Steve Update

I haven't written much (anything?) on Steve since he went to live in his forever home with Shannon last September. I didn't want to steal her thunder, and figured people could keep up with his progress at her blog.

But after reading yesterday's entry, I can no longer control myself.

Shannon has done such amazing things with Steve that I wanted to post.

I don't think I ever truly made it clear how dire Steve's situation was. On his vet records, the vet recommended euthanasia. Right there in black and white. Between his physical problems (severe mutilation under both wings) and emotional problems, as well as lack of progress (i.e. deterioration) during the time he spent at the rescue, she felt his quality of life was such that it would be far kinder to put him out of his misery.

Even though I do believe that euthanasia can be the best choice at times, it's one thing for me to say that generally, and another for me to think about it while looking into Steve's eyes while he sat in his cage at the rescue -- isn't there something that could be done?

Knowing we had a no new pet ban on (limits!), the woman who runs the rescue once again approached us to see if we'd make an exception and see if Steve could make any progress in our home, where things are quieter and there is more routine. I agonized over this decision. We have a history of failing fostering (Rocky, Beeps, and Stella were never supposed to stay). Steve is a male while my two greys are females. What problems might that cause for the parrots already under my care? Also, Steve was in really bad shape. Who would be willing to take that on eventually? Was this really adoption disguised as fostering? Finally, would taking on another parrot stretch us past our limits? I'm constantly reminding myself about limits and making sure that the parrots we've already committed to get the same care they're used to and deserve -- something that becomes harder to do the more parrots in the house!

The day we were supposed to pick him up at the rescue, I got up there and started crying; I'd convinced myself Steve would be the straw that broke the camel's back and worried about Max and Stella too much. I tearfully told her we couldn't take him home. But then I couldn't get him out of my mind, and Thomas picked him up two days later as a surprise.

When Shannon contacted me to ask if I might consider letting her adopt Steve, I was shocked. I may have sounded a bit pessimistic at first, but I wanted her to know exactly how he was and what she might be getting herself into -- I didn't want to sugarcoat things and leave her disappointed. Steve was going to be a lot of work. Luckily, Shannon was up to the task, as there really has been an amazing connection between the two of them from the start.

I've been following their journey on the blog and via e-mail (hope I haven't been too much of a pest!) and have been thrilled by how quickly Steve has been improving. And then I read yesterday's entry. It brought tears to my eyes. I loved that picture, and then when Shannon described that he voluntarily climbed out of the cage and up to her shoulder in order to receive more affection -- now I have goosebumps!

What an amazing testament to the power of choices, and to the resiliency of parrots. Shannon let Steve set the pace. She watched his body language and used positive reinforcement to help him progress. She gained his trust, and now she's reaping the benefits of her patience. Steve has no idea how lucky he was to have found his way to such a wonderful, caring person. I look forward to watching his continued progress.

Shannon, I've said this a million times, but thank you so much for taking Steve into your heart and home and providing him with the best family/flock he could have hoped for. Thank you for paying attention to his subtle communication attempts and not forcing him or getting disappointed in him. Thank you for sharing his story so that others in seemingly hopeless parrot situations can see what's worked for you and what might work for them. Thank you for being an amazing person and becoming a friend. When we took Steve in, I never could have imagined such a happy ending for all involved.

Thank you.

Goodbye, Steve!

Yesterday, I got to meet (for the first time in person!) a dear blog friend. Some of you may have guessed who Steve was going to...he's off to live with Shannon! Shannon read about Steve on this blog, felt a pull towards him, and decided to take him in.

It was great to meet Shannon -- she was as wonderful as I thought she'd be -- I only wish we lived closer! Her house will just be perfect for Steve. And he likes her already! Twice, when she approached him yesterday, he let out a fun whistle. It will take time for them to bond and form a relationship, but Shannon has worked with scared parrots successfully before and is willing to put forth the effort to win him over. I could not have asked for a better home for him, and I'm just so excited this has worked out so well!

