Happy reunion!

Last week, Thomas and I were traveling out west (hence the light blogging.)  Since we were going to be so close, I contacted Shannon to see if we could visit; of course, the answer was yes.  It was great to see Shannon again, and to meet the other members of the flock that I've read so much about over the years: Sam, Chipper, Charlie, and Bun Rab.  And of course, Steve!

He looked amazing -- Thomas noticed that his body composition was quite improved and I noticed his relaxed and happy body language.

At first he seemed maybe a little wary:

But then he quickly relaxed again and even perched with one foot up!

And these pictures were taken only 10-15 minutes after getting his nails trimmed; last year, before Shannon, that would have set him back for weeks.  It's really amazing what she's done for him and what a lucky bird he turned out to be.

I think he may have recognized us, in that I suspect if we were strangers he wouldn't have come to the front of his cage so readily, but he didn't make any other sounds/movements to make me think this.  I'm sure he was relieved when we left and he knew that things were going to remain the same in his wonderful home.

I'll post some birding pictures later once I get settled back in and get caught up on work, as well as updates on my own birds.

Tuesday evening

Thomas had to work late again last night, so I was hanging out with the parrots in the kitchen. Because Calypso was with me, I didn't put his dinner on his cage; otherwise, the other parrots eat all of his food (or, more likely, throw it out of the dish onto the floor) before he gets there.The greys still managed to find his dish that had been covered with a cloth (they removed the cloth.)
Later, Max started helping herself to our dinner:And once all food was removed from her area, she started begging to be picked up instead:When I went to pick her up, she quickly changed to wanting head pets. She's tricky that way!

On a different topic, I do not mean to steal Shannon's blog excitement at all, but Steve has been making such progress with her that I felt compelled to post a link to his most recent achievement. It is hard to overstate what a great job Shannon is doing with him, and more proof of what patience can do. This has made my week!

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.

Thoughts of Steve

I saw this in an ad in yesterday's paper, which reminded me of Steve, as this was his favorite saying when he was with us:I don't think Steve's intent was as sinister, though!

Foraging for water

Last night, we'd washed the parrots' food dishes and left them on the counter to dry, as per our usual routine. Max immediately flew over and started licking the residual water drops:Quick Steve update: Shannon has posted on her blog, but I felt like things wouldn't be properly wrapped up here until I could let you all know that he has arrived safely.

Shannon sent me a few updates throughout the day in transit yesterday, so I knew things were progressing well. Their relationship has made impressive strides in less than a day, including a marathon head-rubbing session solicited by Steve. He never let me do this to him in the three months he was here, so it was definitely something akin to love at first sight with Shannon.

This just reinforces that the absolute best outcome was achieved for Steve. He turned out to be one of the luckiest parrots I have met!

It's still a bit bittersweet for me; we haven't removed his cage from the kitchen yet, so I find myself talking to him, or looking to see where he is when I enter the house. I caught myself saying "I'll be back!" in his tone when I left this morning. Maybe one of my parrots will pick that up as a Steve remembrance.

I have an extremely busy weekend scheduled, but next week, things should more or less return to normal, so I'll once again have time to read blogs, respond to comments, update my blog roll, etc. The past month has been so hectic; I'm surprised I'm still in one piece!

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!

Today's the day!

Steve meets his new owner today! They leave tomorrow for his forever home. I am so excited!

I never get tired of taking pictures of him coming down to visit with me in the morning:I dropped my farmers' market vegetables at home en route to going to work this morning. A pepper fell out, so I took that as a sign to wash it and give it to Steve. He loved it!
I was hoping to catch his excited "Wooo!" that he does when he's getting food, but he doesn't do it in front of the camera! In any case, I love how he's stretching to get this food. I don't think I'd ever given him a red hot pepper before, so he's this excited for something new. I'll send some home with his new owner for him to eat on the plane.


Today's going to be a busy day -- more details on Steve's transition to come later this week.

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!

Another trip to the marsh

It has been a beautiful past two weeks here, except during the time when I am doing my long runs! The past two Saturdays, it has downpoured for four hours on Saturday morning -- exactly during the time I ran 22 (last week) and 15 (this week) miles. As soon as I got home, both days, the rain stopped! I am hoping these unpleasant running experiences will translate into a great race. It must be making me a stronger runner, right?

Thomas and I had planned on going hawk-watching this weekend; however, the weather was not ideal for hawks, so we decided to go to the marsh instead. We were able to positively ID and add 8 birds to our life list! One of the nice things about being a beginning birder is that pretty much every birdwatching trip results in a significant addition to this list!

