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Ripping up the road
Administrator
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
- Joined
- 4/15/10
- Messages
- 50,070
- Real Name
- Matthew
Our "Mayor of the Avenue" award is presented to a member who exhibits the qualities that distinguish them to be an upstanding credit to the Avenue, a loving, informed, conscientious and caring bird parront and an all around good neighbor.
I am happy to announce that jmfleish is January's Mayor of the Month.
I enjoyed reading your interview, and am sure that everyone else will as well!
1. What kind of birds do you have (age, species and names)?
Greys - Tuchis TAG - 14, Clancy CAG - 24, Aspen CAG - 20, Smokey CAG - 20
Ekkies - Cooper SIE - 13, Wylee SIE - 9
Amazons - Amarillo YHA - 16, Abigail YCA - 17, Nibbles LCA - 8, Iris BFA - 13, BoBo and Harley BFA pair about 15?
Cockatoos - Reggie D2 - 16, Kishka RB2 - 6, Fozzie RB2 - 6, Addison RB2 - 2, Leo and Letti RB2 pair about 16?
Linnies - Ollie - 4, Max - 4, Sophie - 4, Eli - 4, Winnie - 4, Newbie - 1
Serama Chickens - Tildie - 4, Bella - 4, Big Bertha (AKA Number Three) - 2
2. What got you interested in birds?
I've always had birds in and out of my life. My dad bought me Finches and Budgies when I was a kid and we had a Quaker Parrot named Flint when I was about 10. My dad had a baby pigeon he bird sat for a friend who ended up imprinting on him and living with us for about ten years in the 2000s along with his girlfriend whom I rescued from our yard...they were Henri and Gertie. We would throw them outside during the day and they would always come back and sleep in my old room at night. That was a very neat experience.
Around 2001, I just decided I really wanted a parrot of my own and spent about two years trying to decide what kind of parrot to get when I met a Timneh at a local pet store and fell in love and bought every book I could find on greys. I wanted that grey but they sold him before I could get the money together to get him, so I went through a breeder and that's how Tuchis TAG came to be. While I was waiting for Tuchis to wean, I met Reggie D2 in a local pet store and went and visited with him every week for six months and decided that it was destiny and brought him home in June, three months after Tuchis came home. My life has never been the same.
Most of the birds in our house are rehomes who just needed a soft place to land. I am a total foster failure as once a bird comes to our home, they don't end up leaving. My first foster fail was Clancy CAG. My boss at the time had a friend who was dying of cancer and was seriously considering putting her bird down because she was terrified of what would happen to him after she died. My boss knew I had parrots, so I agreed to meet with her and see if maybe I could facilitate a rehome. She met me and instantly decided I was the best home for Clancy. I took him home thinking that if it didn't work out, I could rehome him later. I fell in love and he's one of the neatest birds I've ever had the pleasure of knowing although it took us a while to get familiar with one another.
3. What have your birds brought to your life?
What haven't they brought to my life? I would have to say the biggest thing would be a sense of purpose and meaning. And laughter!
4. What have you learned from sharing your life with your birds?
I have learned that they own me, not the other way around. Everything I do, or almost everything is for them and I don't know that I would have it any other way. They are absolutely magical even when they are being completely and totally naughty!
5. What's one birdie memory that will stay with you forever?
Oh geez, there are so many I don't know that I can choose just one! The one that comes to mind right off the top of my mind is when I first moved from my last apartment into my condo and we were finally getting settled in. There was a hanging light in the dining area and Reggie and Kishka liked to use it as a playstand despite my best efforts to keep them off it. One day, I hear a pfftt-pfftt and the light goes out and I see smoke coming from Reggie's beak and I run over to the light and sure enough, he and Kishka had been chewing on the cord and had shorted out the wire and Reggie had burn marks on his beak! I picked his white butt up and looked him all over and thanked all the gods that he was ok and that there wasn't anything more serious wrong with him. The hanging light was replaced with a nice regular light that fit very snuggly to the ceiling! Moral of the story, hanging lights and Cockatoos do not go well together!
6. Where is your bird's main living area?
Currently, it is the first floor of our house although I'm hoping and praying that we will finally be building our bird room addition this summer. Please cross your fingers for me!
7. Did you change things in your home to accommodate your birds and if so what kinds of things did you change?
Not yet, please see question above!
8. Are you involved in any kind of bird related group or activities?
I used to be a member of our local bird club but I just don't have the time anymore. I also volunteered at a local bird rescue for several years.
