Pecker - my head in the eye socket bird - rip

This is quite possibly the sweetest blue fronted amazon that ever lived...

The memorial on my wall says a lot. Pecker. My velcro bird. February 25, 1972 to August 21, 2009. Even in death, your capacity to love was astounding...

My most bonded bird ever, and all these years later, I still miss her terribly. I sent Joe the pics...

Let me tell you a little bit about her death, then I'll tell you about her life.

She died of a tumor. She was so weak at that time, she could barely keep her head up. I left her overnight with Dr. Spears... and when I came to see her in the morning her eyes lit up. Even though she could barely stand, she tried to climb to my shoulder. I helped her up there, and she immediately stuck her head in my eye socket, which was always her way of greeting me. She was too weak to hold it. So she pressed it against the side of my face, and I scratched her. I sat there in the dark with her, for about half an hour, told her she was tired, and that she needed to sleep now...

About half an hour later her head fell over onto my shoulder, and she was gone.

The art card in the center of the picture was sent to me by a friend of mine who drew it of her after she died...

The painting was of us was done by my friend Holly, who after watching the interaction, just couldn't imagine trying to describe the bond between that bird and I any other way. It definitely captured it...

Joe, if you would, please insert those photos here.

Same Planet. Different worlds.

Sally, my spoiled rotten out and about red lored amazon used to go all over the place with me, but her favorite thing in the entire world was to get pushed around a store on riding on the handlebars of a grocery cart...

Since they let me do that at my local shopping center, I used to take her.

So, here we are rolling up from the parking lot, with Sally doing her happy noises riding on the cart, and as I pulled up, someone was leaving a green cheek conure cage, with a sad sack, overweight BFA, by the dumpster with the cardboard sign, free to good home.

She had been trying to give the bird away, but had no takers. The rescues were overflowing with amazons, and had put a moritorium on taking in any new ones. It was her brother's bird. The brother had died in a motorcycle accident, and she and the bird DID NOT get along. The green cheek conure cage was allegedly a sleeping cage only, but I suspect she'd been in it for awhile. I was told that her favorite food was BACON. We also learned she was rather fond of beer...

When I looked at her it was apparent that she was sick. She made a distinct "cackling" sound when breathing, and she was perch potato fat. I told them I would take her, and had them wait for me to put my bird back. (I didn't want her exposed to what ever this was.) We went straight to the Medical Center for Birds. Turns out she had a respiratory infection. She had a severe vitamin A deficiency, and her liver values were so bad that Dr. Speers told me it was a wonder she wasn't dead...

Dr. Speers gave her two vitamin A shots. The cackling noise was caused by her air sacs drying up. The long term lack of Vitamin A had dried them up to the point where she could barely breathe as it was, and with a respiratory infection besides, AND "this bird should be dead" liver values, her chances of survival best case scenario were about 50-50.

Well, as I previously told everyone, I got her on a high Vitamin A food diet, and crammed as much aloe detox in her as I could. She needed medicine every 4 hours round the clock, so she ended up sleeping on a pillow next to me in bed. And when the alarm went off, she had always migrated over to my shoulder, and slept with her head stretched out across my neck... THIS WAS THE BREAKING IN PERIOD! Bottom line, between the antibiotics, the change in diet, and the aloe detox, I got her liver values back to within normal limits. And in the process of nursing her back to health, she became my most bonded bird EVER!

She was a funny bird. She sang. She danced. She had a few colorful phrases that she said in context. When I came home, she wouldn't just fly to me, she would launch to my shoulder, like she had been shot out of a cannon. She would do her little happy dance, and sing for me. Where Sally would always lower her head and place it against the palm of my hand, and raise her feathers for a scratch, Pecker used to shove hers into my eye socket when she finished her "happy to see you" routine, and raise her head feathers.

Every single picture I have of this bird, has her face six inches from my eye socket. Any time we took a nap, she felt entitled to join me - since for the first few months - when I thought she was gonna die, I let her. Good luck breaking her of that one now...

She spent her first 35 years in a green cheek conure cage, and was so sick when I got her that she, frankly, probably shouldn't have survived. I've always thought that she came into my life, because she had been given a reprieve from death. Any creature that devoted and loving, deserved to be loved in return, and deserved that happiness... At my place she lived in an oversized macaw cage, and her cage door never closed. She ate good food, got outside every day, and knew she was loved. Her reprieve from death was short lived.

When she died it was heartbreaking...

And I found it odd, that the people who had her for 35 years, could leave her to die alone by the dumpster at the grocery store. Where I had only had her for three years, and found losing her to be so difficult. One man's trash... is another man's bird to be treasured!

I still miss her. I love all of my birds, and I am super bonded with all of them except Lila. But I've never had this sort of a bond with any other animal... She was exceptional!

Oh im in tears reading this .I lost another Macaw last week [I know those sweet eyes

I'm in tears, too.

Pinkbirdy said:

Oh im in tears reading this .I lost another Macaw last week [I know those sweet eyes

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It's impossible not to tear up reading that. How amazing Birdman.

Oh Terri, I'm so sorry to hear that!!

Yup.. The tears are rolling.
I can't imagine having a bond like that and losing it. You are blessed to have had that relationship with her. I wish I could have witnessed it.

Oh Im so sorry, that really did make me cry, you poor thing.Buit she had love and support until the end. You should feel good about that. I do know the feeling so I know what you are going threw. My thoughts are with you.

My heart goes out to you reading this... especially since I went through the pain of watching my beloved cockatiel fight a losing battle against kidney disease and finally die in my arms. Also very bonded to me. I know that pain. And I know it never completely goes away. Not when you're THAT bonded.

I look forward to reading your account of Pecker's life, Mark.

Pinkbirdy said:

Oh im in tears reading this .I lost another Macaw last week [I know those sweet eyes

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I'm so sorry for your loss, Pinkbirdy.

That is a beautiful story. At least Pecker knew in the last years of her life that she was loved and wanted. I will be interested in reading about her life and seeing her photos.

yep..crying here too...can't wait to see the pics!

Here are the pictures of Pecker for Mark

Beautiful Tribute Mark !! I have a spread of feathers from Poe

What a wonderful tribute! Pecker was a beautiful bird and she obviously made quite the impact on your life and you can just tell by her expression in those photos that she adored you.

Oh no I'm crying! How sweet but when I saw the end... I am swimming in tears! That is so sad!

What a beautiful tribute to her memory. She was a beautiful girl.
She was so fortunate to have you in her life to share her love with. I am looking forward to hearing the story of her life when you feel you can write about it.

Terri,
I am so sorry for your loss as well

Aww...how beautiful!

Mark, I'm very sorry for your loss. Such a beautiful and touching memorial for your beloved companion. Looking forward to reading about her life. She had the sweetest face.

Terri,
I'm very sorry to hear about your loss.

The memorial is touching and beautiful and the artwork is amazing. She had the sweetest face. I'm so sorry for your loss. They leave a hole in your heart the size of a crater, don't they?

Mark, that is a beautiful tribute.

Although we love all our birds, I understand that once in a while, and sometimes only once in our lifetime... an "EXTRA special" bird comes along and touches our heart and soul in a way no other before or after them can.

Kiwibird said:

That is a beautiful story. At least Pecker knew in the last years of her life that she was loved and wanted. I will be interested in reading about her life and seeing her photos.

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I wish I could find my old photos. I took a picture of the memorial I made simply because I couldn't find the others...

Actually, there is also a painting of her and I together that a friend of mine did. It's in Joe's email. Maybe he didn't get it...