Nine years ago, I bought a used parrot cage from a local woman, and we started chatting via email.
We chatted almost completely about birds, and I mentioned to her that I had seen a Hawk-head for the first time at a pet store, and would love to have one but would never pay the $5000 they were asking for him.
She wrote back and asked if I was serious about wanting a HH, and of course I said yes, they are amazing.
Well, she had a friend in Ontario who was a breeder, and she was having to get rid of all her birds because she has COPD and could not take care of them anymore.
She was having issues finding anyone to take them because they were all older.
My friend called the woman, who was thrilled to have Darwin come to a new home. She was $1650 including her flight here and was worth every single penny.
Once she got here, we could see that she wasn't in good shape. She desperately needed a bath and was terrified of everything. We also realized she was 5 years older than we had been told, she was 23 instead of 18. That hurt my heart knowing that was 5 years less that we would have with her.
This was her first night home.
Within a few days though and a few baths she was beautiful, and was coming out of her shell.
She had never been held and was pretty wild. We worked slowly with her, and I do mean slowly. It took 2 years for her to step up, and it has taken me 8 years to be able to give her scritches and touch her beak.
She has the sweetest voice there is, and she says "Darwin", "Hello", "suey" and now "Mama".
Her voice may be sweet when she speaks, but the screams are something else. She has one really shrill scream, and the others almost sound like a roar.
Her laugh is hysterical, and she has a great sense of humour. She was watching Charley eating a treat, and when he dropped it she laughed so hard. She laughs at me every time I drop something too, and it gets everyone laughing in the bird room.
We love her so much, and are hoping for many more years with her.
Our beautiful girl now
We chatted almost completely about birds, and I mentioned to her that I had seen a Hawk-head for the first time at a pet store, and would love to have one but would never pay the $5000 they were asking for him.
She wrote back and asked if I was serious about wanting a HH, and of course I said yes, they are amazing.
Well, she had a friend in Ontario who was a breeder, and she was having to get rid of all her birds because she has COPD and could not take care of them anymore.
She was having issues finding anyone to take them because they were all older.
My friend called the woman, who was thrilled to have Darwin come to a new home. She was $1650 including her flight here and was worth every single penny.
Once she got here, we could see that she wasn't in good shape. She desperately needed a bath and was terrified of everything. We also realized she was 5 years older than we had been told, she was 23 instead of 18. That hurt my heart knowing that was 5 years less that we would have with her.
This was her first night home.
Within a few days though and a few baths she was beautiful, and was coming out of her shell.
She had never been held and was pretty wild. We worked slowly with her, and I do mean slowly. It took 2 years for her to step up, and it has taken me 8 years to be able to give her scritches and touch her beak.
She has the sweetest voice there is, and she says "Darwin", "Hello", "suey" and now "Mama".
Her voice may be sweet when she speaks, but the screams are something else. She has one really shrill scream, and the others almost sound like a roar.
Her laugh is hysterical, and she has a great sense of humour. She was watching Charley eating a treat, and when he dropped it she laughed so hard. She laughs at me every time I drop something too, and it gets everyone laughing in the bird room.
We love her so much, and are hoping for many more years with her.
Our beautiful girl now
