expressmailtome
Ripping up the road
Administrator
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
- Joined
- 4/15/10
- Messages
- 51,184
- 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 Vittror is November'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)?
I have one peachfaced lovebird living with me at the moment: Whiskey, and I think he's 7/8ish years old.
Whiskey came living with me in 2019 when an old friend of mine sadly couldn't take care anymore of Whiskey.
2. What got you interested in birds?
The movie 'Paulie', a bird park where they flew bird-shows with birds of prey and I was one of the lucky kids who got to hold one of those birds on my arm with a falconer's glove, I think it was a Harris's hawk (Parabuteo unicinctus) and I was completely in awe.
I grew up in a house with a big garden chock full with all kinds of birds. There was a river around the house and in the season of fledgling birds I was always rescuing those young birds from the water, taking care of them for the night (getting them dry, warm and feeding them) and releasing them the next day.
When I was around 8 years old we had twice a single budgie living with us, which I spend hours and hours of my time with.
3. What have your birds brought to your life?
Companionship, unconditional love, trust, warmth, a sense of purpose, lots of laughter, lots of farts (sounds) from Ragnar, lots of featherdust and a lot of mess.
Also the realization that I wouldn't want to live without a feathered companion(s) ever again.
4. What have you learned from sharing your life with your birds?
Patience, slowing down, taking one thing at a time (still a work in progress).
My downs are deep and my ups are high, but the knowledge, that if I keep moving forward, I'll get there (wherever there is). There will be progress eventually.
The same goes for my birds with earning and keeping their trust, caring for them, sharing our lives.
The birds that live and have lived with me are all adopted/rehomed/rescue-birds with baggage so it's important to take it one day at a time and to keep working with them on their pace.
Every time it's time to say goodbye to one of my birds, they take a big part of my heart with them every time, but I'm so glad I got to spend time with them, got to know them and love them - that I was able to be a part of their lives and they of mine life. This part is hard to explain for me in words but because of my birds I've also learned to be more grateful. To appreciate the small ánd big things more.
My birds helped me grow as a person through learning about them and sharing my life with them.
5. What's one birdie memory that will stay with you forever?
No, but I really can't just choose only one memory
! So:
1. Whiskey allowing me to scritch his head after being really afraid of hands. The moment he lowered his head, still a bit unsure, and 'allowed' me to scritch his head, and the trust he just had for me in that moment.. it still sends chills down my spine (in a good way).
2. Ragnar eating millet out of my hands while sitting on my hands, while still being deathly afraid of hands. But trusting me enough to dare doing that. Also his (sometimes not so) quiet fart sounds behind me when I was working on the pc.
3. Piep saying 'koppie koppie' before he asked for scritches. Loosely translated to 'scritch my head please'. Before that moment he only talked to himself when he thought I wouldn't hear him.
6. Where is your birds main living area?
In the birdroom, one of the bedrooms of our house, I'm humbly allowed to share with them (my computer is in there and I'm there most of the time).
There is a birdie play area on top of a closet in the birdroom, where Whiskey's play tree and an assortiment of other toys are.
It's important for me that Whiskey has his own autonomy to make decisions where he wants to go.
If he wants to chill out with me, awesome (and he does this mostly because he is a bit of a velcro bird) but if he wants to eat/forage/play in or around his tree, that's also good!
We also take the bird(s) with us to the living room (we're working on making a birdie hangout place there), bathroom and kitchen but only when completely supervised.
7. Did you change things in your home to accommodate your birds and if so what kinds of things did you change?
Not really because I've been living with birds for about a big part of my life now so I didn't have to make many changes.
A few years ago I've thrown some unsuitable pots and pans away.
When I had the opportunity to have a bird room for the birds I took the chance with both hands.
8. Are you involved in any kind of bird related group or activities?
Not really at the moment but me and my partner like going to parrot related fairs, where you can browse and buy toys, food related items, perches, talk with behavioral trainers, watch demonstrations and such things.
