i’ve placed a harness on him, (took me a week to train him) i was so proud of him for just being in the garden with me, i know it was only half an hour in the warm sunshine, it bought a lump to my throut, and today he’s been out for his first walk out with me, i felt so proud of him, Its always been a long time passion to own a bird that i could walk around with and allow to feel as if there is more than a cage life, (he flies free in the house) but its still not like feeling the wind under their wings like a free bird would do, the smell, sounds and noises, so i thought i’d just let all you bird lovers know how i felt, and theres nothing like letting your bird, no matter the size or breed feel that there is more to life … and the enjoyment it brings to the birds owner …. he is my baby.
I was living in a flat and had friends who had a Scaly Breasted Lorrikeet named Chopper and when they would go on holidays they would ask me to mind him. He had a lump on his back and could never fly and they named him Chopper after Chopper Reid because he was finicky and cranky. Why wouldn,t he be, He had been passed from home to home and I am sure his back at times hurt him. Because he couldn,t fly I would leave his cage open and go about my business . One day I was working on my computer when I felt this heaviness on my shoulder…I looked and found Chopper on my shoulder, I was afraid because of his tales of horror to others…I left him alone and waited till he got off of his own accord. After that he would regularly join me on the computer or any where else and I was always respectful of his moods. Which at times were so loving and he would talk and kiss my ear off other times he would screech and tell me of his agonies.Eventually he would go home of course as he wasn’t mine. After one holiday when he went back to his owners he was returned to me a few days later…Chopper had gone home and wreaked havoc on all and sundry, upsetting and biting all who came near him. By this time he was already 12 years old. I was absolutely rapt to have him back and know he was staying this time as I realized I truly truly loved this green bundle of meanness,affection,loving, contrariness and loving loyalism and that obviously he loved me for the same reasons. He was never vicious to me and we spent 3 1/2 wonderful years together before He had a stroke. He got better with me giving him some soft physio with the Vets advise and came round then 12 months later had another one. I held him in my hands until he passed on, He was a wonder and thru him I learn t the beauty and honor of having a bird own me….how lucky was I to be chosen. I was 45. I now have 2 more lorrikeets who will also have a permanent secure home till its their time, both unwanted birds before me….thankyou Chopper I still miss you with all my heart.
I was given two love birds as a child, but they were so noisy ,I often kept them in my room with the blinds drawn, to stop then screeching, i moved in with my grandfather who kept canary’s, he loved them and put their cages out on the clothes lines everyday, he taught me how to care for the love birds and how they needed to squawk ,so they could speak to each other and other birds flying past. we found a king budgie hurt out front one day he was massive, he also came to join the menagerie of animals at pa’s house. Later in lfe after I had grown up and had kids I met a guy who had a rainbow lorrikeet called phil and he loved the bird with such a passion that where ever he went the cage was in his car, we took the kids to the beach one day and when i looked he had bought phil, he had phil for 7 years before we met and then one day phil layed an egg and phil was now phyllis. he was shocked but he still loved her, we didnt live together and i too started to miss phil so on my birthday I went to the pet shop and got my own he was just a baby rainbow lorrikeet, I named him brooklin, and he and i are great friends, he lives outside my room but comes to walk in the yard with me every day, soon they called me bird girl and any un wanted birds came to stay with me.My sisters husband bought a sun conure for six hundred dollars, he soon lost interest ,and as the bird grew and was getting louder and louder, it was left out side and no body went near him he had grass parrotts as well but he never attended to them either, well at the end of the day because I showed a great interest in them, he reluctantly gave me these birds ,in the search of peace and quiet, so they didnt wake him every day. So i called the conure sunny of corse, he lives with the grass parrott, and a cockateil. He is able to screech and squawk all he wants at our place. i am lucky to have been taught from my dearly departed grand father that these poor birds just want a little company and to be heard. My nephew recently had four rainbow lorries and treated them badly as i had done as a child and luckily the door was left open, somehow, hint hint and the birds were freed from their child captive, If we are going to get our kids birds or any animal we need to teach them how to care for them , and understand that at the end of the day, the adults have to take charge and realise when , a bird is being mis treated and do some thing about it. I was lucky to have some body to show me how…
