Last night just before dark I opened the release doors of the aviary. The idea was that the birds would not fly too far and so they would find their way back in the morning for breakfast. The aviary has a shelf so that the birds can walk out and I put some monkey nuts on there to encourage them to take a look. At first there was only one bird on the outer shelf and then he flew back inside. Then a pair clocked on to the nuts. A third bird joined them. He was to be the first to fly off the aviary. He was actually pushed, just like when penguins get in the water! He landed in the tree the aviary was build next to. The pair that did the pushing caught on and jumped. Two others got the idea and so in an instant there were five flying around screaming in excitement. The remaining four hung on the wire for a few minutes. I thought about closing the hatches to keep them in so the others would be sure to come back. That’s not the idea of a release though and soon they were out too. They flew in joyous circles, up and down, left and right, the kind all but Monty have never done before! Then soon they were settled.
I was supposed to feel delight the birds finally had their second chance but in truth I felt terrible. I was so worried whether it was the right thing. What if a feral cat gets them in the night? What if one of the magnificent Peregrine Falcons picks them off at dawn? What if they don’t come back for the nice food I’ll willingly provide. I had an awful nights sleep waking at 2 and 4, dreaming of climbing over the roofs of terraced houses (probably Sheffield) to help confused Red-lored and Yellow-crowned Amazons (I kept Red-lored Amazons as a lad). When I woke at five thirty I was already thinking about a siesta. With my head torch on I quickly made a cup of tea (Some things are set in stone!), prepared some fruit and sorted out the aviary so it would look enticing.
The sun light arrived and as always the troupials called first “trou…pi…al, trou…pi…al” and soon there was a parrot call, then another and another from different places. I whistled and called “Come on” which I did every day whenever I took food to the aviary. They completely ignored me. I saw small groups of three then five, then two flying back and forth just above the vegetation where the sky was still purple. They were having a blast! Their loud calls revealed their sheer excitement to be free. I called and whistled some more. After a while some birds came close and then the others followed. They knew I was there. They could see the shiny bowl with sunflower seed and monkey nuts I was hoping to lure them back to the aviary with, like the pied piper, but they weren’t interested. Soon some flew off again, a pair was left. One was Dark Blue (ring) right (leg), the tamest of the bunch and one I continually had to chase off when I went in the aviary. She didn’t want anything to do with me. Together with Black left they climbed through the thorny Acacia pulling off leaves and bark and eating seeds from the pods. They looked like wild parrots. They were all just doing what wild parrots do and it gave me such a sense of relief. Of course they can do it!
I’m putting more pictures on the Echo open-to-the-public facebook page please check it out: http://www.facebook.com/echobonaire.org
Parrot Bloggers
Search by:
