Ramble
Active member
- Jul 4, 2019
- 65
- 128
- Parrots
- Bertie, the feisty, 17-yr-old, road-trippin’, green cheek conure
At the beginning of the year, while I was raising two other rescued hatchlings, my cockatiel, ThirdBird, escaped. 
My dog pushed open the door and the bird followed him out. I was mortified. Felt horrible. I kept tracking him for weeks. Since he had a particularly unique warble, it was easy to follow him around and see him in the trees. The tough part was that he was a pearl just starting to molt so pictures weren't going to help my neighbors recognize him. As the weeks passed, other cockatiels got spotted and captured but none of them turned out to be ThirdBird.
For months I kept hearing him in the neighborhood (the joy of sunny SoCal--it doesn't get painfully cold!). But I never caught him.
Until...this week! WOOT! I repeat, WOOOOOT!!!! Someone on our local NextDoor app found an injured cockatiel in her yard, so I went over to take a look. Even before I looked at it, I told her that ThirdBird had been gone quite some time, so that might not be him. I also told her that if it was banded, it wasn't ThirdBird. But once I looked at this unbanded, gnarly, injured, now pretty much grey cockatiel--I was sure it was ThirdBird.
Still, another person contacted her saying not to take it to the shelter, because he was sure it was his. Because ThirdBird had been gone so long, I wanted to be fair to this other person (but I was more than a bit suspicious.) I told him I had the bird, and if he had pictures, that would be helpful. I also let him know the bird had a broken foot, possible other injuries and needed immediate medical care.
With that, it was off to the avian vet...where we learned the left foot was hosed. The toes didnt bend and it was pretty swollen. One toe on the other foot might be broken, too. I forked over a bunch of cash, got some painkillers and anti-inflammatory meds and took him home. (Follow-up Friday for the next step.)
And the other guy? Never called back. I guess the bird with big vet bills doesn't belong to him. Too bad. :09:
And I now live in a place with double doors on all the exits, so he won't be out again.
Oh, did I mention...WOOOOOOT!!!!!!
My dog pushed open the door and the bird followed him out. I was mortified. Felt horrible. I kept tracking him for weeks. Since he had a particularly unique warble, it was easy to follow him around and see him in the trees. The tough part was that he was a pearl just starting to molt so pictures weren't going to help my neighbors recognize him. As the weeks passed, other cockatiels got spotted and captured but none of them turned out to be ThirdBird. For months I kept hearing him in the neighborhood (the joy of sunny SoCal--it doesn't get painfully cold!). But I never caught him.
Until...this week! WOOT! I repeat, WOOOOOT!!!! Someone on our local NextDoor app found an injured cockatiel in her yard, so I went over to take a look. Even before I looked at it, I told her that ThirdBird had been gone quite some time, so that might not be him. I also told her that if it was banded, it wasn't ThirdBird. But once I looked at this unbanded, gnarly, injured, now pretty much grey cockatiel--I was sure it was ThirdBird.
Still, another person contacted her saying not to take it to the shelter, because he was sure it was his. Because ThirdBird had been gone so long, I wanted to be fair to this other person (but I was more than a bit suspicious.) I told him I had the bird, and if he had pictures, that would be helpful. I also let him know the bird had a broken foot, possible other injuries and needed immediate medical care.
With that, it was off to the avian vet...where we learned the left foot was hosed. The toes didnt bend and it was pretty swollen. One toe on the other foot might be broken, too. I forked over a bunch of cash, got some painkillers and anti-inflammatory meds and took him home. (Follow-up Friday for the next step.)
And the other guy? Never called back. I guess the bird with big vet bills doesn't belong to him. Too bad. :09:
And I now live in a place with double doors on all the exits, so he won't be out again.
Oh, did I mention...WOOOOOOT!!!!!!