Here's a picture of his carrier, waiting for him this morning. We threw in three of his favorite toys, about 20 wrapped Harrison's pellets, and a dish with a little bit of water filled with watery vegetables/fruits (cucumber, apple, strawberry):Shannon will also be able to slightly open the carrier and offer him water and/or juice on a spoon.

Here's my last picture of Steve, in his carrier. He's biting his nails, but since the screen is in the way, it kind of looks like he's waving goodbye:
I got an e-mail from Shannon saying that they'd made it through security just fine and were waiting to board the plane. Right now, as I type this, they are in the air.

I may have periodic Steve updates here, but for more Steve action, and to watch his continued progress, check out Shannon's blog!

Steve: one week left

Steve is one week out from his trip of a lifetime. Exactly one week from today, he will be on a plane, en route to his forever home. I'm still pinching myself to see if this is real -- I could not have asked for a better home for him, and when he came to us, I suspected we'd have him a very long time (possibly years) before finding him a home due to his mutilating and catatonic personality. So this has been a very nice outcome!

Every day, he opens up a little more and shares more of his personality. If Thomas is still sleeping or not yet home, Steve will frequently come over near me, instead of staying on his high, safe perch. If Thomas is in the room, he'll usually only come down to eat. With only one week to go, I am not attempting to get him to come out of his cage. I discussed this with his vet last week, and we decided the best thing to do is to continue interacting with him inside his cage, which should allow his wings a greater chance of healing.

His new owner will have all the time in the world to work with him on coming out of his cage. I suspect he'll make great progress and can't wait to hear how he does!

Here he is this morning, asking for some of my breakfast:
I was up early to run, so it wasn't officially time for him to get up yet. He decided to come over to the uncovered part of his cage for some beak rubs:
Last night, he was talking, whistling, and making so many grey noises. I actually thought there might have been two greys in my kitchen, but Max and Stella were within my eyesight, so I knew all noises were coming from him.

I'm really going to miss having him around -- Thomas even agreed with me on that yesterday. I found that surprising, since Steve doesn't really like Thomas. Thomas was also quite resistant to bringing him home, so I'm glad things have turned out so perfectly!

I know I'm getting ahead of myself, but the question will soon be -- who to foster next? The woman who runs the rescue where we volunteer wants us to take in a severe macaw (the one that loves me, that I've talked about before.) This guy:I'm hesitant. She wants us to take him in because he has special needs that we can take care of, but also because she hopes that he and Rocky would get along well and form a little bonded (same-sex) pair of severe macaws -- i.e. a permanent situation. I'm not looking to add anyone permanent to our house; in fact, due to the 2 amazons that we have willed to us, I do not want to add anyone permanent -- we have to make sure we have room for the guys we've committed to, should they need to come to us sooner than expected.

I'm sure I'll be talking about this much in the upcoming weeks!

Happy Steve

After the sadness of my previous foster post, here's a happy foster post.

As it gets colder out, I start giving the parrots mashes from ParrotNutz again. I hadn't been to her website lately, but it looks like maybe they're not shipping any more? This would be tragic as I was planning on ordering again this month -- I only have one bag left!

In any case, the parrots love this food, and it always gets all over their beaks, which is good for a laugh.

Steve with a messy beak:Steve playing with a new toy, with a messy beak:
Steve, eating zucchini, with a messy beak:
A package came in the mail yesterday:
It's Steve's palatial travel carrier! He'll be taking a plane ride later this month when he travels to his new home, and he'll be going in style:
And a little video. Remember not that long ago when I couldn't have this toy hang from the top of the cage as it was too difficult for Steve? That's no longer the case! He gets so excited when he sees me hiding pellets; he always tries to help himself before they get placed!


One final funny Steve story. Yesterday, I was getting ready to train him. Since we train in his cage, I have to move his toys out of our way. I had his target stick in my hand and put that hand in his cage to move the toy. We had not yet started training. But that didn't matter to Steve! He was so excited to begin training that he almost fell off of his perch trying to beak the target stick. I learned my lesson to keep my hands empty when doing this from now on!

