What got you into birds?

[psychocircus91]

Not sure if there's any recent threads like this, but I was curious to see what got other people interested in parrots/birds.

For me, I was nine years old and walking in wal-mart with my dad. We came across a book rack with a cockatiel book on it. Without hesitation, I told my dad I wanted one.
After a couple months of research and browsing, we put a deposit down on a baby cockatiel.

Between then and now we've had aviaries and various bird species.

Here is me and my first bird, Stormy.

 

[henpecked]

My avatar is me with my mother's amazon, at age 3. At age 60 I've never been with out one.

 

[Kiwibird]

This beauty took an immediate interest in me the day I came home as a newborn. I was HER baby lol. I've always had parrots around (there were 3 in my childhood home who were there long before I was born). Lucy was such a wonderful animal to grow up with and whether my mom agrees or not, she is really MY bird:09:

I actually had about a year and a half after I first moved out of home without birds, but I missed having a parrot. I knew I wanted an amazon, even if I researched other species besides zons to be 'fair':

Here she is 20-some years later along with what blue fronted thing she inspired me to drag home

 

[ToMang07]

I've had both wild and farm birds my entire life. (Ducks and chickens as a kid, first one was a hen from a 1st grade project) Also the entire family has always fed, ID'd and watched wild birds, a favorite "lazy" pastime. That being said we had a family friend with smaller birds, and I wasn't much of a fan.

Then we had neighbors move in next door who had a Cockatoo. (Sulfur Crested) I fell in love, and was completely intrigued by that bird. Always with the mother, wanted attention of a cat with the loyalty of a dog. Wanted one ever since.

We did have a couple parakeets for a few years, until one of them got out of the cage and escaped, and the other died of depression a week or so later. (Sad.) I said to my parents I wanted a cockatoo.... and they went out and got a couple cockatiels. :20:

Well, they were a bonded pair, and just screeched all day. Never bonded to me, would barely let me hold them. Honestly I couldn't stand them. I re-homed them to someone who wanted them. Decided last year (Many years later) that I finally wanted to get my 'Too, and started doing research and searching the classifieds.

Found Willow, and feel completely blessed and lucky to have done so, I couldn't have asked for a better Too.

 

[chris-md]

Started with my first parakeet my parents bought for me when we lived in Spain, Solstice (parents bought her for me on the summer solstice so the name suck). Couple more parakeets followed.

We left Spain and settled in Maryland having had to rehome he budgies,, where I almost forgot about birds until my grandma showed up at our doorstep 3 years later with a red throated conure (Aphrodite, Ditey for short) as a gift to me. I thought she was the coolest thing and enjoyed her until she passed away a few years later.

When she passed I swore I would never have another caged animal since the maintenance was more than I wanted (didn't help Ditey always hung on the side of the cage so poop got not just on the floor but the cage too).

About 5 years ago ( some 9 years after Diteys passing) I flirted with the idea of getting another bird, which brought me here in a typical "what's right for me" post. Nother ever came of that. But a year and a half ago the bug bit me hard and I knew I was ready. so I came back here for some intense research, And after some wrenching discussions (and an argument or two) with Eddie (my partner) we brought Parker home. And it's been great ever since. he's done nothing but enhance our lives...except drain my wallet. Even Eddie has admitted he likes having Parker around.

Now if I can work it just right over the next few years maybe a red fronted or greenwing macaw could land here

 

[ZephyrFly]

I had never really given birds much thought until 2 or more years ago when I decided I was in a good place (stable job and home) and i wanted a pet.
I live with my boyfriend (we're in our mid 20's), he doesn't like dogs and every animal i suggested he'd say "I'd think about it", even when i suggested a cat and he loves cats.
I spend a lot of time watching video game video's on youtube and got into watching a channel called Jontron. Jontron has a little green bird that appears in his video's sometimes called Jacque. He wasn't highly trained but his antics really charmed me. I fell in love and eventually found out what he was, a green cheek conure! I took this idea to the boyfriend, "what about a bird like Jacque?" and he said look into it and maybe. This answer had a lot more prospect.
So I did, I looked up everything I could find, found this forum, and found the breeder. By the time I got the boyfriend to meet the breeder and their bird Charlie he was won over too.
About 6 months later I was meeting this little young but fully weaned fluff ball that kept falling asleep in my scarf (got Pazu on December 11th). Year and a half later he's here chewing up my keyboard but being a lovable fluff ball of sass.

