Freedom the Parrot Adoption Story

My name is Freedom, and I am a Panama Amazon Parrot. The last 3 years I’ve resided at Feathered Friends Forever Rescue & Sanctuary, the largest non-profit parrot shelter in America. Interestingly enough, the address is 612 Byrd Drive. I was flying freely in an outdoor flight, or as the staff refers to it, “The Greeter Aviary”. I got to hang out with other Amazons such as Blue-Fronts, Yellow-Naped, and Double Yellow-heads. When visitors drove up, we’d give a friendly “hello”, and when they departed we were clever enough to say “goodbye”. On December 15, 2011, a high-energy woman in her 40’s arrived from Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. She had a pet parrot for 20 years named Boo. He was a Yellow-front Amazon, and she called him her feathered angel. She teared up when she talked about him being gone.

She met Ron Johnson, the founder, and Larry, an assistant and dear friend to the parrot sanctuary. Karen hopped on a golf cart, and took off with Ron to tour the 10-acre refuge. She was immediately captivated by the various exotic birds: Macaws, Cockatoos, Amazons, African Greys, Conures, Cockatiels, and Lovebirds. Ron showed her the state-of-the-art macaw aviary being built featuring infrared heaters, automatic feeders, and a misting system. Then they toured the 280 bird cages inside the main building, The Porch, and The Playroom. Holy mackerel! Gorgeous Eclectus birds, Amazons of every type, Crimson-winged Parakeet, Cockatoos of every size, Lories, tiny Parrotlets, and Conures did their jungle yells. Tammy, Ron’s wife, shared fascinating stories about the birds and where they came from. She said when they first arrived to the property, they had 180 birds flying free in the main building. Cages were stacked everywhere. Tammy carefully feeds and waters the indoor birds. She is followed by her little dog and one large goose! It was fun to crank up the music and let the birds scream with joy. Karen worked with Sony, who had just won Volunteer of the Year, the rest of the afternoon. Sony volunteers 2-3 times a week and is instrumental in cleaning the cages, and assisting with feeding and watering the birds. But more importantly is her interaction with each bird, and the respect she gives them. It’s clear how much the birds love her. She will hold a Cockatoo up against her chest, and the bird will just cuddle with her. Her calm and confident personality gives them assurance. Sony and Karen worked well together as a team. At the very end of the day, 2 Caiques, affectionately called The Evil Twins, (who by the way adore Sony), took it upon themselves to run up Karen’s arm and duck under her long hair, which they think is a perfect nesting sight. They bit her ear and her neck. Yikes! It’s not intentional, and it goes with the bird-care territory. There was a cook-out afterwards, so all was well.

The second day of volunteering, Karen met several birds available for adoption. Candy was a sweet Yellow-fronted Amazon, and Reva was an entertaining Yellow-Nape who loved sitting in her food dish. There was a Mexican Red-headed Amazon who was very shy, and a beautiful Blue-front Amazon who was imported but his leg band grew too tight and had to be removed. Karen felt bad, but she was drawn to the Amazons that were in the Greeter Aviary. Dressed in shorts for the sunny 76 degree day, she walked outside with her camera. As she approached the flight, she said, “Hi birds!” There was a nice waterfall with a little walkway on it. I walked right up to her, and I could see her eyes light up. “Do you want to give me a kiss?”, she asked. I gave her a little kiss through the cage. It was great because I felt special. She studied all the parrots, but seemed to memorize how I looked and noticed I had a silver flat metal band on my leg. (that means I was born in the United States) She was totally fair and talked to all the birds. Cats leisurely strolled the property, as did 2 chickens and a rooster. I saw her visit each aviary and take photos. She was enamored with 3 particular Macaws. A Red-fronted macaw ambled through the grass and held the beak of a Blue and Gold Macaw. When a blue feather fell out of her mate, the red-fronted Macaw carefully picked it up with her claw. Then she pulled out some weeds and dirt for fun. In the background a Green-winged Macaw moved around, clearly enjoying the day. “How great for the birds to have grass to walk on!”, thought Karen. The fun ended when the rooster attacked the back of Karen’s leg! She was yelling at the top of her lungs in surprise. All of us birds thought it was big excitement. The rooster is normally quite docile. She and Sony spent the rest of the day cleaning out old bird seed in the Playroom with birds that came from a hoarding situation. An odd mix of birds were best friends…a female Peacock, several Military Macaws, Sun Conures, Cockatiels, and other Conures. Karen was so impressed how well-behaved these birds were. Later Ron showed Karen the state-of-the-art fruit and vegetable slicer. Then he let her help feed the outdoor birds with the ingenious feeder system of elongated ½ cut containers that slide out. Karen kept wondering how just Ron, Tammy, and Larry could manage feeding 1,200 birds on days with no volunteer help.

