Reply #40: Have I mentioned that we have a bird now? [View All]

Yup.

I'm not a "bird person," but we've got a cockatiel living here with us.

A couple of months ago, Mr. tofunut found a cockatiel walking down the street. Let me say that again: he came across a cockatiel walking down the street, all by his lonesome, just north of Seattle. Now, being a particularly astute and kind man, Mr. tofunut stopped the truck and invited the bird for a ride. Little bird accepted the offer and climbed on board with the husband and Moby, our doggie friend.

Mr. tofunut canvassed the neighborhood, looking for the bird's family, but had no luck. A nice lady gave him a box to transport Little Bird safely, and a water dish for him. (The same nice lady also put up signs in the neighborhood and at local vets' offices letting people know about this vagrant cockatiel. Thanks, nice lady!)

So, Little Bird came home to us. He was injured--one of his eyes was punctured, and he was really stressed out. He was so hungry and lonely! Little Bird climbed all over us, found his way into my hair and went to sleep, and ate for about 10 hours straight. Poor guy. Clearly, he was hand-trained and loved by someone. We took him to the vet right away, but he lost the use of one eye. (Not so good for depth perception and flying.)

Since then, he's become MUCH more shy of us--he really didn't like getting the eyedrops we had to give him. He is still uncomfortable being touched at all. We're working on it, though.

So, we kept him and medicated him. He couldn't be around other birds for at least 6 weeks. I posted about him on craigslist and parrot911. We tried local vets and shelters. I did have three people ask after him, but we didn't find his family.

So, yeah, we've had Little Bird for about 3 months now. We're not going to find his family--I know that now. I guess we'll have to see what happens from here.

Honestly, I never really wanted to live with a bird. They are smart and demanding and long-lived. But I sort of love the little guy.

Argh.