Northwest Parrots Fund

Miguel & Nino are a bonded pair of macaws

that found a permanent home at Zazu's House

Parrot Sanctuary when their owner

experienced a medical emergency.

We are thrilled to announce the establishment of Northwest Parrots Fund, a nonprofit charity registered in the State of Washington, and recognized as a 501(c)3 nonprofit charity by the Internal Revenue Service.

We have been involved with parrot rescue and rehoming for several years Once we got our first parrot in 1999, people started giving us parrots because they could no longer care for them. We have fostered and rehomed just about every kind of parrot from budgie to macaw. Several that we couldn't find good new homes for we ended up adopting ourselves, so we now have a flock of seven parrots, including four macaws, two African greys, and a Goffin's cockatoo.

There is a pet parrot overpopulation problem, and the problem is just going to get worse. With estimates of twenty to forty million parrots in American homes, parrots rank behind only dogs and cats in popularity as pets Yet while dogs and cats have been domesticated for thousands of years, parrots are only two or three generations removed from the wilderness, if even that. Because of the difficulty of caring for parrots, a true flock animal, unlike dogs or cats, current research suggests that parrots experience six or seven homes just within the first ten years of their lives! Parrots are essentially wild animals! Further complicating the situation, dogs and cats live fifteen or twenty years. Parrots can live a human lifespan. Pet parrots often outlive their owners. This problem will intensify as the Baby Boomer generation slides into retirement.

We decided to formalize our rescue efforts and work toward establishing a 501(c)3 parrot rescue and sanctuary. We've taken the first step of registering Northwest Parrots Fund as a nonprofit charity with the State of Washington, and are in the process of formalizing the 501(c)3 paperwork with the Internal Revenue Service. We have a founding board of five members including Betsy Lott of Mollywood, and Donna Burleigh of S & D Exotic Bird Rescue in Oregon. Recently, Christy Hensrude of Zazu's House Parrot Sanctuary in Woodinville, Washington graciously agreed to join the board.

We have also established a website where you can find more information about Northwest Parrots Fund, and read about its mission in detail, as well as donate to the effort if you so choose:

https://sites.google.com/site/northwestparrotsfund/

Please visit our website and let us know what you think about our effort.

Nino, the Blue & Gold Macaw, and Miguel, the Scarlet Macaw

Our Greenwing Macaw and Diva Parrot Roxanne's Newest Music Video: Roxanne

Our Greenwing macaw and Diva parrot Roxanne can sing two songs, recognizably well. The first is You Are My Sunshine, Gene Autry's 1940 hit song. The second is Roxanne's namesake song, Roxanne, by The Police. We earlier produced a YouTube video of Roxanne singing You Are My Sunshine, accompanied by the late great Gene Autry. We have now managed to record Roxanne singing Roxanne, so we paired her vocals with The Police. We present: Roxanne, singing Roxanne:

For your added musical enjoyment, we also present Roxanne's original music video, You Are My Sunshine, featuring the late great Gene Autry:

A Modest Proposal Regarding Rehoming Fees for Parrots

Anyone who has checked out Craigslist lately, let alone the classified ads in your local paper, has noticed the ridiculously high sales costs masquerading as rehoming fees. Sometimes in the four digits! Or a new twist: The parrot is free, but the parrot's cage has to be purchased. Usually the justification for the high fees is that the parrot's owner wants to ensure that the parrot ends up in a responsible home, i.e., one that can afford the ridiculously high rehoming fee. More likely the parrot owner is simply trying to recoup the original cost of the parrot.

We have a suggestion for parrot owners wishing to rehome their parrots, for whatever reason, if they truly are concerned about the future welfare of their parrot. Go ahead and ask for a reasonable rehoming fee. But donate the fee to an avian veterinarian in the area where the parrot is relocated as a deposit for future veterinary assistance. If a parrot owner is truly concerned about the future welfare of their parrot, then they will want to ensure that the parrot has access to the veterinary assistance it will inevitably need. We believe this may be a simple way to help stop the cycle of frequently rehoming pet parrots, parrots that, according to studies reported by Mira Tweti in her new book Of Parrots and People, face relocating to new homes six or seven times just during the first ten years of their lives.

Training Your Parrot to Play With Cheap Toys: Paper Rolls

Our latest Training Your Parrot YouTube video features our Diva Parrot and Greenwing macaw Roxanne demonstrating a parrot playing with paper rolls, aka cash register tape. This YouTube video features outtakes from Roxanne's Parrot Soliloquy YouTube videos, so you'll hear the sound of the laundry room dryer in the background:

Just a word of caution: There are many kinds of paper rolls available. If you do use cash register tape, be sure to use Non-Thermal paper.

For viewers convenience, we are adding our earlier Training Your Parrot to Play With Cheap Toys YouTube videos following, starting with cardboard boxes:

As well as paper bags:

And our first and still most popular Training Your Parrot to Play With Cheap Toys YouTube video, featuring our Timneh African grey parrot Tillie playing with bottle caps:

Enjoy! We're always happy to hear about any suggestions for cheap parrot toys for future YouTube videos.

Proud to Be Canadian!

Especially since Team Canada whupped Team USA for the hockey Gold (once again)!

And Canada still has universal health care!

Our Greenwing Macaw and Diva Parrot Roxanne's American Idol Audition Tape

Our Greenwing macaw and Diva parrot Roxanne has developed a terrific singing voice over time. Like most, at the beginning she couldn't sing a note for the life of her, but she's developed a melodious voice. The difficulty has been recording it, because once the camera comes out she tends to clam up.

