Good bye old friend

I knew her for 34 of her 50+ years. Anyone who went to The Barn Feed and Pet also knew her. BARNEY is a sulfur crested cockatoo and she greeted most every one with the words, "pretty bird" or "pretty, pretty bird". I was shocked when one day I drove up to the store and saw her cage outside. They told me that she was fine one day and died the next. She had been having problems with her hormones which caused feather picking, but no one thought she was in danger.

I will miss her talking and even barking when she saw a dog come into the store. Fly fast old one, you were very loved while here.

Sucessful trap

His name is BLAZE and he's an adult male Eastern Rosella. The species come from Australia but this handsome bird has been with his present owner for three years. Almost a month ago, when moving into a new place, BLAZE escaped. I only found out about it last week when a guy here in town called to say he had "an exotic bird in his tree" and he didn't know what to do. When I got there I was dumbfounded as I'd never seen one of these birds.

I tried my spray-them-with-water trick because when they get too wet they can't fly. Then they fall down so I can catch them before they hit the ground. Well.....the minute one drop hit him old BLAZE flew off. The tree he'd been coming back to is a crab apple, he apparently loves them. After our first attempt he just left the minute we came into view.

The next try involved a parrot cage I had but he didn't like that one, wouldn't come near it. I finally got his own personal cage from the owner and put that out. The next morning, sure enough, he was inside it. But the minute he saw me he took off. On to plan D. I bought some red dish towels and put all around the bottom of the cage with clothes pins so he couldn't see me. I lowered the perch inside and went away.

This morning Mike called me to say that "BLAZE is behind bars". The first time Mike tried to toss the towel over the opening he failed as the bird was peeking under the towel, it didn't go all the way to the bottom. Mike went away but kept watch and when he saw the bird go back inside the cage he "quick-like-a-bunny" dashed around and got the towel over the opening in time.

I really appreciate the Riley's sticking with this mission and am happy the bird is now safe. Our weather had turned very chilly, in the low 40s, with rain so I know it would only have been a matter of time before BLAZE was sick.

Strange visitors

I know, these aren't wild birds but they are now staying here for an undetermined time. Their person had to move out of state with not much notice so I'm babysitting them until she gets settled.

The top bird is a Rose Breasted Cockatoo, her name is CRAZY GIRL and she's nine years old. She is also looking for a home with someone who is very knowledgeable about psittacines, or parrot like birds. They are very like an intelligent perpetual two year old and need interaction with their person. She was hand raised and does have a few words and sounds in her vocalization.

The other bird is a hybrid Amazon Parrot, ANNIE, and she is 12 years old. She was also hand raised and will be going to her person as soon as it's possible. She sings opera, says words and is quite entertaining.