The countdown is on...three weeks from today, Steve meets his new owner. Three weeks from tomorrow, they arrive home!

Fostering dilemma -- update

I am about to do much rambling.

Fostering Steve has gone beyond my wildest expectations. He improved so rapidly, though he still has a long way to go. Even better, he's found an amazing home, something that wouldn't have happened without this blog. It will be difficult to see him go, but I'm so happy for him to start his new life!

Several of my birds were intended to be fosters, but we fell in love with them and kept them. Although we've fallen in love with Steve, we promised ourselves that we would not keep him, and we're keeping that promise. I truly believe that Steve will have a better life in his new home than he would have had with us -- it's a much better fit. Rationally, we know that we can make a difference for more birds through fostering. Emotionally, it's hard to send them into that unknown.

We can work with damaged birds, get them to the point where they can happily live in a home, and find them that good home. I think it will always be hard to see them leave, but I'm planning on staying in touch with their new owners, will always take the bird back if problems arise, and I have 100% control over where the bird goes (an agreement I made with the rescue when we agreed to foster.) As Thomas said, we'll act as a sort of parrot halfway house.

Since I am a planner, I was thinking ahead to the time after Steve has gone. Should we just wait a week or two and bring the neediest bird into our home, or should we leave that space open until a truly needy bird is surrendered? That's what I thought my biggest dilemma was. Until this weekend.

A bird was surrendered to the rescue, in horrible shape. A long-time rescuer and the person who was the liaison for bringing this bird to the facility where I volunteer, wrote that, "This amazon by far is the worst case of abuse I have ever seen. I am still thinking about him and crying." His condition has brought several other long-time rescuers (including myself) to tears and sleepless nights. They weren't sure he'd survive the night -- it was that bad.

What to do?

He would be at my house right now if Steve's space were open. Is it fair to Steve to add this additional upheaval to his life, when he's about to go through so much change (currently unbeknownst to him)?

Steve goes home three weeks from Thursday. Can this new bird wait a month to come into our home? I actually have not gone up to see him yet; my information is based entirely on pictures and discussions with the woman who runs the rescue. I will go up during my normal time on Thursday, meet him, and discuss his condition further. His vet appointment is today, so we'll know more about his condition after that. And then we'll have some decisions to make.

Update -- I had made the decision that we couldn't bring anyone in to the house until after Steve leaves, but it was all unnecessary. At this bird's vet appointment, it was discovered that his condition was far worse than expected, and the only humane thing to do was euthanize.

Steve's countdown to happiness: one month

One month from today, Steve will be en route to his new home; September 30, 2010 will be the first night he spends with his forever flock!

I had the chance to see his mutilation over the weekend. His cage door was open and Thomas walked by with a broom, scaring Steve out of his cage. He landed on the floor, but no scared growling! He stepped right up on my arm, and stayed there for a few minutes until he was ready to go back to his cage. (I offered him the chance to step up on his cage but he chose to stay on my arm.)

He still has sores under each wing, but they are much improved. His right wing was almost healed, and the sores under his left wing were mostly dried and just along the crease of his wing instead of his entire under-wing area! I am optimistic that he will completely heal, though this will probably be in his new home.

This morning, I gave him a little toy. He loves unwrapping things. You can see that his eyes are pinning -- he is very interested in his treasure! He gave me an excited "Wooooo!" when he saw it, then eagerly reached for it.When I got home from work today, he was perched on the perch that's on his cage door. I asked him if I could open the door, and he didn't run off to another perch! I gave him a pistachio to reward him for his bravery:
He stayed here for about 10 minutes before going back to his safe perch, even perching on one foot for a while! He didn't talk while he was here, but neither did he exhibit scared behavior, so this was very exciting!Into his favorite (falling apart) foraging toy, I jammed a bunch of paper strips and the remnants of his favorite toy, which he'd ripped off of its hook. You can see what's left of that toy here:and here:
He was busy while we were at work today!

