Tammy

Saturday turned out to be a great day for this bird lover. My family is finally complete with the addition of a friend that I officially adopted from the Center for Avian Rehabilitation & Education, Inc. in Hubertus, WI. 

I did not sleep well the night before my departure to pick out my new loved one. Anxiety had taken over my mind and I was tossing and turning all night. Three sleeping spots later I finally dozed off on my couch. All of the negative aspects of bird ownership kept on creeping into my mind. Daily cage cleanings, fresh food expenses, accidental and intentional bite wounds, and incessant squawking half an hour before my alarm is set to go off each morning. 

Despite my apprehension, I woke up early Saturday morning to start the four hour journey to the CARE center. It was a very long drive, but I was in great company and I saw something extraordinary!  Within the first thirty minutes of the journey Jonas and I witnessed World Guy, a man named Erik Bendl who has walked over two thousand miles for diabetes awareness. I was disappointed that I didn't have my camera, but at least I found him on the Internet.

He looked just like this and was with his dog when I saw him.

So after this I drove another two hours and took a much needed break at a Wisconsin rest area somewhere past Wisconsin Dells. It was the nicest rest area I have ever seen! I thought about taking a nap on a bench in the air conditioned building, but ultimately decided to push on. Jonas drove the rest of the way and when we finally got to where we thought we were supposed to be, we couldn't find the town of Hubertus. So we stopped at a gas station and asked for directions two times, then finally found our destination. 

I wasn't sure what to expect of CARE, but let me tell you that it was ear-piercingly loud. Apparently Saturdays are a little bit more rowdy than days during the week and the birds were pretty worked up. I saw many species of birds; love birds, conures, cockatoos, parrotlets, budgies, amazons, lorikeets, cockatiels, and I even saw a macaw for the first time. It was gorgeous, though that beak could cut a person's hand right in half. 

So we walked through the center and Chris, the lady that I had been communicating with over the phone, showed me a few birds based on my application. I was searching for a bird who wasn't as adoptable as others due to special needs or appearance.  

I first met Puzzle who was an absolutely adorable, well mannered and social lorikeet. He seemed to really like me and I had a hard time not taking him home. He was fed the wrong diet and had some complications due to this. Lorikeets feed on nectar, pollen, and fruits in the wild and need to be fed a specialized water and powder mix along with fruits. Because of this their poop sprays out like water and later crystallizes. I know this first hand because he pooped on me. Haha! Anyway, he was a doll and my heart still aches a little for not taking him home. I did not feel that I had the right living situation for him, but he was so adorable that I'm sure he'll find a new home soon. 

Puzzle 

I also met Mork, the elderly Patagonian conure who I spoke about in a previous post. He was very sweet, but he was very fond of a specific volunteer who worked with him weekly. I felt that it would have been a shame to take him away from a place where he had such a strong connection with another human. 

Mork

Finally I was introduced to Tammy the Nanday Conure. From what I've been told she has had a very rough life, but it doesn't show in her personality.

If you click here you can see Tammy's story as it has been updated on CARE's blog. Start reading at the bottom of the page under Meet Tammy, and read through her story backwards. If you click on newer post you can see more info about her. It's really quite sad. She was housed in a canary cage for 23 years and was barely alive when she was brought to CARE from lack of nutrition. She was the weight of a parakeet and she should have been three times that weight. She was then adopted by someone who tried to make money off of her on craigslist. When she was surrendered back to the center she made a bird friend named Rocky who ended up dying from egg laying complications. Such a hard life for a poor little bird!

So here I come...I see Tammy for the first time and knew that I had to give her a good home. She's my little love. 

Tammy resting on my chest during a long ride home