9. What is the one luxury item you would love to have for your bird(s)?
I'm really hoping that we can build the ultimate bird room for them where I don't have to worry about them chewing up the molding and where cleaning the cages indoors is not hard and hanging up bird gyms is easy and the room is almost exclusively about them where they have their own kitchen and storage for their items is a breeze and there is lots of sun for them and maybe even doors that lead outside to a screened in porch or some kind of outdoor aviary. Of course we will need some human things like bird approved furniture for us to sit on. I want to make it all about them though. Jon is going to kill me when he finds out how much this is going to cost!
10. Is there any bird that you dream of owning and if so why?
I'm a Cockatoo freak and I've always dreamed of owning a Red Tailed Black Cockatoo. I think they are absolutely stunning. That's most likely way out of my league though, but maybe someday. Two other birds that could possibly find their way to our flock are the Major Mitchell Cockatoo and the Slender Billed Cockatoo. Other than that, I think we are very full right now.
11. Describe a typical day with you at home with your birds.
Total chaos pretty much describes my day! I work a regular job and I own a business so getting time free is kind of crazy. I spend time with the birds in the morning before I go to work and when I get home. Any time I can sneak in there, I do and many of my birds just get a little one on one time at night from one night to the next so they know they are special. Some of the birds like my SO better than me, so I have to remind Jon that he has to give them time. Iris BFA, Smokey CAG, and Kishka RB2 are definitely very much more attached to Jon than they are to me, although I can handle them...some more than others. We also have birds that cannot be handled at all like the BFA pair and the Galah pair. We talk to them a lot and I'm hoping that I can make some headway with the Galahs at some point. Leo the male seems to be warming to me...Letti the female, not so much! I'm really, really hoping that at some point I can find something that will make my life with birds more of my career in the next ten years than having to work outside of the house for a paycheck. I keep telling Jon that I want to be a stay at home birdie mommy when I grow up!
12. What have you learned about owning birds that you would like to share?
Every day is a new day and even though my parrots are incredibly self serving, they love me more than I could ever love them. They make my days brighter than I could ever imagine the days without them.
13. If you knew then what you know now about birds, what would you do differently?
I don't know if I would do anything differently. I spend a great deal of money on the birds which I don't regret for a second...maybe try to make investments more wisely so I'd have more money for them. It's all about them in the long run.
14. What other hobbies do you have?
I used to cross stitch! I do miss that a little! I swim and would like to get back to that too. I also read...a lot!
15. Anything else you would like to share?
I don't know...my birds are truly my life and I don't know what I would do without them in my life. They make me smile every time I think of them. I think that most of us know what this is like. They are truly magical.
“I pray to the birds because they remind me of what I love rather than what I fear. And at the end of my prayers, they teach me how to listen.”
― Terry Tempest Williams, Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place
I am happy to announce that jmfleish is January's Mayor of the Month.
I enjoyed reading your interview, and am sure that everyone else will as well!
1. What kind of birds do you have (age, species and names)?
Greys - Tuchis TAG - 14, Clancy CAG - 24, Aspen CAG - 20, Smokey CAG - 20
Ekkies - Cooper SIE - 13, Wylee SIE - 9
Amazons - Amarillo YHA - 16, Abigail YCA - 17, Nibbles LCA - 8, Iris BFA - 13, BoBo and Harley BFA pair about 15?
Cockatoos - Reggie D2 - 16, Kishka RB2 - 6, Fozzie RB2 - 6, Addison RB2 - 2, Leo and Letti RB2 pair about 16?
Linnies - Ollie - 4, Max - 4, Sophie - 4, Eli - 4, Winnie - 4, Newbie - 1
Serama Chickens - Tildie - 4, Bella - 4, Big Bertha (AKA Number Three) - 2
2. What got you interested in birds?
I've always had birds in and out of my life. My dad bought me Finches and Budgies when I was a kid and we had a Quaker Parrot named Flint when I was about 10. My dad had a baby pigeon he bird sat for a friend who ended up imprinting on him and living with us for about ten years in the 2000s along with his girlfriend whom I rescued from our yard...they were Henri and Gertie. We would throw them outside during the day and they would always come back and sleep in my old room at night. That was a very neat experience.
Around 2001, I just decided I really wanted a parrot of my own and spent about two years trying to decide what kind of parrot to get when I met a Timneh at a local pet store and fell in love and bought every book I could find on greys. I wanted that grey but they sold him before I could get the money together to get him, so I went through a breeder and that's how Tuchis TAG came to be. While I was waiting for Tuchis to wean, I met Reggie D2 in a local pet store and went and visited with him every week for six months and decided that it was destiny and brought him home in June, three months after Tuchis came home. My life has never been the same.