I try to keep up-to-date about different subjects related to birds, especially care for my own present and future) bird(s), food-related, illness-related, training-related, documentaries about birds in general, watching bird-videos, following workshops. Trying to keep up to date about what is going on in the bird world (in general).
I'm thinking about trying to create numbered colouring pages with as subject birds, not to earn money, but because I've got a major surgery coming up and would like to have something to do while recovering and for whatever reason I find it hard to obtain good colouring books.
If this project comes off the ground I can also share the colouring pages here if people are interested.
9. What is the one luxury item you would love to have for your bird(s)?
Celltei Pak-O-Bird backpack & Outdoor aviary
I'm also slowly (re)decorating the birds room, and would love to have multiple walls with different perches/toys/foraging opportunities.
10. Is there any bird that you dream of owning and if so why?
Not really, my favorites birds (so far) are/have been in my life already.
However it would be good for Whiskey to have a flockmate again so that's something I'm keeping an eye for out.
After Ragnar passed away last month it really made a difference of day and night in Whiskey's behaviour.
I'm not one to actively shop around for birds but if there's a bird that needs a place to live I'm always willing to think about if they'd fit in our home and our flock.
Until now I've only lived together with smaller birds like budgies and lovebirds but I also keep my heart open for bigger birds.
I always dreamed of running a parrot/bird sanctuary.
To be able to create a safety net for neglected/birds with health problems to nurse them back to health and give them a place to live a happy comfortable (rest of their) life.
With focus points on nutrition, enrichment, behaviour and being loved and cared for.
11. Describe a typical day with you at home with your birds.
Depends on if I'm having a good day/or a bad pain day because of my chronic illness.
On the good days I'm more hands on with our feathery resident(s) than on the bad days.
Good days: wake up and wish Whiskey a good morning, ask if he slept well, how he's doing today and such, fresh food time, out of the cage time few times a day (training/enrichment activities/bathing time), health check up, dinner time for us so Whiskey goes back inside his cage, chill time outside his cage after dinner, convincing Whiskey to go back inside his cage once again, giving him his dinner (seeds, pellets, water), saying good night and afterwards is bedtime.
Bad days: wake up and wish Whiskey a good morning, ask if he slept well, how he's doing today and such, fresh food time, putting a playlist/cd on, no out of the cage time because I'm sleeping a lot on these days (enrichment activities/bathing time hands off), dance party when I'm awake, bits of attention time (chatting) here and there, dinner time for us, reading time for Whiskey after dinner, giving him his dinner (seeds, pellets, water), saying good night and afterwards is bedtime.
12. What have you learned about owning birds that you would like to share?
It's important to remember that there's always a reason for behaviour, even if we might be unaware of it. This helps me also in communication/contact with other people.
To apply thinking outside the box. If things don't work out with A, why not try out and see if way Z.83c works out?
Even though loss and saying goodbye are ultimately part of life, it is important to cherish every moment with them, enjoy your birds and make a party of every day.
Even though I miss my deceased birds very much, I am very happy that I was able to share my life with them.
13. If you knew then what you know now about birds, what would you do differently?
Lots of things probably.
I have made and still make a lot of mistakes but I always try to take them as learning opportunities.
I'm glad there's nowadays a lot more information avaible about bird care.
I wish I could have taken better care of my past birds but I try not to let me hold that back right now by doing better for my present and future birds.
14. What other hobbies do you have?
Gardening, playing pc games, reading (scientific) bird-related articles, fantasy books and listening to music.
I love being outside in nature and learning more about nature, plants and gardening and how everything is interwoven.
I also like making toys for my birds.
15. Anything else you would like to share?
Thanks for picking me as Mayor of the Avenue! I truly am honored!
I'm happy to be a part of the wonderful Avian Avenue community, to be in contact with awesome people who love birds as much as I do and to keep learning new things about birds, and keep being able to improve my care for my bird(s).
Thank you all for being awesome people!
