I’ve posted about Yoshi a few times on here and just thought I’d share the odd circumstances that I got him under!
So I worked at the zoo at the time (Aza accredited and focused on conservation!!) and I particularly worked with the education department teaching children about conservation.
Well one of my kids goes “there’s a Quaker parrot in that tree” so I look over and see a green bird up in the tree and my coworker holding up a bird seed stick?
So I radio the bird zoologist and aviary telling them to check that all birds are accounted for and to come check this one out. And for reference we do have invasive quakers in the area but it was odd that he was alone and so close to people.
well after my radio call he starts flying around and landing on people! And we’re in the children’s area of the zoo and you know most children are not fond of a bird landing on them unexpectedly. And each time he’d land the zoo staff out there would yell “WAIT DONT MOVE” it was honestly comical.
he ended up on low hanging branch and we lured him over with some seed and someone managed to grab him and he actually didn’t bite or anything either.
The bird zoologist checked him out, made sure he wasn’t injured from being swatted by scared kids (he wasn’t) but also informed us that we don’t even have Quaker parrots at the zoo .
They weremt rly sure what to do with him and were considering a rescue unless someone could take him home and well that’s how I ended up with a bird HAHA.
I actually took him under the impression it’d be temporary and I’d find his owners. Well it’s been about 6 months and I have a bird for the next 20-30 years now
For reference I’ve owned a few other exotics but mainly frogs and salamanders no birds! and I’ve always researched for months before bringing anything home so getting that bird all the sudden set me into full on hyperdrive research mode and after a few months I do feel confident in my care but for a while I was checking in with more experienced coworkers, vets and friends for advice. I don’t normally support getting animals on a whim but ofc this was circumstantial. Thankfully I had some experience working in the zoos aviary as well as an ecology degree, so i already had a basic understanding of what I was getting into.
If anyone has any similar stories I’d love to hear!
So I worked at the zoo at the time (Aza accredited and focused on conservation!!) and I particularly worked with the education department teaching children about conservation.
Well one of my kids goes “there’s a Quaker parrot in that tree” so I look over and see a green bird up in the tree and my coworker holding up a bird seed stick?
So I radio the bird zoologist and aviary telling them to check that all birds are accounted for and to come check this one out. And for reference we do have invasive quakers in the area but it was odd that he was alone and so close to people.
well after my radio call he starts flying around and landing on people! And we’re in the children’s area of the zoo and you know most children are not fond of a bird landing on them unexpectedly. And each time he’d land the zoo staff out there would yell “WAIT DONT MOVE” it was honestly comical.
he ended up on low hanging branch and we lured him over with some seed and someone managed to grab him and he actually didn’t bite or anything either.
The bird zoologist checked him out, made sure he wasn’t injured from being swatted by scared kids (he wasn’t) but also informed us that we don’t even have Quaker parrots at the zoo .
They weremt rly sure what to do with him and were considering a rescue unless someone could take him home and well that’s how I ended up with a bird HAHA.
I actually took him under the impression it’d be temporary and I’d find his owners. Well it’s been about 6 months and I have a bird for the next 20-30 years now
For reference I’ve owned a few other exotics but mainly frogs and salamanders no birds! and I’ve always researched for months before bringing anything home so getting that bird all the sudden set me into full on hyperdrive research mode and after a few months I do feel confident in my care but for a while I was checking in with more experienced coworkers, vets and friends for advice. I don’t normally support getting animals on a whim but ofc this was circumstantial. Thankfully I had some experience working in the zoos aviary as well as an ecology degree, so i already had a basic understanding of what I was getting into.
If anyone has any similar stories I’d love to hear!