Most of the birds in our house are rehomes who just needed a soft place to land. I am a total foster failure as once a bird comes to our home, they don't end up leaving. My first foster fail was Clancy CAG. My boss at the time had a friend who was dying of cancer and was seriously considering putting her bird down because she was terrified of what would happen to him after she died. My boss knew I had parrots, so I agreed to meet with her and see if maybe I could facilitate a rehome. She met me and instantly decided I was the best home for Clancy. I took him home thinking that if it didn't work out, I could rehome him later. I fell in love and he's one of the neatest birds I've ever had the pleasure of knowing although it took us a while to get familiar with one another.
3. What have your birds brought to your life?
What haven't they brought to my life? I would have to say the biggest thing would be a sense of purpose and meaning. And laughter!
4. What have you learned from sharing your life with your birds?
I have learned that they own me, not the other way around. Everything I do, or almost everything is for them and I don't know that I would have it any other way. They are absolutely magical even when they are being completely and totally naughty!
5. What's one birdie memory that will stay with you forever?
Oh geez, there are so many I don't know that I can choose just one! The one that comes to mind right off the top of my mind is when I first moved from my last apartment into my condo and we were finally getting settled in. There was a hanging light in the dining area and Reggie and Kishka liked to use it as a playstand despite my best efforts to keep them off it. One day, I hear a pfftt-pfftt and the light goes out and I see smoke coming from Reggie's beak and I run over to the light and sure enough, he and Kishka had been chewing on the cord and had shorted out the wire and Reggie had burn marks on his beak! I picked his white butt up and looked him all over and thanked all the gods that he was ok and that there wasn't anything more serious wrong with him. The hanging light was replaced with a nice regular light that fit very snuggly to the ceiling! Moral of the story, hanging lights and Cockatoos do not go well together!
6. Where is your bird's main living area?
Currently, it is the first floor of our house although I'm hoping and praying that we will finally be building our bird room addition this summer. Please cross your fingers for me!
7. Did you change things in your home to accommodate your birds and if so what kinds of things did you change?
Not yet, please see question above!
8. Are you involved in any kind of bird related group or activities?
I used to be a member of our local bird club but I just don't have the time anymore. I also volunteered at a local bird rescue for several years.
9. What is the one luxury item you would love to have for your bird(s)?
I'm really hoping that we can build the ultimate bird room for them where I don't have to worry about them chewing up the molding and where cleaning the cages indoors is not hard and hanging up bird gyms is easy and the room is almost exclusively about them where they have their own kitchen and storage for their items is a breeze and there is lots of sun for them and maybe even doors that lead outside to a screened in porch or some kind of outdoor aviary. Of course we will need some human things like bird approved furniture for us to sit on. I want to make it all about them though. Jon is going to kill me when he finds out how much this is going to cost!
10. Is there any bird that you dream of owning and if so why?
I'm a Cockatoo freak and I've always dreamed of owning a Red Tailed Black Cockatoo. I think they are absolutely stunning. That's most likely way out of my league though, but maybe someday. Two other birds that could possibly find their way to our flock are the Major Mitchell Cockatoo and the Slender Billed Cockatoo. Other than that, I think we are very full right now.
11. Describe a typical day with you at home with your birds.
Total chaos pretty much describes my day!
I work a regular job and I own a business so getting time free is kind of crazy. I spend time with the birds in the morning before I go to work and when I get home. Any time I can sneak in there, I do and many of my birds just get a little one on one time at night from one night to the next so they know they are special. Some of the birds like my SO better than me, so I have to remind Jon that he has to give them time. Iris BFA, Smokey CAG, and Kishka RB2 are definitely very much more attached to Jon than they are to me, although I can handle them...some more than others. We also have birds that cannot be handled at all like the BFA pair and the Galah pair. We talk to them a lot and I'm hoping that I can make some headway with the Galahs at some point. Leo the male seems to be warming to me...Letti the female, not so much! I'm really, really hoping that at some point I can find something that will make my life with birds more of my career in the next ten years than having to work outside of the house for a paycheck. I keep telling Jon that I want to be a stay at home birdie mommy when I grow up! 12. What have you learned about owning birds that you would like to share?
Every day is a new day and even though my parrots are incredibly self serving, they love me more than I could ever love them. They make my days brighter than I could ever imagine the days without them.
13. If you knew then what you know now about birds, what would you do differently?
I don't know if I would do anything differently. I spend a great deal of money on the birds which I don't regret for a second...maybe try to make investments more wisely so I'd have more money for them. It's all about them in the long run.
14. What other hobbies do you have?
I used to cross stitch! I do miss that a little! I swim and would like to get back to that too. I also read...a lot!
15. Anything else you would like to share?
I don't know...my birds are truly my life and I don't know what I would do without them in my life. They make me smile every time I think of them. I think that most of us know what this is like. They are truly magical.
“I pray to the birds because they remind me of what I love rather than what I fear. And at the end of my prayers, they teach me how to listen.”
― Terry Tempest Williams, Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place