Growing up as a young homeschooled girl, I had always thought the birds were so pretty and colorful, but I didn’t have much interest in them; I was more interested in wolves and other carnivous mammals. But around the age of 8, my parents decided to buy me a pet budgie, which had a beautiful greenish-grey plumage. I decided to name him after Dexter’s Laboratory, Dexter, hoping that he was smart. After we took him home, he wasn’t that shy at all. I had spaghettis for dinner and Dexter attempted to fly from the living room to the dining room table to get to me. My mother helped him up and he trotted over to my plate and ate some spaghetti sauce, getting it all over his blue-cheeked yellow feathers. I thought he looked adorable that way. A few days later, when I left my bowl of cereal to to quickly feed my pet dog. When I came back, I saw him splashing the milk around and eating the cereal from my bowl. It was a little disgusting and a waste of food, but I found it amusing. After a few weeks, I had practiced reading higher level books to improve my pronounciation, grammar, and vocabulary, but my younger brother was bored, so I grabbed a children’s book about a little girl and her pet parakeet. As I read, Dexter suddenly jumped to the side of the cage that we were on, and I thought he wanted to get out, so I did. Instead of lounging on top of his cage, he landed on my shoulder. I was startled at first, but continued reading. Soon, I realized that he started mimicking words. “Mommy”; “Tweet Tweet”; “Ding Dong” and so on. He once was like “Mommy, mommy, mom?”, which my mother and I laughed at. He was just so adorable. Sometimes my younger brother and I would take his cage swing and run around the house with it and Dexter would fly after us. It was our way of giving him wing excercise, but we had fun. Dexter would sometimes fly fast enough to land on the swing before we have a chance to find another room to run in. Surprisingly, our family’s pet cat, Cookie, never bothered Dexter. In fact, she enjoyed him riding on her back. Soon, I got out of homeschool and became a middle-school student, losing less and less time to spend with Dexter. During the winter, we decided it was time to move to a different state. My parents decided to renovate our bathroom, since our house was kinda old. Unfortunately, the renovators constantly left the door open, and Dexter’s cage was right next to the door. I knew his kind from from Australia, but I just thought he would be fine. Lately, he became more sleepy and inactive and prefers the floor rather than flying. I ignored the symptoms and just implied that he’s getting old and fat, which was half-true. He gained a little weight, but not enough to keep him from flying. On a morning when I had to get ready for school, I tried to wake him up and get him excited to see me, but he was unresponsive. He would blink every now and then, but he didn’t make much reactions. My mother, who was well experienced with birds, told me he’s very sick. I went to school, hoping he’ll be better soon. When I returned home, I was devasted to learn that Dexter had died of the cold air. I couldn’t stop crying, saying how he was my best friend. I missed how we played together, how he spoke, how he loved it when I read to him. If only I noticed how frail and delicate he looked after he started showing symptoms of an illness. I started doing more and more research of birds, and even have a bird pendant to represent my name and my love for birds. Years later after we moved, my father decided to buy me a 2-yr old african grey parrot, whom was already owned before. Her name was Gabriella. She was very nervous, but the very next day, she loved to be pet around the head and neck. She wasn’t the same as Dexter. She wasn’t very playful. She prefers attention, interaction, and food. She is amusing, but nothing can replace Dexter.
I went to a pet store with a buddy of mine 30 years ago to buy some dog food for his dog. In the pet store I saw a bird in cage, a parrot, a pirate parrot. My buddy said, buy it, you need things in your apartment, it’ll be a conversation piece. I said, are you crazy, they want 1.200 bucks for this thing. I don’t know what was wrong with that day but I did it. We named her Cookie. I never thought that she would provide enless entertaiment. People would be over, laughing and she would laugh just like them, come home and she says hello. I took her everywhere with me. 5 years later I got married. My wife, not an animal person, couldn’t care less about Cookie. A year after we married she lost her job. She was home on the couch, sulking when Cookie let her wolf whistle followed by a hearty laugh, which made my wife laugh, then my wife knew why Cookie was so important. Today Cookie waits for my wife to come home, and when my wfie goes to her cage she shows off, ringing her bells and hanging upside down. Cookie doesn’t talk like she did when she was a young girl, but she still knows just when to say hello, followed by that one eye look, trying to be charming. And as my wife says, you can’t help but love her.
When I was little my grandmother used to buy me baby chickens and I loved them she would always get some for me when I came to visit and I have loved birds ever since!
