my parrot just passed away last night

[xterrabill]

tex
that is exactly what I said to my wife.
she seen it not myself.
I am familiar with that formation.
(air shows)

 

[xterrabill]

to all that are following this post.
the wife just found out that there is a bird show in springfield il
in 2 weeks and she wants to go.
we both have started looking into other breeds to see what we think would
suit us. (because finding another aus red winged is impossible)
big...nope
noisy ....nope
smart....yes
able to handle cooler climate....BIG YES!!!
the research has begun!
we are both starting to feel just a little better, but
the sadness still comes in waves.

Caiques..... possible
Eclectus....slightly possible
Pionus......slightly possible
Senegal....possible

so far those are what we are considering for research.
we live in Chicago and keep the house on the cool side
69-73 deg.

all comments very welcome and appreciated
much love to all.
peace,
Xb

 

[KiwisMama]

Im so sorry for your loss Bill. Losing a feather child is always the worst. I've lost quite a few cockatiels, lovebirds and finches years and years ago, and only recently adopted a large bird. It sounds like you gave the bird a great gome.and it was happy and thrived, and there are plenty out there suffering from unfortunate situations who need an experienced avian companion like you and your wife! When the time is right you will know! Condolences to you and your family.

 

[xterrabill]

just so all are aware, we are not taking this lightly, we fully understand the lifetime
commitment involved with family, the good, bad and really bad.
we made the commitment before, and there are long periods of time (years even)
when understanding parrot is critical and a huge challenge!
we were beyond lucky with our last, that bird was a miracle.
when I am able to talk about him, I will tell his story and I will bet
many here will be very surprised at just how fortunate we were.
some wont believe it, many will.

so at the moment we are researching Caiques and we
believe it "might" be the right one for us, there are some
similarities with red winged parrots.
(his name was Biemba, but his nic name was Crabby or little ship)

we will continue the research and try to educate ourselves as much as
possible to arm ourselves against all possible mistakes that we made
with our last little guy even though he lived so long.

we are both (wife and myself) still taking his loss extremely hard.

I feel bad for all of you that have gone through this.
god bless all of you who get back up on that perch.

 

[plumsmum2005]

Ah Bill yes many here have experienced the pain, a hole in your heart from losing a feathered love. It does get better honestly. I took the loss of one of mine so bad I said never again. Luckily someone had other ideas for me when Plum landed many, many, years later.

I cannot wait to read Biemba's story, crabby indeed LOL. A home with so much love cannot be anything else but amusing, they thrive on it. If it helps cry my friend, you will never lose Biemba, he occupies a place that will be forever his in your heart.

 

[PrimorandMoxi]

looking forward to hearing crabby's life celebrated when you are ready to share.

 

[xterrabill]

one week later and we (wife and myself) are still really tore up over our loss.
I have lost family, parents, brother, a best friend for many years, but
absolutely nothing compares to this.
yikes!!
I never would have imagined it would be so tough, physically and mentally.

we are still thinking of getting another and talk a little about it every day.
I still cannot bring myself to look at his picture to post it, or sit down
and type his story yet for all of you....I apologize for that

thank you all again for the kind sentiments, its helped quite a bit.

 

[LordTriggs]

So sorry to hear about this.

I'll tell you from my experience, let your brain rest for now. It doesn't go well going out to immediately get a new one, trust me. Let yourself mourn then when you feel good again you can think about it

 

[Allee]

Bill, I have just returned home from a vacation and I'm trying to catch up with forum news. First, a warm welcome to the forums, I'm sorry about the sad circumstances. Deepest condolences for the loss of your beloved family member. A bond like that brings a kind of joy that only parrot people understand, I know the pain is excruciating but I'm glad you returned to the forums and I'm so happy to hear you and your wife have decided to open your living hearts and home to another feathered companion. I'm looking forward to hearing Biemba's story when you are ready to share details. You and your wife are in my thoughts.

 

[xterrabill]

 

[xterrabill]

that was my buddy, my best little friend.
he wasn't the kind to snuggle with you, he didn't like being touched.
you could touch his beak with your finger (very lightly) when he was relaxed or maybe his chest.
he insisted on it daily actually, he would kiss you or if you slept too long he would wake you up by landing on you and kiss your eye lid . he stuck to me like glue.
he was extremely quiet, only giving a little tweet when he was looking for you
and if you answered with a little whistle he would come find you.
he was a free range bird (in home) ALL DAY, never locked up! NEVER chewed up anything EVER! never tried to eat anything wrong, never clipped. we have baskets in every room of the house, and he would perch on them and sleep or preen and poop in them 90% of the time. a super great flyer, he could fly and land anywhere,
even in very small rooms....like in a bathroom.
he drank from a shot glass and ate off a small plate, he would put himself to bed
if we came home late, (literally fly to his cage and go to sleep inside on his swing).
he was very smart and inquisitive, and a tough little guy too!!!
he would get mad if he couldn't see your face (like if I put a blanket over my head
and called him) he would attack the blanket on your head but never bite hard.
he never drew blood, Never once!!!
he would bite me, but only when I was getting him mad on purpose (playing).
he understood many words and hand signals (maybe 10-12).
why more Australian red winged parrots aren't kept as pets is beyond me.
why more haven't been bred here is sad.
we did so many things wrong, he should have died 30 times in 29 years!
incents, scented candles, nonstick cookware, Lysol ect.ect.
if he didn't like something, he would just fly out of the room.
I truly think he was that smart!
we were careful though, believe me, many times he was put into a room
and the door closed when we cleaned or painted ect.
we think he was a one in a million bird.
many of you on here have had many birds and know 1000 times more than we
ever will.
but to us he was a miracle.
I cant type any more now....sorry.

