- Joined
- 7/25/18
- Messages
- 287
On monday morning, our sweet Lady Bird, who has been in our family for 8 years, flew away. It was our fault. She had flown onto the back of my husband's robe, but he'd forgotten she was there; he stepped outside to heat up the car, took maybe four or five steps before he felt a rush of wings against his face. And she was off. We tried to chase after her, but she flew through a neighbor's carport and disappeared. We have seen nothing of her since.
We are so painfully, desperately sad. Our four year old son, who has known her all his life, keeps asking when we'll find her. The night she flew away, the low was 18 degrees. It's been much warmer since then - in the 50s - but is it even better to think she's alive out there, terrified and slowly starving? I think I would feel less wrenched apart by this if I knew she had died quickly. But the thought of her out there lost is breaking me.
We've done everything we can think of to find her. Canvassed the neighborhood for hours each day, starting at dawn. Every wild bird that flies by makes our hearts stop. We've been playing our other Pi's recorded flock calls through our windows, leaving our doors open. We put her cage outside the door she escaped from. We printed flyers and put them through the neighborhood. We posted about her on our neighborhood Facebook group, on NextDoor, we told the local bird rescue and the lady who boards our birds, we told the vets, I reported her missing to the company that runs her microchip, and to the shelters. We even told the zoo, which is a couple miles from our house. Our other pionus, who is just two years old, spent the first day or so flock calling ceaselessly and flying through the house for her, and now is completely silent.
There has been nothing since we lost her, not a single sighting, only some filthy low life scammer who made AI photos of her and had us running around town to "meet up" the night she went missing - potentially missing out on those critical dusk hours of calling for her.
When do we give up? I don't know how long we should keep looking. I can't bring myself to vacuum her little corner of the room. I don't know when we're supposed to just move on.
This situation has been agonizing. My husband and I can't stop crying. This sweet bird has been with us since not long after we got together, through apartments and houses, on road trips, on airplanes. She was with us when we welcomed our child. I've had her since I was 24 years old. When she came to us she was timid, quiet. We taught her to fly and saw her personality emerge, calm but curious and so completely in love with my husband. We built her an aviary for our backyard so she could get sunshine and talk to the other birdies. She liked to burrow into my husband's beard and purr at him. In all the years we had her she'd never bitten us, not once. She is such a gentle little soul.
I'm pregnant and having my second baby in April. It is heartbreaking that he won't meet this bird. I thought my kids would grow up with her. She was only 16.
I'm just so incredibly sad. I wonder how long it'll feel this way. I want to be able to focus on the coming baby and be joyful when he arrives. I feel like we've failed this little member of our family. It was our job to keep her safe. This is not the end I wanted for her.
We are so painfully, desperately sad. Our four year old son, who has known her all his life, keeps asking when we'll find her. The night she flew away, the low was 18 degrees. It's been much warmer since then - in the 50s - but is it even better to think she's alive out there, terrified and slowly starving? I think I would feel less wrenched apart by this if I knew she had died quickly. But the thought of her out there lost is breaking me.
We've done everything we can think of to find her. Canvassed the neighborhood for hours each day, starting at dawn. Every wild bird that flies by makes our hearts stop. We've been playing our other Pi's recorded flock calls through our windows, leaving our doors open. We put her cage outside the door she escaped from. We printed flyers and put them through the neighborhood. We posted about her on our neighborhood Facebook group, on NextDoor, we told the local bird rescue and the lady who boards our birds, we told the vets, I reported her missing to the company that runs her microchip, and to the shelters. We even told the zoo, which is a couple miles from our house. Our other pionus, who is just two years old, spent the first day or so flock calling ceaselessly and flying through the house for her, and now is completely silent.
There has been nothing since we lost her, not a single sighting, only some filthy low life scammer who made AI photos of her and had us running around town to "meet up" the night she went missing - potentially missing out on those critical dusk hours of calling for her.
When do we give up? I don't know how long we should keep looking. I can't bring myself to vacuum her little corner of the room. I don't know when we're supposed to just move on.
This situation has been agonizing. My husband and I can't stop crying. This sweet bird has been with us since not long after we got together, through apartments and houses, on road trips, on airplanes. She was with us when we welcomed our child. I've had her since I was 24 years old. When she came to us she was timid, quiet. We taught her to fly and saw her personality emerge, calm but curious and so completely in love with my husband. We built her an aviary for our backyard so she could get sunshine and talk to the other birdies. She liked to burrow into my husband's beard and purr at him. In all the years we had her she'd never bitten us, not once. She is such a gentle little soul.
I'm pregnant and having my second baby in April. It is heartbreaking that he won't meet this bird. I thought my kids would grow up with her. She was only 16.
I'm just so incredibly sad. I wonder how long it'll feel this way. I want to be able to focus on the coming baby and be joyful when he arrives. I feel like we've failed this little member of our family. It was our job to keep her safe. This is not the end I wanted for her.
. I have had one bird of my own, and one my boyfriend had that flew off and were returned. Both were people calling us. My budgie flew down to a lady brushing her horses, and his grey was seen by kids in the neighborhood. Both times we had flyers everywhere...grocery stores, pet stores, light poles. And that was before social media so there are more places to reach out now. Each was gone a few nights, though I don't remember the exact number anymore. Don't loose hope, just keep in mind there will be jerks who contact you just to be mean
Still trying to hold out some hope. The good news is our weather has gotten very spring-like and mild, so god willing if she finds food and stays away from predators she could make it for a long period of time. We will keep her cage out on our front door for at least a couple weeks. I'm checking craigslist, the shelters and facebook a few times a day.