When Steve goes home, what will I have to blog about?

I swear I am not neglecting my other parrots and focusing my actual attention just on Steve; it's just that he's the one making the most progress lately, so he's getting more attention here on the blog!

Yesterday, he was perched in the middle level of his cage, on one foot, indicating that he was relaxed:So I gave him a cherry, which he loved:
Then he went back up and played with his toys a bit. He destroyed one of these straw toys earlier in the week, so this was its replacement:
Rocky had to come over since I was taking pictures:
Last night, all of the parrots were in their cages, ready for bed, and I was doing my rounds saying good night to everyone. You can see that Steve's cage is already partially covered. Steve was on his high perch, and I said good night. He shocked me by climbing down to the perch on his door! I praised him and rubbed his beak a bit; he preened my fingers through the cage bars. He seemed very relaxed, so I gently opened the door for a minute or so, then closed it again. He stayed, so I opened the door again, praising him the entire time for being so brave. He delayed me going upstairs by about 10 minutes as I was so pleased with his progress!
I think my best chance of getting him to step up will be from this perch in his cage door.

This morning, I went to the farmers' market before work, and quickly stopped by my house to drop off the food. I picked up what my favorite farmer said would likely be the last strawberries of the season. I had just enough time to give one to Steve before going to work:
As I left, he yelled, "I'll be back!"

Another Steve Update

Something has been in the works for a few weeks that I now feel comfortable to announce: Steve has a home! (And it's not mine!) Due to logistical concerns, he'll stay at our house for a few more months; it's looking like he'll head to his permanent home in November. I am just so excited for Steve, as I could not have wished for a better home for him. I'll post more details in the future.
Yesterday, I finally started clicker training Steve. He is such a fast learner!

With clicker training, the first thing you have to do is "charge the clicker" -- click and then give the bird a treat as soon as possible so that the bird makes the association that click = treat. Steve had caught on by the third charge; I could see his eyes pin and he made a slight forward movement at the sound of the click.

Since I had 15 tiny pieces of cashew ready as treats (Steve's favorite food, or possibly just a close second to pistachios), the fact that he picked up on the main idea behind training (i.e. click = treat) so quickly meant that we could move on to the next step: targeting.

I use a straw as the target, and when I first put the straw in front of him, he seemed slightly scared and moved back. I moved the straw back a few inches until he was comfortable again. Click/treat! On the second attempt, he was no longer afraid of the straw and beaked the target. Click/treat! This continued until I ran out of nuts.

This morning, we picked up where we left off, with Steve stretching to the left, right, up, and down to beak the target. I am amazed at his fast progress. This guy is just so smart and his new family is going to have so much fun uncovering his personality!

Right now, I'm planning on two sessions a day -- in the morning before I hide his pellets and in the afternoon when I get home from work. At these times, Steve should be hungry and ready to work for food. Of course I will watch him and not train so frequently if he's not into it, but based on his reactions, and those of my other parrots, he'll love it!

I'm hoping that, with clicker training, I can have him nicely stepping up for his new owner by November. In any case, his new family is very excited to continue training him, and understands that he may take a long time to completely come out of his shell and want to come out of his cage.

Steve at two weeks

Tonight marks Steve's two week point with us. Progress is being made, but it is slow, slow, slow! He has been playing with toys like crazy, which is great. He also seems more relaxed, which I know is not a very specific thing for me to say. He's been chewing at his nails less frequently, and has been making happy grey noises. It's been a few days since we've heard the scared growl. He's also more frequently seen in a relaxed posture -- bent down a bit -- as opposed to standing straight up, on alert.

He also has not come out of his cage in about 10 days. I'm not pleased with this, but realize that it takes time for him to feel comfortable around us, and it will be so much more exciting once he chooses to be out with us!

