Fickle Finger of France

France was spending some time with a 70-year-old Amazon Parrot at the refuge last Friday. The bird's a real sweetie, but she's almost blind and has severe arthritis in her feet. I suppose much of this could be from a life in captivity with improper light and diet, and always sitting on the same perch...).

Anyway, when it was time to put the little-ole 'gal' back onto her perch, she had a lot of difficulty stepping back, and got frightened and grabbed France's finger with her beak for security. Of course she 'bit' quite hard and cut the skin, and France couldn't remove her finger for fear the bird would lose her balance and fall. So France bled and needed some band-aid and 'superglue' therapy. According to the refuge owner, Wendy Huntbatch, the original superglue is best for re-attaching skin (instantly) and leaving no scars. (Today France says it seems to be working).

Meanwhile I was busy 'almost killing' a beautiful little umbrella cockatoo. Snowy grabbed my coat and climbed onto me when I wasn't ready to handle her because I was still holding Ester. Snowy's only got one wing and practically no feathers on that. As I was moving with her she got nervous and climbed up to my shoulder, then something spooked her and as her instincts 'command' when she's scared, she leapt... and plummeted six feet to the floor like a rock.

I was really concerned that she may have been injured. So I got her back up onto her cage and called for Lacey, one of the staff who knows what's-what. She saw right away that the bird was going into shock and took her into the 'warm room' (i.e. Bird I.C.U.), and called for Wendy. They treated Snowy for shock, and thankfully she recovered.

Needless to say I was praying very hard. That's all I'd need - "So what did you do today?" "Oh, just went to the refuge and killed a bird..." D'OH!!!

Wendy and Lacey assured me that sometimes these accidents happen with the disabled birds. I'll be careful in the future to be more aware of their needs. Live and learn (with emphasis on the 'live' part.)