I am happy to announce that Vittror is November'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)?
I have one peachfaced lovebird living with me at the moment: Whiskey, and I think he's 7/8ish years old.
Whiskey came living with me in 2019 when an old friend of mine sadly couldn't take care anymore of Whiskey.
2. What got you interested in birds?
The movie 'Paulie', a bird park where they flew bird-shows with birds of prey and I was one of the lucky kids who got to hold one of those birds on my arm with a falconer's glove, I think it was a Harris's hawk (Parabuteo unicinctus) and I was completely in awe.
I grew up in a house with a big garden chock full with all kinds of birds. There was a river around the house and in the season of fledgling birds I was always rescuing those young birds from the water, taking care of them for the night (getting them dry, warm and feeding them) and releasing them the next day.
When I was around 8 years old we had twice a single budgie living with us, which I spend hours and hours of my time with.
3. What have your birds brought to your life?
Companionship, unconditional love, trust, warmth, a sense of purpose, lots of laughter, lots of farts (sounds) from Ragnar, lots of featherdust and a lot of mess.
Also the realization that I wouldn't want to live without a feathered companion(s) ever again.
4. What have you learned from sharing your life with your birds?
Patience, slowing down, taking one thing at a time (still a work in progress).
My downs are deep and my ups are high, but the knowledge, that if I keep moving forward, I'll get there (wherever there is). There will be progress eventually.
The same goes for my birds with earning and keeping their trust, caring for them, sharing our lives.
The birds that live and have lived with me are all adopted/rehomed/rescue-birds with baggage so it's important to take it one day at a time and to keep working with them on their pace.
Every time it's time to say goodbye to one of my birds, they take a big part of my heart with them every time, but I'm so glad I got to spend time with them, got to know them and love them - that I was able to be a part of their lives and they of mine life. This part is hard to explain for me in words but because of my birds I've also learned to be more grateful. To appreciate the small ánd big things more.
My birds helped me grow as a person through learning about them and sharing my life with them.
5. What's one birdie memory that will stay with you forever?
No, but I really can't just choose only one memory
! So:1. Whiskey allowing me to scritch his head after being really afraid of hands. The moment he lowered his head, still a bit unsure, and 'allowed' me to scritch his head, and the trust he just had for me in that moment.. it still sends chills down my spine (in a good way).
2. Ragnar eating millet out of my hands while sitting on my hands, while still being deathly afraid of hands. But trusting me enough to dare doing that. Also his (sometimes not so) quiet fart sounds behind me when I was working on the pc.
3. Piep saying 'koppie koppie' before he asked for scritches. Loosely translated to 'scritch my head please'. Before that moment he only talked to himself when he thought I wouldn't hear him.
6. Where is your birds main living area?
In the birdroom, one of the bedrooms of our house, I'm humbly allowed to share with them (my computer is in there and I'm there most of the time).
There is a birdie play area on top of a closet in the birdroom, where Whiskey's play tree and an assortiment of other toys are.
It's important for me that Whiskey has his own autonomy to make decisions where he wants to go.
If he wants to chill out with me, awesome (and he does this mostly because he is a bit of a velcro bird) but if he wants to eat/forage/play in or around his tree, that's also good!
We also take the bird(s) with us to the living room (we're working on making a birdie hangout place there), bathroom and kitchen but only when completely supervised.
7. Did you change things in your home to accommodate your birds and if so what kinds of things did you change?
Not really because I've been living with birds for about a big part of my life now so I didn't have to make many changes.
A few years ago I've thrown some unsuitable pots and pans away.
When I had the opportunity to have a bird room for the birds I took the chance with both hands.
8. Are you involved in any kind of bird related group or activities?
Not really at the moment but me and my partner like going to parrot related fairs, where you can browse and buy toys, food related items, perches, talk with behavioral trainers, watch demonstrations and such things.