He spends most of his time on the highest perch in his cage, though this weekend, he started exploring a lot more. Here he is on his boing, on the other side of the cage:And hanging upside down, en route to getting to his water dish:
At his water dish:He sat there for quite some time, much longer than he needed to get a drink. I take this as a sign he's feeling more comfortable with us, as the first week or so, he'd come down to quickly take a drink only when we were in a different room.

He's spending a lot of time undoing the knots in the toy you can see to his right -- beads strung up on veggie-tanned leather. This tends to be a favorite toy of greys, and he is no exception!

When Thomas gave Max a kiss this morning, Steve made a huge kiss sound. He also said what was possibly his first word in years Sunday. I bent down in front of his cage to pick something up, and he said "Whoa!" in a very animated tone. I'm not sure if "Whoa!" really counts as a word; possibly with an asterisk, but it's still a good sign. He's observing what's going on around him and commenting, whether in words* or sounds. I'm hoping that he becomes less frightened as he sees us interact with Max and Stella, who enjoy being with us.

Steve update, and a show off

Steve continues to make slow progress. He's still spending the vast majority of his time on the highest perch in his cage:We placed toys around him. This serves two purposes. First, it provides him a way for him to feel hidden. A prey animal, it can be very disturbing to feel like you're on display all of the time. He feels safer when he is partially hidden. Second, since he's spending most of his time on that perch, it allows him to play with toys without moving.

We're still finding small wood chips in his cage lining, and he's been doing some chipping with us in the room! He also took all of the beads off of a new toy we'd placed next to him the day before:He's got another new toy in his cage today, and I can't wait to get home -- I hope it's destroyed!

He has a boing on the other side of his cage, and I got a picture of him exploring it:Hopefully soon he will spend time in different parts of his cage.

He still takes food very gently from my hand; here he's eating some peas:
Also, we got tail wags from him on three separate occasions -- something that greys do only when they're content! So he's settling down and feeling safer with us.

Beloved Parrot asked in the comments about his history. With rescue birds, you never know for sure. The story I got is that he was originally purchased because his owner wanted a talking bird; someone to entertain her. He was a decoration, not a companion. According to the intake sheet his former owner filled out, he has quite a large vocabulary, though no one has heard him speak in almost 2 years.

Somehow, he got loose and spent 5 days outside before being found (Thomas jokes that he and Max have something to talk about!). His owner took him to the vet upon being found; everything checked out fine. Then, she put him in his cage, and he refused to come out for the next year. She never took him to the vet again or did anything to figure out why he didn't come out of his cage.

Finally, she called the rescue where I volunteer and asked that someone come and get him. He wasn't talking anymore and she was tired of him. When the director took him out, she noticed blood under his wings. He'd mutilated under both wings, to the point where there was no skin left, just open wounds, and his owner never noticed!

He's been at the rescue since late last fall. He's been thoroughly vet checked and deemed healthy. He's had laser treatments done under his wings, in hopes it would help with skin regrowth (it didn't). He's had homeopathic remedies tried, in vain.

Our best guess is the mutilation started due to the trauma of being outside and not having a proper enriching and loving environment. Thomas and I are trying to get him to have a mental break-through, learn how to be a bird, be part of a loving family, know he's safe, etc., and we're hoping that once he's safe and secure, he can stop mutilating and let his skin regrow. However, mutilation is very complex and once it's been established, can be very hard to break. We don't know when he started mutilating in his previous home, but the mutilation could have been going on for almost 2 years now.

We'll just wait and see what happens! He has such a gentle personality, similar to Stella, which gives me great hope.

Max continues to be very interested in him. She frequently goes to a place on the stand closest to his cage, and sits there, saying "Hello!" and "How are you?" He doesn't respond, though looks at her with interest. This is the stand next to the stand she's usually on. She's definitely spending more time there because of Steve.

She also likes to put on shows right in front of him, swinging around and playing with toys:
Hopefully he's taking notes and will surprise us with some moves of his own someday!

