One day we received an email from a couple who wanted to rehome their 2 year old HY, Bubbles. They wanted us to know that she was piercing loud and that the wife couldn't control her at all and as a result, they kept her in the cage the majority of the time. We decided to go check out the home of Bubbles. When we arrived we were met at the door by a woman and 4 huge dogs. We were welcomed and after calming her furry friends, she took us to her Hy's cage. She proceded to attempt taking her out and cautioned us not to try and handle Bubbles until she could get her to a perch. The woman hopelessly fumbled around, and Bubbles ended up on the woman's lower back as she bent over, then into the wall and eventually to the floor. The woman panically apologized and said that she had trouble handling her, and that eventually she will get her calmed down. Bubbles kept jumping around in an effort to avoid the owner until she was successful in making it to the other room and I followed her as the woman tried to calm HERSELF. I quietly sat down with Bubbles, began to sing to her and softly tell her "I love you." She walked up my leg to my chest and snuggled into my neck as I skirched and kissed her. The woman looked at me and said, not sure what I have been doing wrong! I am sure you can fill in the rest of the story!

Your story next............

Awww that's a wonderful story! How sweet!


My favorite bird story? That's a hard one!

I would have to say the all time favorite would have been the way we came to co-exist with our little princess Maple. Last summer we got posted to Ontario from Nova Scotia. Every summer my Grandmother goes to visit my cousin who lives in Ontario. So we were very excited that we were going to get to visit with her (it had been a while). Anyway, we were still staying at a hotel waiting for our house to be ready, but we drove up to my cousin's house (3 hr drive) to pick up my Grandmother to come visit with us for a few days before she had to return to Newfoundland. We had never visited my cousin's house before, but we were aware that she had birds. When we walked into the house, into the kitchen, there she was......Maple.....a beautiful B&G! At the time I was terrified of her....but Rob was just in awe. He has always wanted a large parrot. (Had a tattoo of one on his back for 10 years prior!)

Anyway, my cousin took her out of her cage (after a screaming match..lol) and Rob began to play with her. The look on his face was priceless...it was love at first sight! Throughout the course of lunch my cousin began to talk about how she was considering re-homing Maple because she was just no longer able to give her the time and attention she required. That she was caged too much and that she could be a "lovely" bird if given the time she so desired. Also, being that my cousin was in her 60's, and Maple was only 7, she wanted her to go to a young family where she could settle in for a long and happy life. Anyway, after a couple more hours of Rob ooooing and awwwing, we took my Grandmother and returned to our hotel.

A couple of weeks later, after getting settled in our new house, my cousin and I started emailing back and forth about Maple. She really wanted Rob to have her, but was concerned about my fear of her. After a dozen or so emails back and forth, I assured her that I would become at least comfortable enough to care for her should Rob ever be absent. That was enough to ease her mind, and that very day we rented a truck and went to pick her and all her belongings up.

We thanked my cousin profusely, she shed a few tears as she was saying good bye, and we drove away. We got her home and settled, and within a week it was clear that she chose ME! She would follow me around her cage saying "up up". I finally gave in and picked her up, and we've been inseparable ever since.

Maple is the first large bird I ever came into contact with. She helped me overcome my fears, and I helped her to trust and feel loved again. She still continues to make strides in her behavior and makes me proud every day. Like just recently when she rolled over to play on her back for the first time!

Now we have Harley too, and he has a very different personality, and we love him dearly. But Maple will always hold a special place in my heart!

(Sorry for rambling....I'm a very proud Mama...LOL)

As most of you know, I have been wanting and praying for a female eclectus for some time. Months went by before I found one that I thought was the 'it' bird. She was stunning. Unfortunatly, the price tag also blinded me. $1200!!! There was no way that I could afford that much and I certainly wasn't about to give up Harley (only had her at the time).

In February, Echo came into my life. It has never been the same since. I love her dearly, but I still found myself dreaming about having a female ekkie. Money was tight as to speding hundreds more dollars on another bird; it simply wasn't an option to have three. I cried and begged and dreamed, but to no avail...

In July, I saw an add for someone who was giving away a female eclectus. I screamed and emailed them. We corresponded over a week, getting generic emails about the bird. She had has hormone shots, she was plucked, prefered women, etc... Then a week of silence. My thoughts spun that entire week about this bird and I thought I hadn't been chosen. The Friday before we left on our vacation, my mom called. She told me to pull up her outlook on the computer. There is was; an email from them! My mom repeated the email to me: Dominique, we think you would be the perfect mother for Lucy. Oh. My. Word. I screamed! My knees went weak, I cried, I coudn't contain my excitment!

When we went tp pick Lucy up a week later, my heart melted. Standing ont he back of a chair was the most georgous, precious looking bird I had ever laid eyes on. She made etched out a spot in my heart from that point on. Lucy is a very special bird to me. Not because she's my dream bird, but because she is everything I could ever want and so much more

My favorite bird story is when I got my African Grey Yogi. 17 years ago I saw an ad in the newspaper that said baby congo african greys $675.00, vet checked and spoiled. I called up the number and the woman told me she had 5 babies available and that she had the vet paperwork saying they were very recently vet checked. She brought 4 babies out and put them onto a large playstand. The babies were all very friendly but it dawned on me she had said she had 5 and there were only 4 on the stand. I asked about the 5th baby and she looked at me and said we are still having a hard time deciding if we want to part with him or not. The 4 other babies on the stand were a very light silvery color, she then said she would bring out baby number 5 just to show us him. He was a very dark grey congo and just beautiful. The most amazing thing was, she set him at the back of the playstand and he literally climbed over the top of the other 4 babies just so he could be at the front where I was. He leaned way over and stared into my eyes and I fell completely in love with him. I begged the woman to please let me have him as I had found my special bond with him already. She then told me she wanted to think about it for another day and would get back to me. I left there with a heavy heart. She called me the next day and asked that we come back to see his reaction to me again. Again she placed all the babies on the playstand and put him on the back and again he raced over to the front and this time actually jumped at my chest to be near me. The lady had tears in her eyes and she said he loves you too and you two belong together. She then said the magic words, you can buy that baby if you like. Needless to say I couldn't get my money out fast enough and he came home with me, that was 17 years ago and Yogi is my best friend. I love him so dearly sometimes just thinking about it brings tears to my eyes. He means the world to me and always will.