The rescued parrots under Echo's caring wing are flourishing but sadly the wild loras have had a tough time over the past weeks. The goat and donkey eaten habitat is in such poor condition that the parrots have to come to town to find food. In the urban environment loras face dangers they unprepared for and this was the unfortunate experience for three loras now collectively know as The Three Amigos...
It was a sunny day on beautiful island of Bonaire when Perry a young yellow-shouldered Amazon Parrot found himself in the mouth a very large German Shepherd. This he quickly realised was an unfortunate situation and one, which in hindsight, he probably should have avoided.
Just moments before Perry had almost landed in a large red flowering tree, the kind his caring mother would bitterly complain about. Having only recently fledged Perry was still getting to grips with landing. This was not the first time he had misjudged a landing but the unfortunate consequence on this occasion was that there was now a dog getting to grips with him.
As his life flashed before his own eyes he remembered the times his mother would start her own little crusade while she brooded him and his sister in their nest. "After they chopped down all the native trees like the delicious Yellow Mobin and productive West Indian Satinwood' she would say into the dark "they planted the exotics likes flamboyant and all those palms that give nothing back to the wildlife. "Your forefathers evolved over millions of years to feed on those native trees and the humans just chopped them all down, they even have the audacity to complain when we eat a few of their exotic fruits".
Only a day before the matter of eating exotic fruits was at the forefront of Mick's mind. Unfortunately for Mick there was also an incredible pain at the forefront of his mind, and in his wing. The pain had been caused by a snotty nosed brat who had hurled stones at him with disappointing accuracy.
Being a slightly older fledgling Mick was now eating some food for himself. He had been quietly nibbling away at kenepa and wondering about the possibility of Bonaire developing a green economy when the first stone broke his wing. Of course being a bird, Mick's reaction was to still to fly from the tree. A jolt of pain shot through his little body as his strong chest muscles tightened moving the ends of his broken bones against each other. Then he hit the ground with a sickening thud. The second stone glanced his head removing a half a skull of feathers. Luckily for Mick there was a disused car in the garden where he landed and he quickly ran to hide beneath it until the caring owner came to help.
His parents were dismayed and they flew and screamed. This experience confirmed for them that enduring The Stones is tortuous! They were grateful Mick had been able to run for cover.
It has been three weeks since Biscuit broke her leg and right now she would probably sell her grandmother to be able to run again. A cloud of mystery surrounds the events that led to the breaking of her leg. Biscuit was dizzy from the event and although she could not remember the caring lady's wonderfully Dutch name she recalled that the lady said she had broken her wing by flying into an electricity cable. Perhaps the lady was right about the cable but Biscuit's wings were just fine.
Dear Reader have you ever stopped to marvel at how a parrot can climb? If you haven't then you really ought. They can of course because they have stubby little legs which gives them low gearing. This allows a parrot to pull its body weight up through the branches of a tree but it makes for poor long distance running. By contrast a long legged ostrich has high gearing and while they can run somewhat better than a parrot they are not very good climbing through branches.
For a parrot's stubby little leg to break something mysterious indeed must have happened. Biscuit's little leg is now splinted and we hope that she will not walk with too much of a limp.
It's now been 10 weeks since the parrot rescue began. The addition of the Three Amigos and other rescued loras to the flock puts a further strain on the dedicated Echo team.
You can help these parrots by supporting this effort at:
http://www.razoo.com/story/Echo-And-The-Yellow-Shouldered-Amazon-Parrot
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