We've discovered that Roxanne tends to be particularly motivated to vocalize as well as sing when the laundry is running. So we've developed a trick of hiding the camera when we're doing laundry. Roxanne has two favorite songs: Roxanne by The Police, of course! She was named after that song. And You Are My Sunshine. We've had the good fortune of capturing snippets of both songs with our video recorder. We were particularly fortunate with You Are My Sunshine, because we caught Roxanne singing it to the dryer, which is noticably quieter than the washer. Mostly, Roxanne sings when the washing machine is running.

So, we're pleased to present Roxanne's American Idol audition tape, featuring a duet with the late great Gene Autry:

We think it's particularly fortunate to pair Roxanne with Gene Autry because we were interested to discover that it was Gene Autry who popularized the old Jimmie Davis tune in 1940! Additionally, Gene Autry is one of our all time favorite singers, and we have fond memories of watching Gene Autry, along with Roy Rogers, on the old Autry/Rogers Ranch show following school every day way back when!

Our Flock: Our Congo African Grey Parrot Arua

A fascinating aspect of having African grey parrots in the household is the ubiquitous background noise they provide. Unlike macaws or even cockatoos they always seem to be vocalizing. Anyone with an African grey parrot probably doesn't realize how much they enjoy the constant noise until they lose it. When our first Congo African grey parrot Corky died from heart failure in March of 2006 we faced the sudden quiet in the household, even with four macaws and a Goffin's cockatoo. We knew we wanted another Congo African grey.

Within a month we came across an unusual Craigslist posting for a female Congo African grey parrot which had lost its owner and needed to find a good new home quickly. The parrot was hiding in an apartment complex hoping the management wouldn't find out. We went to visit the parrot in its hideout, and it was love at first sight! The parrot came home with us.

Our Congo African grey parrot Arua, her first day home with us, April 2, 2006.

Arua is a confirmed female Congo African grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus). Arua is a very large grey. The average weight for an adult Congo African grey is 400 grams. On her first visit to our avian veterinarian, Arua weighed in at about 480 grams. On first seeing her, our vet called Arua a fatty!

When we acquired Arua, she was believed to be about ten years old. Her owner was a Polish fellow living in Spokane, who passed away on New Year's Eve of 2005. Apparently he was not found for three days. We believe his name may have been Oliver, because that is a name Arua frequently repeated when she came to us (she never says the name any more). A Polish lady in Everett, Washington, brought the bird back from Spokane, and that is how she came to us, via Craigslist. In her first year or so with us Arua said many words we did not understand but which we believe were Polish. It's been awhile since she's repeated any foreign words. The only reason we know Arua is her name is because she constantly and consistently calls herself by that name.

Just hanging out. Arua is one acrobatic parrot!

Arua is our one parrot that not only knows her name, but knows the name of every member of the flock in this household, parrot or human. She says: Hi Hope. It took her awhile to get Michael correct. For the longest time it was Ickle! She knows Rox or Roxanne, Bubba, Boo (Aboo), Tara, and Tillie. The only parrot whose name she refuses to say is that of our Goffin's cockatoo Kid Kadra. She does not like Kid, who harasses her given the chance, and she ignore's him.

Arua tolerating a bath. Arua does not like showers, but prefers to bathe in her water dish.

Arua is one of the friendliest Congo African grey parrots we've encountered. Although she has a slight disposition for females over males, she will readily step up with just about anyone. Since she joined our flock she has developed her flying skills. Our first Congo African grey parrot Corky flew like a lead brick, but not Arua. Arua's flight feathers were clipped when she first came to us, but we let her flight feathers grow out, and her flying skills have improved from her first noticeably labored attempts to now being a competent flier. No doubt she has been encouraged to improve her flying skills because of the aerial harassment she gets from our Goffin's cockatoo, Kid Kadra. Initially if Arua wanted to get anywhere in the house she'd climb off her cage and trudge across the floor. She still hikes around, but now she's just as inclined to fly to her desired destination as walk.

In addition to her usual African grey vocalizations, Arua has a well defined speaking voice. We no longer hear any Polish words, but she continually speaks and continues to pick up English words and phrases. Interestingly, she tends to pick up words and phrases from the male of the house, but virtually nothing from the female of the house. I taught her to say Michael correctly, and I'm trying to teach her to say Don't break the door! That was a phrase our first Congo African grey Corky favored. Just like Corky, Arua will slam her cage door closed, at which time we say Don't break the door! A couple of Arua's favorite phrases are: Whacka Whacka, and Whoop De Doo! When she wants something to eat, she'll say: Who wants a cracker? If she wants more food, she'll say: You want more? She'll let us know if the food is Hot! Arua is a hard taskmaster. If she thinks a meal is taking too long to prepare, she'll scold: Are you done yet? She's always warning us to: Watch your tail! Or Watch your toe! Since our Timneh African grey parrot Tillie joined our flock, she's constantly admonishing us to Watch our Tillie! She likes Tillie. Alot.Sometimes she threatens us by exclaiming: I'll get your tail! When we make coffee, she offers the helpful suggestion: Add more water. Of course, she farts and burbs, occasionally comes down with a bad cough, and has a sneeze so fierce it's a wonder she doesn't fall off her perch. She's often wrestling with her toys, hanging upside down and whacking her bells. We warn her to be careful or she'll fall down and go boom. Sometimes she does. Invariably, she'll pick herself up, climb back up, and go right back to it.