Steve Update

I haven't written much (anything?) on Steve since he went to live in his forever home with Shannon last September. I didn't want to steal her thunder, and figured people could keep up with his progress at her blog.

But after reading yesterday's entry, I can no longer control myself.

Shannon has done such amazing things with Steve that I wanted to post.

I don't think I ever truly made it clear how dire Steve's situation was. On his vet records, the vet recommended euthanasia. Right there in black and white. Between his physical problems (severe mutilation under both wings) and emotional problems, as well as lack of progress (i.e. deterioration) during the time he spent at the rescue, she felt his quality of life was such that it would be far kinder to put him out of his misery.

Even though I do believe that euthanasia can be the best choice at times, it's one thing for me to say that generally, and another for me to think about it while looking into Steve's eyes while he sat in his cage at the rescue -- isn't there something that could be done?

Knowing we had a no new pet ban on (limits!), the woman who runs the rescue once again approached us to see if we'd make an exception and see if Steve could make any progress in our home, where things are quieter and there is more routine. I agonized over this decision. We have a history of failing fostering (Rocky, Beeps, and Stella were never supposed to stay). Steve is a male while my two greys are females. What problems might that cause for the parrots already under my care? Also, Steve was in really bad shape. Who would be willing to take that on eventually? Was this really adoption disguised as fostering? Finally, would taking on another parrot stretch us past our limits? I'm constantly reminding myself about limits and making sure that the parrots we've already committed to get the same care they're used to and deserve -- something that becomes harder to do the more parrots in the house!

The day we were supposed to pick him up at the rescue, I got up there and started crying; I'd convinced myself Steve would be the straw that broke the camel's back and worried about Max and Stella too much. I tearfully told her we couldn't take him home. But then I couldn't get him out of my mind, and Thomas picked him up two days later as a surprise.

When Shannon contacted me to ask if I might consider letting her adopt Steve, I was shocked. I may have sounded a bit pessimistic at first, but I wanted her to know exactly how he was and what she might be getting herself into -- I didn't want to sugarcoat things and leave her disappointed. Steve was going to be a lot of work. Luckily, Shannon was up to the task, as there really has been an amazing connection between the two of them from the start.

I've been following their journey on the blog and via e-mail (hope I haven't been too much of a pest!) and have been thrilled by how quickly Steve has been improving. And then I read yesterday's entry. It brought tears to my eyes. I loved that picture, and then when Shannon described that he voluntarily climbed out of the cage and up to her shoulder in order to receive more affection -- now I have goosebumps!

What an amazing testament to the power of choices, and to the resiliency of parrots. Shannon let Steve set the pace. She watched his body language and used positive reinforcement to help him progress. She gained his trust, and now she's reaping the benefits of her patience. Steve has no idea how lucky he was to have found his way to such a wonderful, caring person. I look forward to watching his continued progress.

Shannon, I've said this a million times, but thank you so much for taking Steve into your heart and home and providing him with the best family/flock he could have hoped for. Thank you for paying attention to his subtle communication attempts and not forcing him or getting disappointed in him. Thank you for sharing his story so that others in seemingly hopeless parrot situations can see what's worked for you and what might work for them. Thank you for being an amazing person and becoming a friend. When we took Steve in, I never could have imagined such a happy ending for all involved.

Thank you.

More jealousy

Another one from last night -- Thomas had Max on his hand and they were talking. Stella immediately flew to his shoulder to supervise. After I took this picture, I realized that Beeps was also keeping an eye on things.Parrots are so nosy!

Long grey story

Last night after work, Thomas was trying to read the paper, but Max had other plans. She was preening herself while standing on the paper, offering her neck to him, and being adorable:It worked -- she knows how to get what she wants:
Noticing something was up, Stella flew over from her stand to perch on the back of his chair:
However, that did not afford her a good view of what was going on, so she jumped on to perch on Thomas's shoulder:
I'm not sure if she wanted in on the head pets or just wanted to prevent Max from getting them, but Stella soon flew down to the table:
I know I'm anthropomorphizing, but it looks like she's giving Max such an angry look!:
Thomas tried to give her head pets, but she just nipped at his fingers (nothing painful):
So he went back to Max:
Apparently, Stella's work here was done, so she jumped on his arm and climbed to her favorite perch:
His shoulder:

Max and Rocky weird togetherness

I've written before, for example, here, about this strange relationship that Max and Rocky occasionally have. Most of the time they completely ignore each other. If anything, Max gets jealous of Rocky's attention from Thomas and tries to buzz Rocky away from him. A few times a year, however, they play somewhat together, with infrequent posturing warning the other bird away.

Usually this involves towels or some kind of fabric, like pants. Last night, it was Thomas's housecoat that he'd left on the back of a chair (rips and tears previously provided by the parrots.)

Can you see Rocky?
He's a little more obvious in this picture:
And then a quick video, to show them in action:

Rocky fun

(If the timeline seems a bit weird, that's because I wrote this entry Sunday but had trouble with the videos so couldn't post until Tuesday.)

Since Rocky was a little sad that I've returned to the household, Thomas was trying to give him a little bit of extra attention. During the past few days, Max has also become obsessed with Rocky. She's been following him around and frequently buzzing him. Yesterday, she and Rocky were on the shower curtain rod as Thomas showered. Apparently Max tackled Rocky and the two of them tumbled down to the shower floor. So Max will be in some of these videos/pictures, and she was probably close but cropped out of those where she doesn't appear!For these videos -- sorry about my background laughing (though some of the laughing is from the birds as well), but it was so funny in person. At first, Thomas was pretending that Rocky was a hidden weapon and drawing him out of his jacket. Then, he started mimicking one of the scenes from one of our favorite TV shows, The Office (British version).

In the final video, Thomas was playing with Rocky, who loves this kind of hands-on interaction. It also helps keep him healthy between vet visits, as Thomas can check him over for more tumors and keep tabs on the tumor on his uropygial gland to make sure it's not increasing in size.