Sort of like the crazy old woman who has too many cats, is how I came to get the title of The Crazy Old Bird Lady.
It seemed like my parrots just kept multiplying.
A friend's mother died and left behind a quaker parrot and a mitred conure parrot.
They squawked for her incessantly and the friend just wanted them out of his house.
I agreed to take the birds.
They became part of our family and I admired them from afar because they weren't too friendly.
I have found out that birds are much like people.
They don't like change and it upsets them greatly.
Some even pluck out all their feathers if the stress is just too much for them.
Over time, I developed a sort of courteous relationship with them.
They would perch on my finger when I put my hand into the cage but I was not allowed to pet them or touch them in any other way.
Keep your distance, please! I had never been around any birds except for the occasional zoo visit.
Having these two in my home was definitely a unique experience for me.
When the new pet store opened up in our town, they displayed an umbrella cockatoo and I fell in love with this inquisitive little guy.
I brought him home and set him up in my living room in front of the fire place (it was summer so the fireplace wasn't being used).
He then chewed up half my fireplace mantle.
I can't prove he did it, mind you, but his perch was the only one right in front of the mantle and it wasn't ever chewed until he came to live with us.
Despite that ordeal, he has won my heart over.
He is just as cuddly as any dog or cat could ever be...
and...
he talks! He tells me hello and that he's a good boy (I'm not so sure about that).
So sweet.
A friend invited me to attend an exotic bird auction.
It was held in a cattle auction barn and people had their auction numbers flying right and left to bid on these Psitticines.
Of course they weren't being herded through a series of gates and chutes like cattle and livestock.
Instead there was a folding table set up in the middle of the auction arena and they were brought out in their cages and displayed to the bidders.
Very odd indeed.
The auctioneer gave a brief description of the parrot, he set the opening bid amount and the auction began.
(The owner disclosed information on a card attached to the cage.
Some cages only had a piece of the card left because the bird chewed the card through the cage wires).
I must say I was enthralled watching this process because a lot of people were bidding back and forth causing the price to escalate before the final "sold" was shouted by the auctioneer.
A couple of times a bird was given a P.
O.
rating due to the fact the bid was not high enough (according to the owner).
At this particular auction I attended, there were over 250 lots and the auction lasted for several hours.
I couldn't imagine this many people around who were avid bird lovers.
I found out later that a lot of pet shop owners visit the auctions to supply their stores.
To my amazement I was hooked.
I couldn't wait to attend the next auction.
After watching for most of the day, I decided to bid on one of the baby birds.
I had absolutely no idea how to care for one but I was compelled to try.
I bid on one of the baby blue and gold macaw birds and won.
What? Was I crazy? My children were grown, doing their own thing and I had a little bit of freedom at last.
Why on earth would I want to tie myself down again and be a bird mother? Nonetheless, it was my destiny.
The owner of the macaw met me and gave me all the details about how to care for the baby bird.
I had to stop by the pet store and pick up a cage, special infant bird food, information book, etc.
It was all so mind boggling.
The people at the pet store were helpful enough...
to help me spend every cent I had on bird supplies! I got home, set up the cage and bonded with my bird.
She was such an ugly baby.
She didn't have many feathers and she sort of looked like a naked whole chicken that you buy at the supermarket.
All she wanted to do was eat, poop and sleep.
What do you know? Sort of like human babies.
When her feathers started coming in and she finally took a perch, she was beautiful.
I attended another auction and brought home a naked military macaw baby next.
I nurtured her the same was as the blue and gold.
It didn't seem so time consuming and urgent this time.
I guess it was because I knew what to expect and I wasn't quite so on edge.
So now I have a quaker parrot, a mitred conure parrot, an umbrella cockatoo, a blue and gold macaw and a green military macaw all displayed in my living room.
When guests visited it was impossible to talk.
The birds wanted to talk too and we could barely hear our own conversations.
We knew we had to find a way to have our birds and regain our home back.
So we bought a storage shed and emptied the two car garage.
We took the garage doors off and enclosed it to make another room.
We had air condition/heating vents re-routed to this area.
Viola! Controlled climate.
We set up a few cages, a wrought iron gazebo and wired tree branches here and there.
The birds were free to roam around this area and perch where they pleased.
We installed a television on a wall mount.
They watch Sesame Street during the day.
This all happened about six years ago.
By word of mouth, people now know I am the Crazy Bird Lady.
I have received seven birds from people asking me to take their animals for various reasons.
To date I have one umbrella cockatoo, two muloccan cockatoos, three blue and gold macaws, one military macaw, one blue front amazon, one yellow front amazon, one eclectus, three quaker parrots, two Alexandrian parrots, four cockatiels, a mess of love birds, parakeets and finches.
Whew! Exhausting just thinking about it.
They are all free-roaming birds (free within the confines of my two-car garage...
I mean aviary).
We have a happy routine and I would not have it any other way.
They are simply amazing pets.
I do have three dogs, a rabbit, a turtle, and some fish but I would not take anything for all my feathered friends.