Saturday was an amazing day. It was the fall Open House and visitors were encouraged to stop by for a tour or to adopt a bird. Karen met Ron by the Greeter Aviary. He gave her some crackers and had her step into the safety cage, which has another door to the flight. He instructed her to feed 2 birds that were glued to the wire where she stood. Then he told her to go inside and feed me a cracker. Not one person had stepped inside this particular aviary in 3 years since it was originally set up. We Amazons made it clear that we’d attack anyone who even considered coming in. I gently took the cracker. Ron coached her to say, “Step up!” I stepped on her 2 outstretched fingers, and she brought me out to the safety cage. I let her pet me over and over while I hung onto the wire. We started drawing a crowd! Ron came in and coaxed me over to Karen’s lap while she sat on the ground. My friends didn’t know why we were separated, and so I flew up to take a bit of cracker out of the beak of a Yellow-naped friend. I also did a “play attack” with a Blue-front who is pretty feisty. Ron then swept me up in a towel, gave me a wing trim and a toenail clip. I spent a few quiet hours with my new mom in the Welcome Center, which is filled with incredible bird decorations donated by a lady who collected them for 48 years! I was a little traumatized, but I sat in her lap like a little angel and she pet me and told me how pretty I was. People came by and admired me. Sony eased me into the travel cage where there was a little Snoopy hanging in the corner along with colorful beads. It was such a learning experience. Mary Jones, who has 15 birds of her own, gave a ton of advice on nutrition. Then we met Bob Courtwright, a volunteer of 6 years who does all the marketing. He brought in a photo of Stumpy, a Meyers Parrot who has no feet. The bird would have been put to sleep, but Bob gave him a chance to lead a great life. Bob also has 2 Cockatiels, Slick and Scooter—boy does he have interesting stories on those two! Bob also travels around with Boo Boo the Cockatoo and is an advocate for the sanctuary. Then we met another Karen who has a wild-caught Blue and Gold Macaw named Sam. She had alot of insight into bird behavior. Finally we met Rico and his wife Katja, long-time volunteers. He painted the mural on the Cockatoo Aviary. It was obvious from their pet bird stories that they truly love and admire exotic birds. Everyone joined together for nice meal inside the Education Center, provided by Feathered Friends. Larry had his bird Gertie perform a card trick! It was fantastic!

I did great on my overnight at the hotel with Karen. I was a perfect gem, and we watched 2 episodes of Animal Planet. Some nice man even gave me part of a tangerine. Sunday morning I started my Ambassadorship and greeted people in the lobby. I met the man’s son and we told him all about Feathered Friends Forever Rescue & Sanctuary. We hope to bring attention to the plight of exotic pet birds, as many are abandoned, abused, or neglected. We drove back to the parrot sanctuary for the formal adoption. Ron, Larry, and Bob were in the Welcome Center. I relaxed on a playstand while they provided instruction on nutrition, housing, safety, behavior, and enrichment. We got a giant bag of bird food to take with us. Karen rushed inside to say goodbye to every indoor bird. Many parrots let her pet them, and then they yelled goodbye! It was especially difficult to say goodbye to Baby, the Blue-fronted Amazon with the healing leg. She said goodbye to as many outdoor birds as possible. Bob let her take pictures inside the Macaw aviary. The Green-winged Macaw lifted his wings for her to photograph. It was magical to be surrounded by such regal creatures. Then she stood in the 80 foot Cockatiel flight. It is an amazing sight to see these birds exist so peacefully. The greatest thing of all is to hear stories of birds that were once neglected, or stuck in a dark room, and now they are thriving and interacting with their own species as well as the visitors to the sanctuary.