Among the birds we added this trip was a great egret:A belted kingfisher (this picture was taken through the scope provided by the marsh):
And a peregrine falcon!
We were also able to more closely observe the behavior of some birds that had already been on our list, like the American Coot:We also had a great day with the parrots, though I didn't take any pictures. Rocky was in a great mood -- everything was making him laugh, which made us laugh.

Also, Steve has completely recovered from yesterday's vet visit. He did not talk at all Friday evening, which is unusual for him. He did whistle a bit, but was not himself. By today, he was talking like nothing had ever happened. What an incredibly resilient bird!

Steve's vet visit

Steve had to go to the vet today so he could get his health certificate that is required for travel. He was not happy about this, but settled down once he was in his carrier:Our little trip today gave me more confidence that he will travel just fine later this month. He wasn't happy to go into his carrier, but was fine once he was inside, even clicking a little bit for me.

Unfortunately, at the vet's, he flapped his wings very hard and reopened his wounds. The vet said she could tell that one of his wings had been completely healed and the other had been nearly healed, but today's experience reopened the wounds. She rubbed some SSD cream on him and did a laser treatment, which is supposed to help him to heal and to feel better. His exam went relatively quickly, and we got him back to his cage at my house as soon as possible.

She was impressed by how well he had healed, and by his demeanor -- he was much calmer than on his previous visits, and the growling he did was typical angry grey growling, not the out of control terrified growling that just breaks your heart. I asked her her thoughts on his wounds -- given the healing that had taken place, did she ever think that he might be fully healed, say in 1-2 years? She responded that she didn't think it would take that long! To just continue not forcing him out and with a good diet, he'd heal on his own.

All in all, a good visit, though I wish it hadn't been necessary to pull him out of his cage. I told him he'd have to come out one more time in two weeks to go home, but that his new owner would let him take all of the time he needs to come out and feel comfortable.

Steve - training

Yesterday after work, Steve saw me cutting up his cashews and knew that training was about to begin. He got so excited that he came down to the perch on his cage door. He's done this before, but usually climbs back up to a different perch when I open his door to train. But not yesterday! He was visibly a bit nervous at first, but after a few targets, relaxed and enjoyed his training session.This makes it easier on me as I don't have to stand awkwardly to reach him; I just pull up a chair in front of his cage! I'm hoping that the rest of his training with me will take place here. If he gets used to training here, that will make things easier on his new owner to work on step up.

Doesn't he look kind of spooky when he stares at me, head-on?
Feeling so comfortable, he's perching on one foot!
He was also talking and whistling up a storm yesterday. I'm pretty sure I heard "I love you!" but that could just be my imagination twisting his words. He certainly hears it enough from the humans and parrots in the house, so it's not outside the realm of possibility.

He's been making up whistling songs (or remember whistling songs from his past) and Stella has picked one of them up, which will leave me with an aural reminder of him.

Speaking of which, time continues to fly by. In just two weeks from tomorrow, he will be meeting his new owner! This Friday, he returns to the vet to get his health certificate for flying. His vet should be able to give me a better update about the progress of his mutilation sores. I can't wait to see her reaction over their improvement!

Cauliflower

The parrots got raw cauliflower over the weekend. I'm not sure I have ever offered this to them before, but they loved it. Look at Max's eyes pinning:And Steve, though he's already eaten dinner (with the evidence all over his cage and beak), digs in:
We will all be very sad when winter comes around and we are without our farmers' market again.

Steve retrieves

Disclaimer: this is a horrible video! The retrieve trick pretty much requires three hands to do properly, so throw in a camera, and I needed four hands.

Usually I make Steve stretch a bit more to put the bead in the cup; for example I'll hold the cup at head-level, or make him stretch his head to the left or right. In this video, he does stretch a little in front of him, but he is actually more advanced in this trick than the video indicates.

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!

Away for the morning

Thomas had to do all of the parrot stuff this morning as I had to leave the house ridiculously early in order to get my 22 miles in. He had to work, but later, so he got up (probably hours) after I left and still had time to get a run in and get to work on time.

My run went so well, I kind of wanted to go even longer! But I stopped at 22.5 as I needed to meet some people at the finish and didn't think it was fair to them to wait any longer for me. I hope this bodes well for my marathon -- I have been having a fantastic training season.

This is the note I returned to:

Didn't feed Steve
Gave Steve fresh food and a little seed
7:30 turkey vultures
Found a tennis ball
Watch the movie on the camera on the table

Steve was so excited to get some pellets when I finally got home. I understand if Thomas didn't have time to wrap and hide pellets, but he could have at least put some in Steve's dish! At least I got home early enough so his fresh food didn't have time to go bad yet.

Also, apparently he'd just thrown his running clothes in the hallway (they were picked up when I got home) so things look a little messier in the background than they really were.

