Firstly- I am so sorry for being pretty MIA these past couple of months. I haven't been on as much as i'd like to be!! It's been nuts!! The job as been doing its thing consuming all of my time not spent yapping about birds or caring for my personal flock of 11. I've been meaning to post here about many things, though especially about this exciting news as this was in talks behind the scenes for several months prior! This may be old news for some of you who are active on Facebook, as I actually brought him home in December. Though figured i'd better post here as well! If you follow rescues closely online, may already be familiar with this bird! In case you're not, meet Magnum.
This guy is a (Greater) Vasa Parrot from Birds and Beaks Rescue & Rehab located in Battle Creek, MI. Truly a phenomenal rescue. Shannon is an absolute doll and really does not PLAY about those birds. If you want a kickass rescue who provides top notch care and placements for their birds- go here. He is my second adoption from them, and I've been thoroughly impressed every time that I've gotten the opportunity to walk through the facility. From the smallest parrotlets to the largest macaws, I would want my birds to go through here. I particularly think that she has an edge on other rescues in how she handles the permanent arrangements of rare species. There's a weirdly large presence of several rare species in this general area, so she's had several go through the rescue in one way or another. If you dabble in rescue at all, you know the challenges that come with this... avoiding flippers, clout chasers, all of the above. It's a pain in the tailfeathers and I don't think that there's many other places that are able to do it like her. With this guy particularly she GRILLED me with in-depth questioning about my husbandry, schedule and experience, virtual home walk throughs, background checks against animal abuse and flipping databases, all of the above. She ENSURES these birds go to the right home, and is very straightforward with you throughout. 10/10 recommend. Her team is great.
Anyways, in March of 2024 Shannon participated in an animal control seizure of 15 birds (apparently also 400 cockatiels?? The FB videos from this are insane!). There were several...interesting species including Macaws, Greys, Poicephalous, a Hawkhead, this Greater Vasa, among others. All in appalling condition, where many died within days of removal. Most showed signs of severe starvation with body scores of 1, many untreated infections, DIY vet treatments, one was even drenched in cat piss, horrible stuff. You can find the photos on the rescue's facebook page if you search "Eastpointe". Magnum was one of these birds, and suffered immensely. To quote her very first Facebook post, here were the primary notes on him specifically:
He was at the rescue from March 27th 2024, all the way through December 10th, 2025!
During his time at the rescue, he underwent several surgeries in an attempt to remove the pin, all of which were unsuccessful and only moved it a few millimeters. Pins are typically placed TEMPORARILY to ensure that a broken bone heals correctly. The tab that you use to remove the pin also has a serial number to track who inserted what equipment. This whole pin is supposed to be removed, but only the outer tab was cut off by the owner right at the skin, leaving a sharp piece of metal protruding through the back of his hock. IIRC the pin used isn't even the correct type that would be typically used in these procedures. No avian vet within a 2000 mile radius has claimed this procedure either even after hundreds of calls were sent out. At this point after months and months and several surgies of trying, it was concluded that removal and continued attempts to do so would likely kill him. So ultimately the pin was ground down as far as possible and rounded off so that it is unlikely to puncture the skin (as easily). So his skin has now grown overtop and he ambulates well despite it! He'll always be special needs as the movement of one of his feet is limited, though the key is just watching to ensure he has no big falls so that skin does not break. If it does, he needs monitored for infection since that pin opens straight into his bone. This was a long process and the decision to place him with me wasn't taken lightly! So when he was finally sent home with me, a Facebook post was made to update everybody since there were many people invested in his story! I have copied that here below for you! I'll spare you from another bird junk photo LOL!
Obviously I had to post my own response back in December when this all happened, so here's that pasted below for you!
I recently had all of my flock's Valentine's Day photos taken, and since this thread is about him, I'll post some of his here! Couldn't include all of them as I started getting file errors on this big long post, though will follow up later with some more! I'd like to make this one of those picture threads that people have and update all the time lol! I will also post a seperate thread of everybody's photos! In these you can see some of the breeding season changes that happen in Vasas- note his darker plumage, yellowing skin, darkening cere, and lightening beak.
This guy is a (Greater) Vasa Parrot from Birds and Beaks Rescue & Rehab located in Battle Creek, MI. Truly a phenomenal rescue. Shannon is an absolute doll and really does not PLAY about those birds. If you want a kickass rescue who provides top notch care and placements for their birds- go here. He is my second adoption from them, and I've been thoroughly impressed every time that I've gotten the opportunity to walk through the facility. From the smallest parrotlets to the largest macaws, I would want my birds to go through here. I particularly think that she has an edge on other rescues in how she handles the permanent arrangements of rare species. There's a weirdly large presence of several rare species in this general area, so she's had several go through the rescue in one way or another. If you dabble in rescue at all, you know the challenges that come with this... avoiding flippers, clout chasers, all of the above. It's a pain in the tailfeathers and I don't think that there's many other places that are able to do it like her. With this guy particularly she GRILLED me with in-depth questioning about my husbandry, schedule and experience, virtual home walk throughs, background checks against animal abuse and flipping databases, all of the above. She ENSURES these birds go to the right home, and is very straightforward with you throughout. 10/10 recommend. Her team is great.
Anyways, in March of 2024 Shannon participated in an animal control seizure of 15 birds (apparently also 400 cockatiels?? The FB videos from this are insane!). There were several...interesting species including Macaws, Greys, Poicephalous, a Hawkhead, this Greater Vasa, among others. All in appalling condition, where many died within days of removal. Most showed signs of severe starvation with body scores of 1, many untreated infections, DIY vet treatments, one was even drenched in cat piss, horrible stuff. You can find the photos on the rescue's facebook page if you search "Eastpointe". Magnum was one of these birds, and suffered immensely. To quote her very first Facebook post, here were the primary notes on him specifically:
Here are the original images of him from that post:
He was at the rescue from March 27th 2024, all the way through December 10th, 2025!
During his time at the rescue, he underwent several surgeries in an attempt to remove the pin, all of which were unsuccessful and only moved it a few millimeters. Pins are typically placed TEMPORARILY to ensure that a broken bone heals correctly. The tab that you use to remove the pin also has a serial number to track who inserted what equipment. This whole pin is supposed to be removed, but only the outer tab was cut off by the owner right at the skin, leaving a sharp piece of metal protruding through the back of his hock. IIRC the pin used isn't even the correct type that would be typically used in these procedures. No avian vet within a 2000 mile radius has claimed this procedure either even after hundreds of calls were sent out. At this point after months and months and several surgies of trying, it was concluded that removal and continued attempts to do so would likely kill him. So ultimately the pin was ground down as far as possible and rounded off so that it is unlikely to puncture the skin (as easily). So his skin has now grown overtop and he ambulates well despite it! He'll always be special needs as the movement of one of his feet is limited, though the key is just watching to ensure he has no big falls so that skin does not break. If it does, he needs monitored for infection since that pin opens straight into his bone. This was a long process and the decision to place him with me wasn't taken lightly! So when he was finally sent home with me, a Facebook post was made to update everybody since there were many people invested in his story! I have copied that here below for you! I'll spare you from another bird junk photo LOL!
Obviously I had to post my own response back in December when this all happened, so here's that pasted below for you!
I recently had all of my flock's Valentine's Day photos taken, and since this thread is about him, I'll post some of his here! Couldn't include all of them as I started getting file errors on this big long post, though will follow up later with some more! I'd like to make this one of those picture threads that people have and update all the time lol! I will also post a seperate thread of everybody's photos! In these you can see some of the breeding season changes that happen in Vasas- note his darker plumage, yellowing skin, darkening cere, and lightening beak.
