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Umbra

Checking out the neighborhood
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Good day, I came to introduce myself as I am new here. My flock is a tad unconventional. I own two House Sparrows that are rescues. Keelo is my baby and was rescued as a fledgling after he ran into the window of our car and somehow 'reset' himself. As he was nursed back to health over the next year he re-imprinted on me and believes me to be his mother, he's now 5 yrs old and an absolute sweety, he is very tame. Pippin is a little different, he too was rescued as a fledgling when we discovered he was slowly dying of starvation under the leaves of a winter squash plant in the garden, he didn't know how to fly well and had a broken foot which healed crooked keeping him from getting to food quickly or even getting off the ground. As he wouldn't survive on his own we took him in, we have a 'handicap friendly' cage for him with lots more perches then most would expect but with these small jumps he can get around on his deformed foot enough to function semi-decently. He has been with us about 2 yrs now and seems quite happy as he sings his little heart out every day however he is not as tame as Keelo and doesn't like to be handled much. The last and most recent addition to my strange flock is Ollie, a Pineapple Green Cheek Conure. Ollie is the reason I have joined these forums as I am at my wits end on what to do about him. I will however, post this problem in the behavior section where it belongs as it is quite the conundrum. My only hope is to find an answer here as everything else I have tried has ended in failure.
 

Sarahmoluccan

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:hello: Welcome to the forum. That is an unusual flock you have :) How nice of you to rescue the two wild ones. I'd love to see pictures if you have any you can upload :)
 

Lady Jane

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Welcome to AA. What species are these birds? We would love to see photos.
 

WallyLoopey

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Welcome and good luck with Ollie :)
 

WendyN

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Welcome!
 

Pipsqueak

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Welcome! Can't wait to see pictures and hear about Ollie
 

Teagan

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I never knew you could get wold birds to imprint. Do your birds like to interact with each other?
 

zoo mom

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Welcome.
 

sunnysmom

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:welcome:
 

Tyrion

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:hi::shakehands:
 

Tiel Feathers

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:welcomesign: Can't wait to hear more about your birds, I love that you were able to help the sparrows!
 

Cynthia & Percy

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expressmailtome

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Welcome, and enjoy the site!
 

EllaMay

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Welcome aboard! Lovely you rescued the babes, and have adjusted so well. :)
 

Umbra

Checking out the neighborhood
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Hello Everyone, thank you so much for your kind words of greeting. I apologize that it has taken me so long to reply to you all but when I went to find pictures for you I realized I had no recent photos of Keelo and Ollie and absolutely zero of Pippin (he is not very photogenic) so I went on a quest for new pictures and I think I finally have some winners, I have ONE photo of Pippin that actually turned out without blur, he made it quite the challenge but I was finally able to snap a good picture when we removed him from his cage for a bath. Allow me to introduce them :) We'll start with Keelo.
P10100742.JPG P1010075.JPG
Keelo is my 5 year old baby who was reset. He's not afraid of cameras and by now he's a little bit of a ham. This next image however will be Pippin, as I said we had to catch him right before his bath and so this is really the best we could get, he's quite evasive.
P1010073.JPG
Finally the last two images are of Ollie, he's also something of a ham, getting pictures of him was no problem at all.
P1010047.JPG P1010078.JPG
Well that's my flock, unconventional but very special to me :) I also want to make sure that I answer some of your questions too. Lady Jane you asked what species these birds are. Keelo and Pippin are both House Sparrows. The house sparrow (Passer domesticus) is an invasive species bird that was introduced accidentally to America and is primarily native to Europe but is also in Asia and the Mediterranean. They are Urban birds and can be found around most cities, parks, parking lots and homes. Unfortunately they are considered to be a pest bird by some and are killed in large numbers by many people who hate them and who accuse them of chasing off other species of birds from their yards :(. We have fed birds outside for many years including several dozen house sparrows and I have never once witnessed a sparrow chasing off other birds in fact they are usually the victims being picked on by larger species such as the Grackles and Starlings who are the true bullies of the back yard. Ollie is a Pineapple Green Cheek Conure. Teagan I want to address not only your question but your comment as well. Normally wild birds don't reimprint on a person or another animal, it was a very rare thing that happened to Keelo because he hit the car window so hard and I believe suffered brain damage. It was astonishing that he made such a good recovery but it did take a lot of time for his brain to rewire itself to work properly again and it just so happened that something good came out of it and he re-imprinted on me, now we are very close and I'm thankful that my little baby is alright :) as to your question you asked if they liked to interact with each other. Sparrows, while they are flocking birds, will defend a small territory that they consider their 'nest zone' because Keelo goes into 'mating mode' in the summer his cage is that zone and he has a tendency to be very attached to it. He and Pippin like to interact with each other but from their own cages only, we don't risk putting them together because Pippin is more feral than Keelo and also handicapped and its likely that Keelo would become territorial just because of instinct. Unfortunately both Keelo and Pippin are terrified of Ollie. Wild birds identify predators by their profile a lot and Ollie's hooked beak and large size screams predator to the Sparrows. So while Ollie would very much like to interact with them and often tries to fly over there we have to keep him off of their cages so they don't get traumatized and there is also the fear that Keelo will be protective of his cage and jump at Ollie at some point which could cause Ollie to react by biting. Having been bitten before I know that Ollie could easily snap one of the Sparrow's legs off and that is a risk I'm not willing to take with any of my birds. Thanks again everyone for your welcome and your support I hope I answered any questions to your satisfaction and I'll be posting Ollie's problem in the behavior section today so if any of you want to read that post and think you can help I'll be very grateful to anyone who has any advice because I just don't know what to do anymore. :) Have a wonderful day everyone!
 
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