TLDR; Saw a bird on youtube, decided I wanted a bird like that. Got a bird like that. He's an awesome little terror.

 

[snowflake311]

I was just thinking the same thing. Glad you started this thread.

I did not really have an option I was pretty much born with a bird on my head. HAHA My mom and dad both liked birds. My mom being the real bird nut. My dad had a Cockatoo when I was an infant back in 1982. My dad loved that bird and wanted to name me Jen after his bird. My guess is the bird was wild caught and it did not like my mom and with a new baby in the house they rehome it.

Growing up I had parakeets and a cockatiel. We had chickens too. I always wanted a dog but I only had birds till I was in 7th grade. I got my dog and in 8th grade we got our Senegal Parrot Kiwi. Who I ended up taking with me cross country. My mom's sister is a crazy bird person. She has an amazon, green cheek, and golden capped conure. So I was around her birds a bit too growing up.

So I have had birds in my life for a long time. living with out them is weird. I have done it but it always feels like something is missing.

I just got my second parrot 2 weeks ago, my Black capped conure. I got my parakeets a few months ago. It's been 5 years since I lost kiwi to an illness she was only 15 years old.. I was with out birds for 5 years... Now that my daughter is 7 yr I felt it was time to get some feathered babies. She loves birds. The 3rd generation of crazy bird lady has been born.

 

[smbrds]

Nice thread.

I was at a private school back in high school. Sometimes my teacher would bring in her cockatiel, along with a few others who brought in theirs. So it was like a little school zoo. There were also budgies and ringneck parakeets. I was around the 'tiel more and it was the most friendly and sociable. That's when I decided to get one. It was between budgies or tiels, I researched both and Baby was the one who actually chose me - waddling up to me where the 'tiels were kept and looking up with his little beetle eyes. He still does that, 14 years later.

 

[RavensGryf]

Fun thread Don . We have this topic from time to time, and I always enjoy reading everyone's story.

Growing up, my mom was afraid of birds, so of course no birds during my childhood or teen years.

When I was in my early/mid 20's, my inner crazy bird person still had not been awakened... I once dated someone with a GW Macaw, and I glanced at it the way one would look at a mediocre fish tank and said "oh, you have a bird." It was neither good nor bad, just a casual observation.

One day when I was in my late 20's, I went to a pet store to buy some fish food. I decided to take a look around and see all the animals, including the birds. They had what I thought was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. A Lady Gouldian finch.http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/0a/5c/91/0a5c91df6b2dabaeb0fb30db3346f03e.jpg Never mind that I knew nothing about birds. I absolutely had to have him. I walked out of the store with my first bird "Adam" and a pretty nice cage. By that point I'm not even sure I remembered to get the fish food. There. I was now officially a 'bird person' .

Shortly after, my finch MBS took off full force. I found a local breeder, and soon I had more cages and more Gouldians of different beautiful color mutations. Long story, but they weren't breathing well after a while (didn't know about air purifiers back then) and I had to rehome them to a lady I knew with an aviary. They ended up living their full 'textbook' lifespan of 10 years.

I was bird crazy by then, and needed a bird again. I thought I'd try something a little more hands on this time. I didn't want the common budgies (ironic, I love them nowdays), so I set out to find the only other bird species I was familiar with... a cockatiel. I ended up getting a lutino male.

I wanted a parrot too. A real parrot lol! I got Robin, my beloved Red Bellied parrot who will be 22 years old at the end of next month. I've had more birds in 2 decades to follow. Some I had to make a painful but responsible decision to rehome, some passed away. At times Robin was an only bird. Now, besides him I have younger birds. 5 birds in all, 2 budgies and 3 parrots. This is the first time I've kept more than 3 birds at any given time. I'd like more, but I'm definitely maxed out for the foreseeable future!

 

[shar0]

My Dad got me into birds and animals in general (God rest his soul). When we we're kids we had an aviary with about 40 budgerigars, we had 5 chickens, a rabbit, 14 mice in a huge fish tank, a dog and 2 cockatiels in the living room. My dad would rescue everything, he loved animals so much but an extra special love of birds.


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[TexasWade]

Honestly it was probably Max the cockatoo on YouTube. I often have a lot of free time in the evenings so I watch a bunch of youtube. One of the things that interests me is animal intelligence and I learned that birds rate very highly among all the animals, so I watched a lot of bird videos. If you've been youtubin', you know how one bird video will lead to another and eventually you'll end up in a place you never expected... well that place for me was the cockatoo vids!