We said our goodbyes, and so began my adventure to Parrot-dise! A few miles down the road my new mom started crying, wishing she could adopt more birds. We both were sad to leave. I was going to miss my Amazon parrot friends and the daily freedom of flying back and forth, and Karen was going to miss hanging out with her new friends, both human and avian. Miles later she was really crying when we were lost! She is geographically impaired, so when she called a friend to consult a map, I laughed pretty hard to lighten up the situation. I enjoy listening to telephone conversations, and will occasionally say “ok” or “uh-huh”, you know, just to stay in the loop. We arrived at Treetops where I will live in a townhouse condo. Although I had to remain in the travel cage for 96 hours (strict adoption rules to acclimate to a new environment), I now live in a big cage with a metal ladder and playstand on top. I have an upstairs view of lush tropical plants called Saw Palmetto, plus lots of palm trees and oak trees. I’ve seen squirrels, raccoons, owls, songbirds, and hawks. I am enjoying writing this. It’s kind of fun being a Correspondent in the field! Karen’s friends Mike and Dana assembled the cage. I showed off for Dana and said “hi”, “hello”, “ok”, made the kiss-kiss sound, and did a wolf whistle. They couldn’t believe my repertoire. Sometimes I look up trying to remember certain words. I open my beak and just make an air sound while puffing out my throat feathers. (I’m practicing in my head, but they think it is comical.) I also say “hello” when the phone rings. Why not? It’s fun to see the look on my mom’s face when I just blurt out, “Are you ok?” “How are you?” “Are you a good boy?” I also know the difference between eating and drinking and make a gulp, gulp sound while opening my beak. It is hilarious!

I am in training every day. We are listening to different types of music, which I sing to on occasion. I especially love jazz, and we sing quietly together. When we listen to top 40 dance music, Karen snaps her fingers, and I do a snapping noise to the beat! I have flown across the room a number of times, although she does not encourage this behavior for safety reasons. I admit I am a little sneaky. I wait until she goes around the corner for 3 seconds, then I climb down to the ground and walk under the bed to the closet mirror and admire my beautiful feathers. One day she said, “Step up” and I diligently stepped onto her hand and was placed back on top of the cage. She walked over to the bathroom and as she turned around, I flew across the room to her! We had a great moment where I was deciding what to do about landing. We looked at each other in shock I guess. I needed assistance and so she held out both hands for landing spots! Each foot landed on a different hand! Wow! What an experience! She had never caught a bird mid-air in her own home. I was so tired after that. (By the way I have excellent vision and I decided to fly to her on purpose through the open door.) We are also experimenting with different types of toys, many of which had belonged to Boo. I love everything…leather strings with blocks at the end, strings with beads, wood chips with a bell at the bottom. I occasionally push around the various plastic animals at the bottom of the cage, and toss the Kong toy. Karen places treats inside paper or cardboard for me to find. She calls it a foraging toy. I call it a Nutriberry burrito! I am curious about everything! I also throw in a high-pitched “Omigod” which is always a hoot. Before bed I run over to her and say goodnight and make a clicking noise to get her attention. Then I put my head down for her to pet me. She always gives me a kiss through the cage and says, “I love you!” I bring her comfort and love in return. I can tell my mom is so happy to have a pet bird in her life. We are still in the trust-building phase. We will keep expanding our friendship and bring joy to others.