 

[ParrotLover2001]

Sorry for your loss. Sounds like he was a great bird.

Sent from my Galaxy s8

 

[PetoftheDay]

Aww, what a handsome boy! We know you will see him again some day at The Rainbow Bridge, so glad he had such a long, happy life with you!

When you are ready, you could nominate him for Pet of the Day - we save Sundays for deceased pets, or sad stories. We know he lives on in your hearts, and always will. And perhaps will guide you and your next bird to each other, you never know!

 

[tashawithanekkie]

What a smart, sweet, and handsome fellow. So sorry for your loss. Hope you find a measure of healing here.

 

[xterrabill]

thank you all again for the kind responses.

story of our little guy part 2

he would fly around the house sometimes just to exercise, do
laps around the living room/dining room/kitchen. sometimes disappear
and we would say...where is he? I would whistle and he would whistle back
to let me know his location,
he would be sitting quietly on top of the fridge or on an open cabinet door
or where ever he wanted to be.
he truly had a mind of his own.
80% of the time he would be near me, 20% near my wife.
for the last year or so, once in a while
he would whistle back from the basement (very clean/finished)....we had to find out what the heck he was doing,
so we would sneak down there and find him on the dryer ....just sitting there looking cute, so when ever he whistled back from there again, we would say...
"he's doing laundry" LOL
he could whistletalk just a little....like "come here" and "good boy"
mimic the microwave and some other whisle's that I would do.
he loved cashews and O.J., and on rare occasions if we ate bacon he would
steal a whole piece of your plate and drag it to the other end of the table.
he loved the sausage off a good Chicago pizza.
(he knew what a pizza box was)
he would eat pasta and just about anything we would eat, but we never gave him too much, never chocolate or avocado or caffeine, or alcohole ect. ect.
he lived on his seeds, cashews, O.J. water, grapes, bananas, bell pepper and a Little
people food every day.
but he flew everyday, everywhere in the house, he would do laps around his
bedroom every night before he went in his cage to sleep.
he understood....
"fly one" ------that's one lap
"fly two"-------two laps
"fly three"-----3 laps
and then we would say "good boy"
and he would get on his basket or the back of my hand
to get in his cage, give a kiss, and get on his swing for the night.
we did close his cage at night, but never covered it.
he was healthy for his age, a fighter, a rough and tumble scrapper, mad at the world old soul.
he had tons character!!
sometimes a 2 year old, sometimes a teen, sometimes a wise old man.
sometimes cantankerous but 97% of the time sweet and so quiet you forget
he was in the room.
we wanted just to be next to me, on my shoulder or behind my head
on the back of the couch.
if I was laying in bed looking at my lap top, sometimes he would play peekaboo
around the screen.
if he wanted a drink, he would bark, if he wanted his seeds he would bark again
he knew how to speak to us and trained us to speak parrot.

we continue to look at and look into caique's and are seriously
considering one.
for us to be able to physically touch, pick up, play with and
pet a little guy would be truly remarkable to us.

we understand that we will never be able to have another bird that could
be free all day in the house unsupervised again.

we now understand the dangers that we need to never do again
and how lucky we were with our little guy.
again it was a miracle he outlived his normal lifespan by
10 years.

we need a bigger cage (for the day in living room)
will use our older 24x24x48? just for sleep at night (in his own bedroom)
that's what we are thinking (maybe mistaken).

they want 1300. here for one.
we want a male white belly.

we are going to take our time getting one.
we decided instead of birthday (hers this month, mine next and
our big anniversary this year next month) .....
instead of big gifts we want to use that money together and
get a new little guy.

that's the plan.
hopefully we will get one this year, we both would like that a lot.

I thank ALL of you again profusely.


rest well my little chief, we miss you.

 

[plumsmum2005]

Thank you for sharing your truly remarkable bond, non parrot people just will never in a million years understand but we do.

Until you meet again.

 

[AmyMyBlueFront]

Hi Bill..and welcome back to the best parrot forum around.

I just found your thread..sooo very sorry for your loss and my deepest condolences to you and your wife.
I too,am a member who lost my best friend a few years back..and you are right.."non parrot people" just don't understand us!

Your little buddy was indeed a very handsome fella..I never saw a red armed (winged) parrot until now.

He was very fortunate to have parronts like you and your wife..
The hurt sucks..seems like the healing takes forever ( I still think of Smokey,after over two years of her passing)

I think it is great that the both of you are taking your time,looking for the right new family member,and letting him/her choose YOU will make your friendship even more rewarding.

Thank you for sharing his story..


Jim

 

[xterrabill]

i will try to link a music video I did and there is a photo of my
little guy at the end.
music has been a part of me for most of my life, but I cant
bring myself to play since he left us.

hope you all like the song and it brings a smile to your faces
instead of me being a bummer all the time.

enjoy if it works and I can link it.
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am-IOZvWZD4"]DRUNK SHEEP Music Video by Xterrabill - YouTube[/ame]

 

[LeaKP]

Reading all of these posts makes me cry. I remember one of my birds, a beautiful grey, I rescued from a basket in town in Zaire where I lived many years ago (very remote, nothing available). He obviously had been stolen from his nest and in that situation there was nothing I could do but care for him. He seemed to do well for a few days and then suddenly died. I cried and cried, and cried again today.

My poor little grey.

 

[bekah]

Hi Bill,

So so sorry for the lose of your family member! My thoughts and prayers are with you and your wife.