After going through several fragile petstore budgies, my cousin gave us one that had been bred in a home… the huge difference! I took Lemmon everywhere. My parents got me a subscription to Bird Talk, and the studies on Alex the African Grey had just come out. There was a neighborhood pet store and the owner had the most cuddly cockatoos. As soon as I moved out on my own, when I was 19, I got a second job for 6 months to save for a parrot. I did alot of research, because I knew it was a life time commitment! I decided to get a goffins because they seemed less noisy than larger cockatoos, cuddlier than african greys, cages for goffins were smaller and less expensive than for larger parrots, and the nearby breeder had just hatched a brood. I got to take baby pictures of Boo from when he was a week old. The breeder was old fashioned and gavage fed him and let me bring him home “mostly weaned” when he was 10 weeks old. I didn’t feel comfortable sticking a tube down his throat, and he was clearly not “mostly weaned” and wanted fed 3-4 times a day. I spoon fed him whenever he cried, and took him everywhere that didn’t specify “no pets” – including class registration, the mall, family dinners, college parties, book stores, etcetera. I convinced the room attendant that he was a caged bird and counted in the same category as turtles, fish, hamsters, and other “caged animals” that were allowed in the dorms (after we moved out on our own, I heard that birds were specifically disallowed from the dorms). He even got to come to work with me a few times. Boo was my first pet as an adult and we’ve truly grown up together. Eventhough my fascination with parrots was inspired from that first tame budgie, the Pepperberg studies, and birds at pet stores… as an adult, Boo has thoroughly repeatedly re-inspired that love!
My first love of birds came to me at an early age. When I was around seven, my mother spotted a very plump robin that regularly came to our yard. We spent hours watching this rotund little bird live out his life in our yard, for what seemed to me to be many years. We name the robin, Tubby" and considered him to be a member of the family, as he never wandered far from our view. Later, when I was in my early twenties and suffering from a severe bout of panic attacks, I became housebound (agoraphobic) and rarely left the house for many years. It was then that a scrub jay befriended me, perching on my open window sill and occassionally entering the house to grab some nuts off the dining room table. He got me to venture out on my porch and sit with him as he made his way through each day. I would go outside, call him and he would swoop out of the sky and land right beside me. I named him “Magnum” and he made the lonliness of my illness more bearable. The day before I was to move with my family to our new home many miles away, Magnum never returned. I don’t know why he stopped coming at that poignant time, but he did…..knowing his work was done. I have since recovered from my illness, although still have some hard times with chronic anxiety. I now have three parrots and have owned birds for over twenty five years. I have dedicated my life to making safe and enriching toys for parrots, helping them to be mentally stimulated and thus lessening their chances to aquire neurotic behaviors. Birds are my life.
I walked outside to turn on the spriklers and a parrot was there eating seeds put out for wild birds. I couldn’t believe my eyes. When he saw me he climbed up the chain link fence and perched on the top. I held my hand out for him to step on and he lunged at it! I didn’t want to get bit but I didn’t want to leave him outside. We had an old cage in the garage from my sister’s cockatiel so I got that cage and a handful of grapes. This bird would take the grapes from my hand and when I turned to walk to the house he hopped off the fence and started to follow. I put some grapes on the lawn and while he was eating them I took the bottm out of the cage and set it down over top of him. He happily climbed the bars and sat on the perch. I searched for his owners: online, bulletin boards in pet stores, the lost & found ads in the local papers, called local exotic pet stores, and had him scanned for a chip. I bought a larger cage so he wasn’t cramped. After about a month while I was in the kitchen I hear singing: “Ay yi yi yi” coming from the living room. I run to him and sing it back. He didn’t say anything, put when I turned to leave “Ay, yi yi yi”. We did it back and forth a few times… as long as I didn’t look at him he’d sing. That is how Jose came to live with me. It has been almost five years. He still bites and hasn’t learned to step up yet, but I love him! I never in a million years would have pictured me with a parrot. But Destiny had other plans.
