Bird Sitting

Again it's been too long since I've posted. Time just flies for me. Seems like I turn around and another month has gone. I really thought time would slow down once I was retired. . . stupid me! Maybe if I didn't have so much to do the time would drag - but that would be boring =]

Last month we babysat someone else's bird for the first time ever. I wouldn't normally take in another bird for fear of disease, but this bird is not a baby and she is the only bird in the household, so we decided to do it.

As I set up a tray table for Rosie's cage, I explained to my birds that we would be having a visitor - she would not be an addition to our flock. She would stay for a week, then return to her home. I don't know if they understood or not, but I thought it was worth saying.

Rosie the cockatiel fit in surprisingly well with our larger birds. It didn't take long before she was chirping and calling right along with them. We decided to let her out of her cage that night because she was doing so well. She immediately took flight and did a few loops around the ceiling. Mark managed to catch her and we trimmed her wings right then and there. It's a good thing she was the first one we let out. I don't want to even imagine what would have happened if she had landed next to one of our birds and they took a bite out of her!

We took Rosie's tray table and cage into the tv room and she happily played on the cage top while we watched tv and held the other birds. At one point she even flew to Mark. Clipping the wings allows the bird to fly straight for a time and to glide to the floor, but not to really get any lift (unless there's a breeze).

We enjoyed our time with Rosie. It was nice to have a birdie visitor. Classy was very interested in her and the cockatiel call is now part of Emelio's repertoire. I actually think they were sorry to see her go home.

A couple of days later Rosie's owners thanked us for cutting her wings. Their daughter wanted Rosie to spend some time in her dorm, so they took her up to the college. The bottom of the cage came off when it was being removed from the car and Rosie took off. Instead of being able to fly away, she ended up walking down the middle of the street. She was easily caught and returned to safety.

Ahhhh - don't you love a happy ending?

- Cathy