Day 4 with Steve

Yesterday was day 4 with Steve. It's been such a short time, but I've already seen slight improvements in his mental state. When we first got him, he was pretty much like a statue. He didn't make noise (unless he was on our arm, in which case he was making horrible noises) and he barely moved. He's been making soft grey noises, and this morning a rather loud grey noise! He's also been exploring his cage a bit, and I found evidence of a bit of wood chipping at the bottom of his cage!

Since he's so frightened, our number one goal is to show him that we're not scary. We move slowly around him, and I frequently give him a favorite treat when I pass his cage (pistachio, cedar nut, or banana chip). He takes the food so gently from my hand. He will be a perfect clicker training candidate once he's settled in.

However, yesterday, Thomas walked a little too quickly near his cage, which sent him flying out of his cage. He ran over to the shoes in front of our door and sat there. Thomas picked him up. Only one scream! Progress!

So, Thomas sat down with Steve on his hand as he read the paper.As you might imagine, certain jealous parrots were not pleased with this. Max flew over to Thomas's head and started preening him roughly.


This doesn't actually hurt, but she only does it when she wants to show us how displeased she is with us. We find it funny, which only encourages her.
So Thomas had her step up on his other hand. This made turning the pages of the paper difficult, but made her happy:He started giving Max kisses, and Steve made a kiss sound! So Steve got a few beak kisses as well (he's actually leaning his head toward Thomas for a kiss):Rocky also came up, but was quickly distracted, which I will show in my next post.
After a few minutes, Thomas placed Steve back on his cage. We don't want to overwhelm him.

It is quite hard for me to have him here. I know that I need to leave him alone, let him observe things, and work at his pace. But I want to grab him and hug him and make everything better. Even though that will just make everything worse! Patience is not one of my strong points, but it's essential when dealing with these guys, especially the greys. I haven't had to exercise patience of this sort with my own birds in so long, since Stella came to us.

Despite what I just said, I am very happy that we finally brought him home! I feel like we have a real chance of getting him healed up, physically and mentally, so that he can find a good home.

Thomas said to me on Monday, "You know, you're not going to fix him. Max and Stella will do all of your work for you." I completely agree. As I've said before, I believe a big reason why Stella improved so much is due to having Max around. She observed how we interact with Max, and how Max interacts with us, and mirrored that. I'm hoping the magic will work again.

Fostering, again

Somewhere pigs are flying. We are fostering again. I've briefly written here before about Steve, an african grey parrot that the director of the rescue wanted us to foster.

The rescue where I volunteer is wonderful (I am really lucky to live close to a good one). They have tried everything with him, including laser treatment for his mutilation. His physical and mental state continued to deteriorate. It got to the point where the rescue's vet was recommending either putting him on valium or euthanizing him. I must add here that the rescue has never euthanized a bird for anything other than to ease the suffering of someone who was painfully dying, so that wasn't really an option for him. The fact that the vet thought it an option underlined, to us, the severity of Steve's plight.

Knowing what was in store for him, we couldn't not take him in. We'll give him a shot -- maybe things will go a lot better in a normal home. And if not, at least we tried.You can't see it in these pictures, but he mutilates under his wings. It's so bad that he has huge open wounds -- there is no skin left to attempt any kind of surgery. If he leaves the sores alone, it's possible that his skin will regrow.

He is very scared. Right now, we're leaving his cage door open when we're home and he has the choice about whether he wants to come out or not. Surprisingly, he has chosen to come out most of the time!

Here, he was even resting on one foot, which is something parrots usually only do when they are content.We'll see how things progress, but right now our plan is to allow his wings to grow out and to see if flying will help with his under-wing problem.

When he gets scared, he drops to the ground and then starts running. He is so fast! If there were parrot sprint competitions, he'd do quite well. But when we put our arm down and ask him to step up, he runs over and does so.

The problem? When he's on our arm, he starts making these horrible sounds, like we're torturing him. But, he needs to go on our arm so we can get him back to his cage.

How are the other parrots taking this intruder?

Max seems more curious than anything else. She buzzed him once, but he stood his ground and she lost interest.

