I had forgotten about Bug's leg band he had when we first got him, a few numbers, a few letters and FLA. We had it taken off when he started to chew on his leg and wipe the blood on his face. It turned out he had mild bumblefoot right after his adoption, small sores on the bottom of his toes. He healed well once the band came off and had a short course of fruit-flavored liquid antibiotics.
Floreeeeda. Imagine. An outdoor aviary, perhaps a few avian psittacine friends to hang out with there, sounds of other birds, direct sunlight. This is why escaped parrots do so well there, too. Conures spotted at the Home Depot? A few African greys in the neighborhood? Well, they are certainly not saying they are moving to the Midwest, where today the windchill is -15F, the temperature -1F.
So Bug was born to a breeder in Florida and then ended up loose, flying around a construction site in WI in the middle of the summer. Between A&B, who knows? I tried finding the breeder he came with by looking up his tag number. This was not as easy as reported. We also placed a parrot found ad on the internet. (The lost bird ads will break your heart.) No response. I know a vet who got an African grey because it just happened to pick the tree in her yard. I know another who got an Eclectus because it chose a vet school where she worked to roost near. Apparently, these bird are no dummies.
I am afraid to go outside today. I am not ready for new weather pattern that arrived last night after a day of 40F and rain.
Right now the juncos and house sparrows are picking through the dregs of the sunflower seeds under the feeder and there is quite a bit of wind. It makes no sense how they withstand the cold, being minute, heat pouring off their bodies.
There is a colony of monk parrots that lives near the brisk lake in Chicago. They make these elaborate and large nests in trees (above photo by blogger, below). Maybe they line them with polarfleece and down. But what does a tropical bird eat amid the snow and ice and bluster?
You can read about them here: http://www.brooklynparrots.com/2006/05/photo-essay-fabulous-wild-parrots-of.html
That said, stay warm, stay inside, drink hot chocolate.
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