My Birds' Stories

Ltygress

New member
Jan 6, 2015
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Atlanta, GA
Parrots
Blue and Gold Macaw named Stewie, Blue and Gold Macaw named Bazinga, Male Eclectus named Nicholas, Unknown Severe Macaw named Zander
Our fourth parrot is actually here now, safe, healthy, and settling in. Unfortunately I only have phone internet access and I guess this forum doesn't allow direct photo uploads, so no pics right now. Photobucket and Flickr take forever!

Anyway, this guy is definitely going to be a challenge. Each of my parrots has a story, but this may be the one that will take longest. Definitely not the worst, just the longest.

Lola was the original. A Hahn's Macaw that was owned by druggies. As she stayed locked in her cage, they smoked, abused, and drank right there in the house with her. She was fed a cockatiel seed mix, and developed a crop infection. She was also a screamer. But just five years old, she was rescued, treated, and loved. However, Lola was later stolen from me by a family member.

Bazinga was next. She's a female blue and gold macaw. She's the type where her history is completely unknown prior to last year. Her owners at the time padlocked her in the cage, moved out of the house they were renting, and left her behind. The hot 100-degree Georgia summer, no electricity, no refills of food or water, and a cage literally locked up. The landlord found her several weeks later. Landlord gave the bird to her daughter, who didn't know how to care for her, then she came to us. She's a serial plucker now, but no mutilation, which we're okay with. The vet cleared her of any illness or disease, and she's estimated to be about 15.

Then came Baby Blue. Her story isn't nearly as bad. A Hyacinth Macaw owned by a doctor. She used to be held all the time when he first bought her and two others back in the 80's. But about 10 years ago, things changed and the birds became ignored. The other two died for different reasons. Baby Blue became completely ignored. The doctor hired caretakers to look after her. They fed her and gave her water, but were FAR too scared to evervtouch her. Since she was cared for properly in the past, she reverted back to her old self quickly. She is still nervous of being picked up some days, but she gets through without biting anyone! She's totally healthy, despite being much older.

Then came Cali, the worst case. She's actually a Moluccan cockatoo about 20-years-old, and the only one with a leg band. We got her the week before Christmas because the owner couldn't deal with her self-mutilating. That is now healing very nicely, and we're fo using on the other issues. Twelve years ago she was stabbed by the owner's daughter. They couldn't afford a skin graft on her head, and the result has left her 100% blind in one eye, about 75% blind in the other one from skin and feathers blocking it, one ear damaged, and no head feathers aside from her crest. Even after surviving that, she was attacked by a dog a few years later and is missing one of her back claws. Then her owner put her in some situation that caused her to start mutilating. She stopped messing with the wound pretty much immediately after we got her, and hasn't touched the wound since. Once the mutilation wound completely heals, she'll undergo surgery to fix the blocked eye, and then we'll look into the other eye and head feathers.

And now, Sidney/Monkey. His name was changed when we got him. He's a fully feathered, and totally healthy Scarlet Macaw. He's about 12 years old, and was kept outside year-round. The owner did put in heat lamps, but not close enough to do any good. And during very cold nights, he ran a kerosene heater. Fumes and all. During warmer weather he would take the macaw and his three pet amazons outside and set them on a perch. And that was it. From the bird's responses, there was probably never any other interaction. The guy was hoping the amazons would befriend the macaw, but they never did. He really was by himself most times. Thus the owner gave up the macaw, and kept the amazons.

He's going to be the longest challenge because I've essentially got to train a 12-year-old macaw from square two (square one being step-up). He's lived 12 years without learning to trust pretty much anything.

So there's my now-complete family. Sidney was the last arrival yesterday morning. I'll try to post updates on his status as he continues to settle in.
 
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That is great you taking in these birds and giving them a loving home.
I have a rescue Amazon and he knows how good he has it. After being in a small cage for 3 years you can tell he is grateful and he is a sweetie, never has bitten me and always wants by me. The ppl I got him from said he was mean and a bitter.
Good luck and he will come around to trust humans again.
 
