September 10, 2012 Dear Mom;

I can't believe how quickly I get to Monday without having written. So, here I am late again. I was very anxious to get to the Refuge. I had heard that birds got moved around last week. I knew too, that Bertie and Chris were two of the 26 that were moved. And I didn't know if Babe had been moved or not. You're probably wondering why birds would get moved around. So I'll explain. The Refuge is based on natural flocking behaviour. Although every bird is a study of one, with individual behavioural histories, experiences with and/or without flight and other birds, captive parrots must develop a self confidence, if you will, that allows them to live compatibly with other birds in a flock. They have to know how to fit in. I can hear my mentor, Dr. Susan Friedman, saying to me, now operationalize all of that please. But I hope that gives you a feel for what's next. All the birds that come to the Refuge start out for a couple of days, caged in the area where they will be released to aclimate to the environment, usually one of the smaller enclosures, the special needs area or the medical room. All the staff seem to be very sensitive to the dynamics in each area and contribute information on how well each bird is adjusting. Is the bird making friends? Are the friends from the same species or from a different species? Does the bird get picked on or bullied? Does the bird bully others? And so on? When managers feel that a bird is ready to try a flock or needs a change of some kind to continue to adapt, those birds are moved accordingly leaving room for newcomers. Those that haven't been moved, are now the "experienced" birds in their area and again, the dynamics change.  That's what happened last week. Now when it comes to "my" birds, I'm not a very trusting individual. And even though Bertie, Chris and Babe are not "my" birds, my feeling of protectiveness doesn't know that. I didn't know what had happened to Babe, if anything, and I was fearful for Bertie and Chris. Now back to Friday. As soon as I arrived at the Refuge, I dropped all my stuff in the kitchen and went looking for the girls. I found Bertie in the slightly smaller enclosure beside the one she'd been in before. She was sharing it with just one other bird, a gentle male. Chris was still in the medical room, waiting for a new vest before being moved. And Babe hadn't been moved at all. It was with a great sense of relief that I returned to the kitchen.

You guessed it. I was back to washing dishes and folding clean laundry. And that's not a bad job for me. I get to meet and chat a bit with each of the staff members. I get to see how they relate to the birds. I get to see what their version of cleanliness is. I'm becoming aware of the staff cliques. I'm quite enjoying the kitchen.

When I was finished in the kitchen, I went to visit with the girls and give out some treats. I took pine cones and little squares of Lorne's whole wheat bread. I didn't get to visit with Chris. Cynthia, who is responsible for that large area, was busy scrubbing the floor with cages pulled out etc. I didn't want to slow her down. So, I went over to Bertie's new enclosure. We had a nice visit even though she wouldn't come to me. She didn't run away from me; she just wouldn't step up and did her little head shaking. I really must find out what her friend's name is. He's a smart cookie. Since Bertie didn't want to come to me, I decided to run her through her perch paces. She turned around on cue, saluted, shook "hands", gave me a high five, and when I asked her to give me a kiss, both Bertie and her friend, who was sitting right beside her, leaned forward to touch my lips with their beaks. Oh! Surprise! Hmmmm. I decided to see if he'd pick up some clicker training. First I conditioned the clicker with both of them. Of course Bertie loves showing off what she knows. And she's forgotten nothing it seems. But her friend took his sunflower seeds and watched Bertie carefully. Next I got out my trusty target stick and got Bertie to target a few times, again with his nibs watching carefully. Then I offered the target to him. Bertie promptly reached over in front of him and touched the target. He didn't stand a chance. I had to laugh. So, I got Bertie to target further down the perch, then quickly offered her friend the target stick. He touched it ever so gently, and got his sunflower seed just before Bertie returned.  LOL We did the same thing several times. Oh, how I'm loving that little friend of hers. Photos attached. That's Bertie on the right; they're both eating their bread.

Then I went to visit Babe. She didn't even wait to see what the treat of the week was. I set up my little stool, sat down and she was right there, ready to come to me. She sat on my shoulder chit chatting. I couldn't hear what she was saying but I knew she was talking. It was when she was reaching around to give me kisses that I realized that she wanted the treat, whatever it was. When I gave her the bread, she left. LOL I don't know if she and her beau have had a falling out, if I assumed too much in the first place or they were enjoying some time and space alone. I didn't see any "togetherness" this time. And I still don't know his name. That's one of the difficulties I find at the Refuge. The staff are few and far between and difficult to nab with questions. However, I'll keep trying.

Almost forgot to tell you!  When I parked in the parking lot, I changed from my street shoes to my rubber shoes. When I pulled my carryall bag out of the van, the ziplock container with the pieces of bread in it, fell out onto the ground and the lid came off. Only a couple of pieces fell out. However, the small flock of peacocks and peahens were passing in front of the van at the time and a couple of those birds obviously knew what they'd seen and sauntered over. I couldn't say no after practically dropping bread right under their beaks. So they all got a little piece of bread too. Neat!

That's it Mom...until next week. LOL
Love,
Pat