By Frank Levine

We’ve all heard the myth. You have to get a freshly weaned baby parrot to truly achieve the "parrot-human bond." We believed this at first, which is why our first parrot was a healthy baby Goffins Cockatoo that we got from a reputable breeder. When we got Spark-E-Byrd, she was freshly weaned and still enjoyed being hand-fed some "wet and warm" food a few times a day, especially right before we put her to bed for the night. Baby parrots are so cute in their eagerness and in the somewhat clumsy way they discover their world. How could you help but to fall in love with them and want to protect them?

While it’s true that bonding with a baby is easy, or maybe even easier than with an adult parrot, I’m writing this article to try to debunk the myth that it’s difficult or even impossible to bond with an adult bird.

I’m not an "expert" on parrot care or behavioral issues, in fact when we ran into difficulties with our cockatoo we sought out qualified behavioral help through our avian vet. We joined our local bird club and we started reading Pet Bird Report, Bird Talk Magazine and many books on the subject of parrots. We also started asking many questions of the people we met at the club who owned cockatoos as well as other breeds of parrots. Needless to say, we started to learn that these were complex, intelligent and sensitive creatures that required much more care and stimulation than we originally knew when we bought Sparky. The more we learned, the more we realized we didn’t know and in fact had been misinformed about many issues relating to their needs as well as their abilities.

Costa came into my life because my wife, Rose, volunteered to be a member of the adoption committee of our bird club. She had been working with the club for about two years when we received a call from a woman who was frantically trying to find a home for her 14-year old Green Wing Macaw, Costa. There had been an "accident" about a year before and Costa had given her a bite that required about 22 stitches. For the past year Costa’s "mom" had been afraid to handle him, snuggle him or interact with him in any way requiring physical contact. Costa had a regular Macaw cage where he slept and during the day he lived on a swing in a room with his "buddy", a Yellow headed Amazon. The woman had been having feelings for a while that Costa really needed more love and attention than she was able to provide. Although for the years prior to the accident she had handled Costa regularly and described him to us as a "happy, dancing, singing, talking boy who loves to have his head rubbed and scratched. Sadly, however, she was too afraid to touch him anymore and she felt he would be better off with someone who wasn’t afraid to handle him.

We went to her house one Saturday to bring Costa to our home until we could find a suitable person to take him into their home, life, and heart. We placed an ad with a color photo in the club’s newsletter and also printed out a nice flyer to hand out at some of the other local bird clubs and we sat back and waited for the phone to ring. Green-wing Macaws are such beautiful birds with their vibrant red, blue and green coloration and I had heard that of all the Macaws they were considered by some to be the most even tempered and intelligent. I felt that we would have no problem placing him with someone who would be thrilled to be partnered with such an extraordinary bird.

While we were waiting for that call, I felt that it would be really great to get to know Costa. We only had the cockatoo and she is fairly small (as cockatoos go, I believe the Goffins is one of the smallest.) so I’ll admit I was just a tad apprehensive about the size of Costa’s beak. That thing just looked HUGE to me, as did Costa himself. I was also a bit worried that since he had already severely bitten his mom, who he knew for 14 years, he just might take a hunk out of me. Still, I was intrigued, because while sharing my living space with him I started to observe his intellect, his sense of humor, his love of vocalizing and also his need to be handled. His body language told me many things that he needed, but my inner mind told me I was going to be bitten. Costa was "stick trained" so taking him in and out of his cage was not a problem, but I could tell he really wanted to be handled. My first clue came when I tried to pick him up one day with the stick and he shook his head from side to side and said "NO." I showed him my arm and asked him, "do you want to step up?" and to my surprise he shook his head "yes" very vigorously. I figured, oh well, how bad can it really hurt if he bites me? Well, I knew it could really hurt, but I just HAD to pick him up and see if that was what he wanted. Sure enough, he stepped right up on my arm and gave me a big smoochy sounding kiss. That was our first "close encounter" and the beginning of our relationship.

One thing we’ve noticed by having several parrots in our (foster) care is that parrots seem to grieve for a while after they finish going through their "I’m a perfectly well behaved, quiet and non-messy parrot" phase. For the first few weeks after coming into our care, all the birds we’ve helped have just been perfect examples of "good house guests’. Right after that phase they seem to go through a period of sadness that is similar to mourning. Costa was no exception to this observation and although I’m not a behavioral expert, I do trust my intuition and observations. Costa was sad! We wanted to ensure that his health was OK, so even though we had copies of his vet records, we decided to take him to our vet for a checkup. Everything came back showing him to be the healthy parrot we believed him to be. The prognosis; he misses his "mom" and in time, he should be fine given some time to adjust and lots of love. All we needed now was for that phone to ring and the perfect partner for Costa to be on the other line.

I’m a musician in my spare time. I play the guitar and often listen to blues songs on the stereo and play along to try to learn from those who have created and defined the genre. One day while listening to some blues on my stereo, I heard a really funny thing…Costa was singing the blues along with the CD. Now, you’re thinking, how does he know he was singing the blues and not just trying to get me to turn the music off? Remember what I said his mom told me, he is a singing, dancing boy. In his room at his old home she had the radio playing all day for Costa and apparently he would dance and sing along with the music. Now I know that doesn’t really prove anything, but when he started singing along with this CD there was a sadness on his face and a tone in his voice that said to me, this little guy has got the blues. It was at that moment that I totally fell head over heels in love with Costa. We shared a love for music. I found that he enjoyed singing along when I played my guitar and any time I played music with a good "beat" Costa would dance, shake his head like Stevie Wonder, click his beak in time with the music and sing along. Through our love of music, Costa and I grew closer and closer. He began to come to me more frequently and "ask" me to rub his head by rubbing it with his foot and grabbing my hand and placing it on his head. It took me a few months (while STILL waiting for that phone to ring) but before I knew it I was handling him as if I’d had him ever since he was a baby. He soon started calling me "mother" and every time I left the room he’d call me and ask, "Where are you?" What are you doing in there?" Some times he’d even lose his patience waiting for me and he’d shout out, "mother, get back in here!"

It has now been almost a year and a half since Costa came to "visit." The phone has never rung and I’m glad it hasn’t. The members of our bird club decided that since we were so good together, Costa should stay with me forever. The night the announcement was made I was so happy there were tears in my eyes, as we had a rule that members of the adoption committee were disqualified from adopting parrots in the program. (That rule has since been dropped.)

Costa is my best friend. I take him with me wherever I go (as long as it is safe). We even have our "special song." I rewrote the Beach Boys classic song "Little Surfer Girl" as Little Costa Bird and I sing it to him every night before I put him to bed. He usually sings along and his favorite part is when I sing, "little Costa bird MY little Costa bird" with great emphasis on the MY.

If I had believed in the past that you couldn’t bond with an "older" parrot, I no longer feel that way. These days I find myself becoming more and more active in bird clubs and other parrot organizations, trying to teach people that because there are so many homeless parrots they should at least consider taking in an "older" parrot. I still feel that people will want the joyous experience of raising a baby parrot and I have no problem with that. Raise a baby and love it for all you are worth, but when you are looking through those bird books and magazines thinking, "How much harder could one more parrot be?" I urge you to consider sharing your heart and home with a parrot that has for one reason or another lost his/her home. I know you’ll never regret it and you may even want to write and thank me for starting you thinking about the idea.
 

Costa