Emotional reunion with Terry... I rehomed her about 12 years ago

[RavensGryf]

She was at the store boarding. Terry is a Cuban Amazon. I had forgotten how petite she was for an Amazon. I'm not sure is she is average weight or not, but I remember last I weighed her she was 220 grams. Raven my Pionus is about 250 grams and noticeably a little bigger than Terry. So here's a larger Pionus and a small Amazon!

I "rescued" Terry from a bird store about 12 years ago. Ok, not 'exactly' rescued, but she had already been living in the store for over 2 years. No one was interested in the small green Amazon who was shy and standoffish. When I met Terry, she was 'on sale' .

Long story short, I tried and tried to make her happy in my "quiet" home environment, which was just me at the time, with Robin my Red Bellied Parrot and my first Bronze Winged Pionus who passed. I was single and working, and the house was too quiet for her. She was depressed. After several years of trying to make her happy, I decided what was best was to try with another home where she might like the environment better. For her sake. I loved her (still do), but I truly thought it was best. I consigned her with a wonderful bird store, where the owner at times has almost the entire store for rehoming rescues on consignment (rather than making money on babies).

When I'd stop by the store, the owner would occasionally tell me over the years "I saw Terry to groom her the other day"... This store owner goes to Terry's current home to groom her and her other bird roommates. Because of that, I was really fortunate to hear updates on her over the years.

Terry has a great home, with lots of activity in the home which she thrives on. I guess in her early days she got so used to growing up at a store, that my quiet environment depressed her.

I was so embarrassed, I cried so hard when I saw her lol. She was good with me, but I don't know if she remembered me?

 

[GaleriaGila]

Love this. I want to believe she DID recognize you.
But the story is still priceless.

P.S.
She *IS* tiny... the Rb weighs almost 250!

 

[RavensGryf]

Wow Gail, you’re fast!!!

I tried Imgur again on my phone, but nope it still doesn’t work. I just took pics OF the pics with my iPad and will upload pics in a minute. I know, ridiculous huh?

 

[smbrds]

What a story. A wonderful reunion for sure, and I believe parrots DO have good memories! She's a pretty 'Zon!

 

[jax7271]

I absolutely love this story

 

[SailBoat]

Amazon's remember a stay of two years. The time with you was likely better for her than you may have realized at the time.

Cuban Amazon are small 210 to 240 is fairly common as Companion Parrots.

Happy you had the chance to see Terry again.

 

[RavensGryf]

Thank you. I expected to shed a few tears, but I didn't expect to be all choked up to the point I couldn't even speak at first .

To give up an animal who you didn't want to give up, trust me, it's extremely rough emotionally. It wasn't my only time, but for years now I've made sure I only take on the number of animals I can personally handle. I'll never rehome again. It's so heartbreaking. Even devastating. The other 2 I'll never see again. I loved them too. I grieved almost as if they died. I said in my other post that my mom's birds who I had to take on are more than I wanted to handle, but I just couldn't say goodbye to them.

 

[Scott]

A beautiful story, Julie! Terry is absolutely beautiful. So glad you were able to keep up with her progress over the years.

 

[Kiwibird]

Wonderful story Julie! So nice for you to be able to say hello to her after all these years, and must be really nice to know she is happy, healthy, has a wonderful family and environment she's thriving in.

My goodness though, she is TINY. I had no idea amazons came quite *that* small.

 

[wrench13]

I think they do remeber people. We had to rehome a Quaker parrot when my kids were very little, and I saw him again a few years after and he certainly remembered me ( offered his head for a scratch right away).

 

[RavensGryf]

Thanks.. yeah, she is pretty TINY. When I picked her up, the first thing I noticed was that she was light as air!

She kept making quiet little noises as I held her. Kind of like a cat purr sound, only not constant. Just a second or two at a time. If you have Amazons or Pionus you know the sort of sound I mean. Sort of like a whispered squawk. I hope that meant she remembered me. She’s a quiet girl, and not real demonstrative in her behavior like a typical Amazon, so it’s hard to know what she’s thinking.

I met a couple of her roommates too. She lives with a blue and gold (cage next to hers), 2 Greys, and a conure.