I have honestly never been a huge fan of captive birds, except for the more exotic beauties, because of the noise they make. I loved watching them in the wild though. But one day in a pet store I saw a green cheek conure, and watched it as it climbed all over the cage, upside down and all around, looking at me all the while as though he was entertaining me on purpose. (I called him monkey-bird) I adored him, and asked how much he cost. Eeeek! Out went my dream of owning a green cheek conure. Well, years later in the pet store I frequented, I would stop over at the bird display and watch as Rascal, another green cheek, climbed all over his cage. Then one day there was a 75% off sale on the birds. I calculated it, and thought, I could do that. But I didn’t want to pick him up right away. I don’t take pet ownership lightly – animals become part of my family. So I went home and researched how to care for the bird, and thought long and hard about the commitment. A week or so later, I went back to the store, and was nearly in tears when I saw the signs were down, and the old price was back. I kicked myself for not coming right back and taking advantage of it. I had come to really adore Rascal. A couple more weeks went by, and I returned. The birds were still there, and I decided to go ahead and ask somebody why they were no longer on sale. The cashier found the caretaker, who told me that they were going to try and move the birds to another store instead. But after I told her my story, she said that if I promised to take good care of him, she would sell him to me at the reduced price. I took home my pretty bird and all his stuff that day, and I was ever so grateful that my dream of owning him came true. Yes, sometimes the noise he makes is shrill and annoying, but most the time he makes soft noises and loves it when I mimick him. He also loves to be scratched all around his neck, to chew on my hair, and climb on top of my shoulder and head. :-) And no, he doesn’t poo or pee on me, because I read a trick to prevent that.
I have a beautiful cockateil named Binky. Binky came to our family when I was looking for a larger bird than the two budgies that I had given to my granddaughter who was living with me at the time. i was in the pet store one day and a lady at the pet store knew that i was lookig for a cockiteil and she told me a bout a lady who was in the pet store at that time and was looking for someone to take one of her cockateils off of her hands. Well, I went to her house and saw binky for the first time. He was so cute and I decided that I would take Binky home. Now he is my bird he squaks if I don’t get him out of the cage whenever he wants out.. He is a delightful bird, although, he does bite me when I don’t rub his head. I wouldn’t take all of the money in the world for Binky. He has stolen our hearts and especially mine.
As an only child growing up in a rural area my friends consisted of pets. I had chickens, roosters, cats and a rabbit. As an adult I loved animals but never gave too much thought to birds. Then I met somebody who really cared about wild birds. It made me pay closer attention to all birds. I did not have any pets but one day I was window shopping and walked into a pet store just to browse. The owner put a cockatiel on my hand while I walked around the store. She was so sweet I purchased her and have since become 100% a bird person. Naturally, I still like all animals but all species of birds are my passion. I love to feed wild birds and I love pet birds.
My first bird experiance was when I was around 9 years old. I grew up on a ranch and a Sparrow Hawk nest had fallen out of the grain elevator with one small chick in it. My father brought the baby home and we hand raised her with hamburger, chicken, and rabbits I would catch after school. Hawk soon grew very strong and truely thought I was family as she lived in our utility room. She had no cage, just her whole room to herself! She learned to hunt from live caught mice, and rabbits I would turn loose in her room for her. Late in the summer a male sparrow hawk had come by talking to her and hanging out on the clothesline and we knew it was almost time to release my precious Hawk as much as it broke my heart. She had been outside many times with me but never flew away. Any how we finally propped the door outside towards the clothesline so she could come and go as she pleased which she did for a couple of weeks. Finally she had quit comming in for feedings but hung out waiting for me to bring her a hamburger treat. Long story short when winter came along, I did not see her or her knew boyfriend for several months except one time. I thought I had failed in teaching her good hunting skills but along the next spring she showed up with her knew family in tow to show them off to me. Her, her husband and three beautiful babies came flying down to the clothes line and she whistled to me till I came out. I grabbed some hamburger and headed out to the patio to see her as excited as could be. All of the babies came to my shoulder after she did and took bites of the burger and she just whistled and carried on as proud as can be. Hawk and her families families came by every year after that and occasionally all year along for many years after that. Some how she had imprinted upon me and her young to me as one of them for a couple of generations and it was truelly one of the best memories of my childhood. She had shown her appreciation for my saving her life in a way that only mother nature could. I was young but knew she depended on me for everything. My love of animals has continued though out life. Things I will never do: Trust or befriend someone that does not like animals…if they dont like animals they have no ability to be honest and have any compassion for even there fellow man, and ever part with any of my feathered or furry children!
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