I try to keep up-to-date about different subjects related to birds, especially care for my own present and future) bird(s), food-related, illness-related, training-related, documentaries about birds in general, watching bird-videos, following workshops. Trying to keep up to date about what is going on in the bird world (in general).
I'm thinking about trying to create numbered colouring pages with as subject birds, not to earn money, but because I've got a major surgery coming up and would like to have something to do while recovering and for whatever reason I find it hard to obtain good colouring books.
If this project comes off the ground I can also share the colouring pages here if people are interested.
9. What is the one luxury item you would love to have for your bird(s)?
Celltei Pak-O-Bird backpack & Outdoor aviary
I'm also slowly (re)decorating the birds room, and would love to have multiple walls with different perches/toys/foraging opportunities.
10. Is there any bird that you dream of owning and if so why?
Not really, my favorites birds (so far) are/have been in my life already.
However it would be good for Whiskey to have a flockmate again so that's something I'm keeping an eye for out.
After Ragnar passed away last month it really made a difference of day and night in Whiskey's behaviour.
I'm not one to actively shop around for birds but if there's a bird that needs a place to live I'm always willing to think about if they'd fit in our home and our flock.
Until now I've only lived together with smaller birds like budgies and lovebirds but I also keep my heart open for bigger birds.
I always dreamed of running a parrot/bird sanctuary.
To be able to create a safety net for neglected/birds with health problems to nurse them back to health and give them a place to live a happy comfortable (rest of their) life.
With focus points on nutrition, enrichment, behaviour and being loved and cared for.
11. Describe a typical day with you at home with your birds.
Depends on if I'm having a good day/or a bad pain day because of my chronic illness.
On the good days I'm more hands on with our feathery resident(s) than on the bad days.
Good days: wake up and wish Whiskey a good morning, ask if he slept well, how he's doing today and such, fresh food time, out of the cage time few times a day (training/enrichment activities/bathing time), health check up, dinner time for us so Whiskey goes back inside his cage, chill time outside his cage after dinner, convincing Whiskey to go back inside his cage once again, giving him his dinner (seeds, pellets, water), saying good night and afterwards is bedtime.
Bad days: wake up and wish Whiskey a good morning, ask if he slept well, how he's doing today and such, fresh food time, putting a playlist/cd on, no out of the cage time because I'm sleeping a lot on these days (enrichment activities/bathing time hands off), dance party when I'm awake, bits of attention time (chatting) here and there, dinner time for us, reading time for Whiskey after dinner, giving him his dinner (seeds, pellets, water), saying good night and afterwards is bedtime.
12. What have you learned about owning birds that you would like to share?
It's important to remember that there's always a reason for behaviour, even if we might be unaware of it. This helps me also in communication/contact with other people.
To apply thinking outside the box. If things don't work out with A, why not try out and see if way Z.83c works out?
Even though loss and saying goodbye are ultimately part of life, it is important to cherish every moment with them, enjoy your birds and make a party of every day.
Even though I miss my deceased birds very much, I am very happy that I was able to share my life with them.
13. If you knew then what you know now about birds, what would you do differently?
Lots of things probably.
I have made and still make a lot of mistakes but I always try to take them as learning opportunities.
I'm glad there's nowadays a lot more information avaible about bird care.
I wish I could have taken better care of my past birds but I try not to let me hold that back right now by doing better for my present and future birds.
14. What other hobbies do you have?
Gardening, playing pc games, reading (scientific) bird-related articles, fantasy books and listening to music.
I love being outside in nature and learning more about nature, plants and gardening and how everything is interwoven.
I also like making toys for my birds.
15. Anything else you would like to share?
Thanks for picking me as Mayor of the Avenue! I truly am honored!
I'm happy to be a part of the wonderful Avian Avenue community, to be in contact with awesome people who love birds as much as I do and to keep learning new things about birds, and keep being able to improve my care for my bird(s).
Thank you all for being awesome people!
Last edited:
You just made it easier for your secret Santa 
Congratulations!
congratulations new mayor! Well deserved!!
