Several weeks ago, my mom called me, all excited, to tell me that there was an escaped parakeet in her yard. We discussed whether she should try to catch it or not. Neither one of us believes in caging birds. But parakeets in the United States aren't born into the wild and have a difficult time adapting to the wild when they escape. Many times their wings are clipped so they cannot fly as well as wild birds. The other birds don't accept them and parakeets are very social animals and they become depressed without some type of interaction, either other birds or humans. They don't have the instincts that are born into wild birds and may not know how to escape predators.
My mom and I looked in the local papers and online for any sign that the owners were looking for the parakeet. We thought the owners would have a better chance of catching the little guy. By then he had disappeared from my mother's yard.
I live several blocks away from the mother's house and was surprised to find the little parakeet sitting in my pine tree one day. But he was very skittish and wouldn't let me get close at all. I put extra food and water out for him near the tree. He would swoop down and hover over the food and water but then would fly back to a branch without eating. Most of the time he just sat in the tree looking depressed. The other birds just ignored him.
We didn't see him again for almost a week or more. We had a very hot, humid spell during that time here in New Jersey. While I know these birds come from Australia and can withstand the heat, we didn't know if he was getting enough to eat or drink and were very concerned about him.
Then who do I see out in my bird feeder this morning but the beautiful parakeet! He was fine and no longer acting depressed. I had put wire around the feeder to keep out the squirrels who can sometimes get too greedy with the seed. The little parakeet had squeezed between the holes in the wire and was sitting inside safe and sound, eating away. I was so glad to see him! I took some photos of him through the window. When something would scare the other birds and several of them would fly off, he would look around and act cautious so I think he's picking up some survival skills. So I'm feeling much better about his chances out in the wild.
3 comments:
he is so cute! I wonder if now that he knows where to go for food and water that he will be fine. We have caught a few birds that have escaped..a couple cockatoos and one conure. The conure I remember we found the owner..and one of the cockatiels..he came right to me...was a brat though...liked to bite. I gave him to my friend who raised and bread cockatiels. She had a really nice bird avery. He loved it there and became papa to some babies even :)
We're still doing our best to find the owners. Hopefully, if we find them, they can catch him. He's so skittish. We have such cold winters here in NJ, I don't know how he can survive. But I have plenty of bird houses around my house and if he gets in one of them, he might have a chance. He's having a ball right now! It must feel wonderful to him to be free.
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