Stella is angry, though better today than the first few days. She refused to come into the kitchen (where his cage is), refused to eat her favorite foods, refused to shower with us, etc. This morning, she flew in the kitchen, ate peas, and showered. She'll be fine.

The caiques seem oblivious. I'm not sure they realize anyone new is in the house!

Rocky is generally fine, until Steve starts making his horrible noises. Rocky fancies himself protector of the parrots, so when this happens, Rocky either runs over to attack the human who's carrying Steve back to his cage (if Rocky is out) or freaks out and does his angry screaming (if Rocky is in his cage).

I'll update Steve's progress here. We have great hopes of getting him to the point where he can live a normal life in a good home. From what I can remember, he reminds me a lot of Stella when she first came to us, though you'd never know it by looking at Stella now.

To foster or not?

Last December, the woman who runs the rescue where we volunteer approached us and asked us if we'd be willing to foster an african grey parrot, Steve. He's mutilating, and greys tend not to do well in the chaos of a shelter environment. She thought he had a better chance of healing in a private home.

She knows that we tend to fail fostering by keeping the parrot, but thought this might be different since this parrot is a male and she knew we didn't want to add any male greys to our house as our two are female.

We managed to defer making a decision as we were dealing with the hormonal caiques. She understood that we didn't want to add any more male hormones into our house until things had quieted down on that front.

During the past two months, Steve's condition has deteriorated. He's had every conceivable test, but the vet can't find any physical reason for his mutilation.

I truly believe the best thing for him would be to come to our house. He'd have our greys as role models (part of the reason I believe that Stella healed so quickly was forming a flock with Max) and live in a quieter, less stressful environment. He'd also get more one-on-one attention, including clicker training, and learn to fly.

However, this would likely be a long-term foster. Months, maybe years. Could we really adopt him out after he lived with us for so long? Especially if he bonds to us? Quite honestly, Thomas and I become quite attached, so we'd probably end up keeping him.

Right now, things are well in our flock. We've got a good routine, everyone gets adequate attention, and we're not overwhelmed. Might Steve be the straw that breaks the camel's back, negatively impacting the well-being of the parrots we currently have in our house? After all, they must be our top priority.

On the other hand, if he ends up mutilating himself to death (currently a real concern), can I live with the guilt that we could have saved him?

We do have the physical space for one more bird in our house. The reason we didn't adopt the caique I talked about a few months ago was because he was healthy and active. He'd do well in any caique-ready home, and I wanted to reserve our one remaining place for someone who really needed us. Steve fits this bill perfectly.

My ultimate dream is to have a grey hospice/retirement home someday. We'd take in and rehabilitate old and/or sick greys and allow them to live out their lives in a flock environment. This is not currently in Thomas's plans, so I'm not sure if it will come to fruition. Steve is exactly the kind of bird I envision taking in someday -- should we just take him in now?

But it is important to recognize our limits. I know I can't save everyone. If we do take Steve in and end up keeping him, what happens when the next needy grey arrives? Could we manage to take him in and then adopt him out in a few years once he's healthy again?

Also, we currently have two blue-fronted amazons and a cockatiel that are willed to us. Their owners are still in good health, so we'd likely not receive them for decades, if ever, but if something does happen, we'd need to be able to take them in. We only plan to stay in our current house for 5 years at the most, moving to a larger, more parrot-friendly place after Thomas has established his practice, which will eliminate this concern.

I'm not really sure where I'm going with this. I just wanted to get some of the thoughts swimming around my head in print. We are just so conflicted and I wish there was an easy answer.

Mostly shower scenes

This is what greeted me when I walked in on Thomas showering Monday morning:
From left to right, that's Max, Rocky, Kika, and Beeps. Calypso doesn't like to shower with Thomas, and Daphne can't be in the bathroom because she has trouble breathing with the hot, moist air. All of the birds went under the spray with him for a few moments and were drenched.