I had never had a bird or as far as I'm aware known anyone that had one so aside from my youtube exposure, it was a completely new prospect for me. I did a bunch of research and quickly realized the too wasn't for me but eventually came around to cockatiels. Found my boy Dusty at the nearest decent bird shop and I couldn't be happier!

Here he is, mini attack bird stalking his favorite toy, the camera/phone...

 

[SailBoat]

Always had the small guys around as a child. With three Sons, my poor mother saw them as a small beam of sanity in the ongoing dust storm around her.

After Service to Our Country, College, and starting steady work, I was visiting a local Pet Store and came across a nearly bare LCA. An Amazon that had suffer all the worst of the long and brutal Import Trade process, several Pet Stores and finally this store. The owner had given-up ever selling this Amazon, since anyone who came near that cage was exposed this screaming body of skin and a few splashes of feathers here or there. Not a pretty site. He had elected to simply put her out of her misery. So, for the cost of a used stand, a couple bags of seed and a used cage too small for a Teil, AND A PROMISE TO NEVER BRING THAT BIRD BACK, I was an Amazon owner for little more than Twenty dollars (in Old Days Money).

I did everything wrong, everything and suffered bits on bits. Six months into that 'Blood Bath,' I was sitting in front of the cage rubbing my most recent finger bits, when this body of skin came out of the cage, walked the short distance to me and rubbed her head on my finger. I would like to say, all these years later, that I can bring to some level of understand why that happened. The best I have is that she likely felt sorry for me and took me on as her own Human. From than on what I learned about Amazons came for her and our relationship.

Because of her, I never give-up on Amazons, never! And, why I am an Amazon Snob to this day!

 

[psychocircus91]

Great stories everyone. Funny to see how many people started in their childhood and how many people have had a carry-over of species from their early days.

 

[DRB]

I've always viewed parrots as majestic, but never knew much about them other than they were pets other people had and never really anyone I knew. I was looking for a pet, but wanted something different. I started researching my options in Ohio (weather plays a part and can limit what kind of pet you get I suppose) and ended up reading quite a bit about parrots and their intelligence.

I'm not afraid to admit a talking pet was certainly part of the reason why I started considering parrots. Then in my research I stumbled upon CAGs (never knew of them before, probably b/c they are not as bright and common as Macaws and other colorful parrots). Once I saw one in action and read about Alex I had to have one.

The challenge and the reward of owning one all came into play.

It's funny b/c friends that see my Perjo are often taken back b/c CAGs are not the extreme colorful parrots so they ask why did I get such a boring looking one. I just laugh and don't even really bother with trying to explain it to them or educate them.

CAG and boring have no business being used in the same sentence.

 

[Taprock]

At age 7 my son asked for an Eclectus. I had no bird experience and just looking at the cost we counter offered Guinea pigs, which he accepted.

Seven years later I had gained some bird knowledge with farm and game birds. I believe chickens are a gateway bird. I had never realized how smart birds are until them. So my son's hedgehog had cancer. My son paid for surgery and handled all the coordination of care with the vet. Generally showed he could handle the responsibility. When his hedgehog did pass he and his father were burying it when he (I think with forethought) asked if he could get a parrot. His dad said yes. I helped him with research and he narrowed it down to three breeds and decided he wanted to find one who needed a home not a baby. We started looking and it took a long time but found one. We are in the middle of know where so we drove 8 hours to get his CAG and they have loved each other since that drive home.

My conure came 4 months later. I happened to find him in a bad situation and my very loving husband drove 4 hours in the worse snowstorm of the year to pick him up.

 

[glutes]

I've always loved animals, mainly reptiles. I often visit petstores to visit with the animals I want but can't have[emoji13] one day I went into a Petland and was visiting with a blue and gold macaw named Rico. He was beautiful, quite cuddly, and really wanted to come out of his cage. You are allowed to take the animals out, so I opened the door and he stepped right on. He was so charming, until it was time to go back in the cage. When I tried to put him back in, he got cranky and climbed to the top of his gigantic cage. Obviously, he wasn't coming down anytime soon! A petstore employee came and tried to get him down for about 15 minutes as I watched at a distance. She gave up, and I took a walk around the store. When I came back to him, he had climbed down close enough for me to reach him. I urged him to step up onto my arm and not without squawks and lunging, he stepped up. He tried to make a dash for it so I gently yet firmly put my other arm overtop of him and practically had to wipe him off onto his perch. Obviously I could've done many things differently, but this was my first experience. I felt so accomplished to have gotten him back into the cage without it turning into a huge ordeal. So for me, it is not the beauty that drew me to birds, but rather the fact of how amazing it is to be able to have a relationship like no other with a powerful animal that is nearly as smart as I am. I knew from that moment on that I needed a bird! I still do not have one yet, but I have continued to visit petstore parrots and practice techniques and take observations that I've read about.