Here's Rocky with the tennis ball:It looks clean enough, but why would he let Rocky play with a ball he just found? Who knows where it's been? Maybe he meant he found one in the basement. Would he really have found one out running, picked it up, and carried it with him for several miles? He's still at work so I haven't had time to ask him yet.

And here's the video Thomas referenced. I love it when Rocky does things like this; who knows what he would have done next if Thomas hadn't distracted him!

I don't know what's going on with blogger, but this video was processing for over an hour and wouldn't post -- have had other problems earlier this week. I will try to post it later!

Pellet thief

This morning, I had Steve's wrapped pellets on the table. I'd already hidden half in his cage, but I wait to hide the other half until just before I leave; otherwise he finds them too early and I worry about him going hungry the rest of the day. I know, an extra hour or two really doesn't make a big difference, but it does in my head!

Max was also out, and while I was reading the paper, she ran over, furtively grabbed a wrapped pellet, and flew back to the chair to eat. As though this was cheese or something else she needs to sneak. She can eat as many pellets as she wants!There was still plenty for Steve!I hope everyone has a great Labor Day weekend. I hope to here! I'm doing a 22 mile training run tomorrow morning, then volunteering at a 24 hour race. That's right -- people run, for 24 hours, around a track. The winner is the person who accumulates the most miles. I'm only volunteering for 3 hours, and when I wake up the next morning, they'll still be out there!!!

In comparison, marathons are very sane!

It's finally cooled down, so we hope to do some birding (I have a line on a great horned owl who roosts near my friend's house -- I told my friend not to be alarmed if he sees us sitting outside his house with binoculars -- we're not spying on him, just the owl!)

And hopefully tons of time with the parrots!

Out of his cage

This morning, as has been routine lately, Steve was on the perch on his cage door, so I opened it and he stayed. He got a lot of praise and treats for this!Including a wrapped pellet that I didn't make him forage for -- calmly staying on a perch outside his cage was reason enough!
I had to leave the room for a minute, and reminded Thomas to be very careful around Steve. Apparently he still got too close, as Steve fell to the floor. He doesn't hurt himself when he does this, but I'm worried it will make him less likely to want to come out of his cage, so from now on I will only do this when I am right there and can make sure nothing scares him. Otherwise, I will close the door.

Steve wanted to step up to the top of his cage after a few minutes of being on my arm, so he stayed here for the rest of the morning:
He was a bit tentative about exploring the top of his cage, though that will come in time. I wish he'd climbed out here on his own, but that's probably a milestone for him in his new home.

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!

Strawberry celebration

For the past few days, whenever Steve realizes he's getting a treat, he lets out an excited "Wooo!" I was trying to get that on video, but instead he did a little grey dance. This is the first time I've seen this from him.

This is more movement out of him that we saw during his first week with us!

I'm not entirely sure what this dance means. Max will do this when she's excited about something, so maybe that's it? Only he didn't eat the strawberry! In any case, it's always fun to see more of his personality shine through.

Greys

As I've observed over the past few weeks, Stella is obsessed with basil! Here she is with this week's take from the farmers' market:Thomas had chopped up a bunch of summer squash for last night's dinner. He'd placed a bowl on the counter and asked if I'd distribute it to the parrots. Max took care of some of that herself:
Though much of what she did involved throwing pieces of squash off of the counter and on to the ground. I believe she ate some, but I'm not sure how much!
A parrot perching with one foot up is relaxed, but this had to be about the laziest one foot up I've ever seen:
If you look at Steve's picture from yesterday, you can barely see his talons. Stella's foot is barely off of the ground!

This morning, the greys were perched on their stand (that's Calypso in the background on the other stand). Max was eating a pellet, so pellet crumbles were raining down on Stella. You'd think she'd have flown off, but instead just kept shaking the pellet crumbs off of her. It kind of looked like she was taking a dust bath (shower?)

I took this picture right after Max finished her pellet, and she's actually doing a quite lazy one foot up herself. Stella is still slightly crouched down, prepared for pellet crumbs to hit her.
Short Steve update: I showered with Max, Stella, and Calypso this morning. I left Steve's cage door open -- I really want him to see the world without bars obstructing his view and get used to us moving around without the cage to protect him. When I entered the kitchen after showering, he was hanging out with his head outside of the cage! He was upside down, hanging off the top of his cage, near his cage door opening. He looked like he was contemplating coming out and perching on his cage door, but my presence seemed to scare him a bit, so he retreated back into his cage.

Still, I am pleased with this progress. He's got about a month left with us until he goes to his forever home, and I'm really hoping he chooses to come out of his cage before then!