This was the scene when I showered this morning:
From left to right, that's Max, Calypso, and Kika. Beeps likes to hang out on the towel rack instead of the top of the shower door when he showers with me. Rocky prefers to walk around the house and hang out on the floor of the bathroom.

Here's a close-up of Beeps on the towel rack:
He has such good posture! Compare that to Calypso:
This is actually a pretty good picture of my beautiful, but non-photogenic, caique. He had been sprayed before the shower, so he was slightly wet. I had gone into the kitchen to refill the spray bottle so I could spray the lizards' food. Calypso spied this and demanded a quick shower.

Here's how Kika looked this morning:
If you compare her mutilation sores to the first day we had her, she's made amazing progress in a few short days. I think she'll be completely healed by the weekend. In other progress news, she has started eating Harrison's pellets, which are among the most nutritious for greys and should jumpstart her feather regrowth.

And just so she doesn't feel left out, here's a shower picture of Max:
I had heard how much uromastyx lizards loved dandelion flowers. However, by the time we brought our lizards home last year (May 31), there was nary a dandelion to be seen in our yard. There haven't been any pesticides applied to our lawn for at least 3 years, so they're safe to feed. I just go out there, clip off the heads, wash them, and serve.

I was amazed at how happy they made Andreas! He ate about 8 of them. I have never seen him so excited about food before! We're going to see if we can freeze some for him -- not so sure how that will turn out!

Our newest foster

On Friday afternoon, I received a phone call from the woman who runs the parrot rescue where we volunteer. A grey had been surrendered and she wasn't doing well at the facility. She came in plucked, but had mutilated herself on her chest and under both wings. Would we be willing to foster her?

Greys tend not to do well at the rescue, and Kika was taking it particularly hard. Thomas really didn't want to take her in, but he acquiesced. I think he's afraid that I'm not going to be able to give her up. And, we had to move our bookcase with our DVDs into another room to accommodate her cage. We are now officially out of room in the living room.

According to the man who surrendered her, she is very fearful, and she exhibited many fearful behaviors while at the rescue. However, once she got into our house, it's like she became a different bird.

Here she is, about 5 minutes after entering our house:
We have two large stands in our kitchen, and she started exploring both of them.

Thomas decided to take a shower, and brought Kika in with him. Here she is, drying off after her shower:

You could tell she wasn't used to this, but she was very brave and ended up enjoying herself. We have been spraying her down daily to help with her feather growth.

She is doing amazingly well. I have about 10 toys placed in her cage, and she has been investigating them. She hung out on the couch with Thomas and me last night as we watched TV, and played with many different foot toys. She especially likes beads, so I have been making her bead toys.

She is still carefully observing everything that goes on in the house. Whenever I pick up one of my birds (except Rocky), I bring them up near my mouth and kiss the top of their beak. I was not planning on doing this with Kika (I don't trust her not to pierce my lip!) but after a day of watching this, she stretched her head as close as she could to my mouth and made a loud kiss sound. So I have been carefully allowing this as I don't want her to feel left out.

We also started clicker training on the first day we had her, and she made amazing progress with targeting. If we keep her long enough for her to learn some tricks, I'm going to make sure her new family wants to keep training her.

This morning I had her on the kitchen counter, exploring. My goal is to get her exposed to as many things as possible so that she's not fearful when she goes to her new home. She is wiping her beak on the counter.

I am having a hard time photographing her -- she usually ends up looking washed out. I may have to read through my camera instructions again. She really is gorgeous and I want to document her feather improvements during the time she spends with us.

So far, the only problem is Max. She is quite jealous of this new bird. I keep reminding Max that she's number one in our house and that Kika won't be staying long. Max buzzed her, which resulted in Kika landing with a thud on our floor. Luckily she wasn't injured, but we are now taking extra steps to make sure that Kika stays safe. Unfortunately, her wings are clipped. I would love to see her learn to fly which will also increase her confidence, but I don't think we'll have her long enough for that.

I'll write more about what else happened over the weekend tomorrow. It certainly ended up being different than we had expected!