Son of Sam

Meet Sam our hybrid amazon. Our vet thinks Sam is a cross between a yellow nape and a yellow headed amazon. We aren't sure exactly what species Sam is, but we can tell you one thing. He came by his nickname "Son of Sam" honestly.

Sam was surrendered with a history of self-mutilation and severe aggression. He stays in a collar since he harms himself. Our vet can find no cause, but after many years (no one knows how long he had been mutilating when he arrived) it is unlikely to stop. The severe aggression is what earned him the nick name. At first, Sam would fling himself at any human in eye sight and attempt to bite their face and head. Volunteers tried to work with him, but he was extremely dangerous since he would always jump or fly at people's eyes and lips.

Sam also liked to sit and look outside. He couldn't be transported outside without risking serious injury unless a towel was used and toweling was traumatic.

Eventually one of our volunteers started to work on teaching Sam to be "perch trained" using positive reinforcement. Instead of offering an arm (which is attached to a face) the volunteers could use a stick. A side benefit was that a towel could be slung over a shoulder so that if Sam did attack the volunteer could easily protect their face and restrain Sam without dropping or hurting him.

Once he was carried outside, Sam was a different bird. He didn't display or attack humans. In fact he was happy to sit in the sun on the grass and stare at the sky or the ground or whatever happened to be nearby. In this environment, Sam actually started letting people touch him. He also learned to accept toweling and will sometimes sit in the towel and make cooing sounds.



















Sam still isn't really trustworthy around faces, but he does enjoy being kissed when he's in his towel and everyone can be safe.

Sam says: Everyone Deserves Love!

Volunteer Days

Yesterday was Saturday. Saturday is the weekly peak volunteer day at the Huntsville PARS facility. Here is a typical Saturday at the rescue.

Volunteers begin showing up as early as 9:30. First on the agenda is cleaning duties. Grates are pulled and washed. It was raining, but a little rain never stops our group! Here you can see Dave pressure washing in the rain. (Thanks Dave!)

Papers are changed and trays are cleaned. This sounds pretty mundane, but some of the birds really like to help during this process. Unfortunately the parrots were feeling camera shy and so all we managed to get were shots of Danny and Brent. It's nice to have such photogenic volunteers!

Floors are swept and mopped. The birds all enjoy supervising from their cage tops and add in vocal corrections. If the floor isn't done properly they will make physical corrections... you need a poop right THERE! Now, that's perfect.




















Food and water is changed out. Many of our fine feathered friends like to make what we affectionately call "chicken soup". It's similar to bobbing for apples, only they use pellets. Any pellets that they don't successfully retrieve dissolve and make the water all sorts of fun colors! They say chicken soup is good for you. Unfortunately it's also a breeding ground for bacteria - so the soup is dumped and the the bowls are sanitized.


During all of this, birds are watched for any signs of illness. Anyone who has sharp toenails receives a pedicure and once all the physical/medical/cleaning chores are done we get to the fun part. Everyone gets to relax with a bird or birds of their choice. This is socialization and it's enjoyable for parrots and people alike.

Joe takes a second from making eyes at Brent to check out the camera.

Herby doing what he does best. Showing off!

Brent pointing out the camera to Ruby. Note: Ruby is already hamming for the camera.

We hope you enjoyed this look at Saturday at the rescue and we hope you decide to join in on the fun!

Greetings

Hello, welcome to the official blog for Parrots-R-4ever Avian Rescue and Sanctuary! If you'd like technical information about us, please refer to our website. It contains most of the "business" related information you might want to see as well as a list of adoptable birds. Right now our blog is not set up to handle an "adoptables" list. We hope to change that in future.

This blog is intended to give you an inside look at life in our rescue. Some of the posts will feature individual birds and their stories, others will take a look at volunteers and people who are special to our organization. You'll also find posts about upcoming events and efforts. The first posts are just intended to give you a feel for the goings and doings in our organization.

This is our first blog and we are excited to have an opportunity to share our work on a little more personal level. This site is maintained and updated by our volunteers. (Parrots-R-4ever Avian Rescue and Sanctuary or PARS for short does not have a paid staff.) You can expect updates at least weekly. We hope you enjoy sharing this journey with us.