Yes, you should be able to post pics, but the forums have size limitation, so you'll probably have to either re-size your pics to something smaller than what your phone generates or take the time to upload to one of the free pic sites & just post the various links.....

Good luck.....
 
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Yes, you should be able to post pics, but the forums have size limitation, so you'll probably have to either re-size your pics to something smaller than what your phone generates or take the time to upload to one of the free pic sites & just post the various links.....

Good luck.....

The attachment upload link doesn't actually work on my phone. The one where it says "choose file" just acts like a dead button. But then my phone IS very old. It's old enough to have been through three "contracts" with three different family members, lol!
 
I'm sorry you can't post pictures but we get the idea. Thank you so much for rescuing these guys. Keep before and update pictures and when you are able post them.
 
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Okay, I have a few minutes, and figured out some things about it. The choose file button is not working in the pop-up window that it makes. It DOES however, work in a separate full window - like that used to upload photos to albums from your user control panel! So, I uploaded six photos showing my birds, located in an album on my profile.

So the photos are up. Now I'm going to see if I can play with options to display them here. In the meantime, feel free to take a peek over there in my album to see them!
 
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ltygress-albums-my-birds-picture13596-bazinga-s-first-day-here.jpg

Bazinga's first day here, sitting on a part of her old cage.

ltygress-albums-my-birds-picture13594-bazinga-playing-vet-s-office.jpg

Bazinga again, being silly at the vet's office.

ltygress-albums-my-birds-picture13592-baby-blue-nut-remnants.jpg

Baby Blue with a bunch of destroyed nut shells.

ltygress-albums-my-birds-picture13593-cali.jpg

Cali wearing a "hoodie" we originall bought for Bazinga, but put on Cali for her mutilation wound.

ltygress-albums-my-birds-picture13595-cali-s-blind-eye-white-not-light-reflection-s-scabbing-eyeball-itself-drying-out.jpg

Cali's completely blind eye. It's not light reflection on her eyeball, it's the white scabbing I mentioned.

ltygress-albums-my-birds-picture13591-sidney.jpg
Sidney sitting on an open perch!
 
Here you go, it was quite easy to take them from your album and place them here. All you have to do is go to your album, click on the photo(s) you want to insert, copy and paste. :)





ltygress-albums-my-birds-picture13592-baby-blue-nut-remnants.jpg
ltygress-albums-my-birds-picture13591-sidney.jpg
 
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A lot of steps to go through on a phone, but there they are!
 
Wow that is awful :( Poor babies!
 
Your birds are beautiful, it is so heartwarming to hear how awful their lives were before and then how lucky they are to end up with you. Really awful how some people treat animals.
 
It's so sad to see that people who should know far better (doctors included) become abusive to their pets and neglect them severely. Parrots live a long time and people's situations change which causes a lot of problems for parrots. Two of my three macaws also fall into the rescue catagory. My Catalina; Doogie was also owned by a doctor (named for Doogie Howser on TV). He is now 21 and I got him at 4, having been teased by the doctor's children. Now 17 years later I have a sweet, loving bird. Kayko my B&G I got at 20 and was also abused and neglected. He is 32 now and likely is the most photographed macaw in Florida. I think I have succeeded beyond the second owner's wildest imaginations to care for and share with the public her bird. Kayko has been on the arms of no less than 26,000 people and gets out to do more weekly.
 
I agree. How incredibly sad is it to hear that people can put defenseless animals in such horrible situations. Each time I hear of it my heart wants to break. Humanity has truly reached it's lowest point. Thank you for giving these babies a better life.
 
I've said it a million times.

I love M2's to death but MOST people shouldn't have them, and I regret that they were ever introduced to the pet trade... TOO many of them end up like this! It makes me so angry!!!

Large macaws should require an IQ test. Once again we are in "stop me if you've heard this before" territory! I just HATE what people do to these birds.

And you're right about the challenge. A jumpy scarlet will bite first, and ask questions later. I'd work on trust issues to the Nth degree with that bird first.
 
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What a beautiful bunch! I bet they are all MUCH happier to be with you:) I bet each one will finally get the love and care they deserve. Thanks for taking all these severely abused birds in.
 

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