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[RavensGryf]

Wow glutes, sounds like you're one of those people who are just a "natural" with birds/animals!

 

[Kiwibird]

Always had the small guys around as a child. With three Sons, my poor mother saw them as a small beam of sanity in the ongoing dust storm around her.

After Service to Our Country, College, and starting steady work, I was visiting a local Pet Store and came across a nearly bare LCA. An Amazon that had suffer all the worst of the long and brutal Import Trade process, several Pet Stores and finally this store. The owner had given-up ever selling this Amazon, since anyone who came near that cage was exposed this screaming body of skin and a few splashes of feathers here or there. Not a pretty site. He had elected to simply put her out of her misery. So, for the cost of a used stand, a couple bags of seed and a used cage too small for a Teil, AND A PROMISE TO NEVER BRING THAT BIRD BACK, I was an Amazon owner for little more than Twenty dollars (in Old Days Money).

I did everything wrong, everything and suffered bits on bits. Six months into that 'Blood Bath,' I was sitting in front of the cage rubbing my most recent finger bits, when this body of skin came out of the cage, walked the short distance to me and rubbed her head on my finger. I would like to say, all these years later, that I can bring to some level of understand why that happened. The best I have is that she likely felt sorry for me and took me on as her own Human. From than on what I learned about Amazons came for her and our relationship.

Because of her, I never give-up on Amazons, never! And, why I am an Amazon Snob to this day!

I never knew this before Sailboat. What an amazing story!

 

[eddieparrot5]

My husband, he used to sell birds when he was about 13 years old, he and his uncle used to travel to sell them, he carried around 30 birds in about 10 cages piled up on his shoulder, they walked all the neighborhoods they could. Years past by, we got married, and then his Mexican family gave us a parrot, Eddie was his name, it seemed huge! At least to me, I didn't have any bird experience before, all I knew was parrot eats seeds, so we feed him seeds and the occasional apple slice, a year later we were gifted with another parrot, Chica , we assumed it was female, she laid an egg the day after she got home. Chica died a year later, she was at the bottom of the cage.. Eddie died about a year later, since there were not an avian vet our dog vet used to treat him, (he was sick,I always thought he was sick of pneumonia, we will never know I think) the vet gave a shot on his chest, the next day we noticed some dried blood, he passed 8 months later.
Since I have this huge guilt on my heart, many years after I was searching over the Internet what type of parrot we had, and what we did wrong, I found this place... Many years later.....I didn't knew this type of forums existed.
Eddie and Chica were white fronted amazons
@Birdigirl has one

The guilt is still here...

Now we live in New Mexico, And are the proud owners of two cockatiels Gray and Pikachu

Hilda

 

[OutlawedSpirit]

Well, I guess I have to owe it to my dad, as much as I don't want to. (We no longer speak, and that is another story all together). My mom always joked that he was a lifetime member of the pet-of-the-month club, and that I caught it from him. We had just about everything at one point or another. From tiny lizards to horses and absolutely everything in between. I had a couple budgies when I was younger, but when I was in high school, the pet of the month was parrots. My dad started with an Alexandrine, and that quickly grew into a B&G, a CAG, an M2, and 2 U2s.

The CAG was actually bought for me. Her name was Otis when we got her, because her previous owners thought she was a male. We had her sexed, found she was a female, so changed her name slightly to Odie. That bird hated me. She would run across the house (she was clipped, so she literally ran) just to bite me, then she would run away. Her favorite "game" would start with her lifting up a foot and saying "Step Up Odie!" So I would offer her my hand and she would put her foot on my hand and hold on as tight as she could with that foot while holding onto her perch with the other. Then she would say "No bite, Odie" followed by her biting me of course. Then she would step back down onto her perch all the way and congratulate herself "good girl, Odie". She hated me, but I thought she was hilarious. She had so much personality and was so smart. My dad always told me, when picking an animal, go for the one that has some fight to them, because it means that their spirits haven't been broken. Maybe that is why I was so drawn to the female Ekkies, since they are said to be grouchy and sassy and bossy.