My friend Neil, who is a little weird in a good way, loves birds. (He loves trees, too.) He’ll be talking to you with an actual very large white bird, a cockatoo, perched on his shoulder, as if, “Hey, what’s so unusual about that?”
Here's Larry, a sulphur crested cockatoo at age 6. He's 10 now and expected to live to 75 or so. Neil and his wife, Debbie, have three cockatoos, Larry from a pet store, the others from Phoenix Landing.
Sort of like a pirate, Neil be, with his wooden leg and the bird perched on his shoulder, except instead of rum he drinks cheap whiskey, unlike his friend Doug Metz, the famous art collector, who only drinks the very finest scotch. After a while you don’t even notice the bird on Neil’s shoulder.
Some of Neil’s birds talk, too. You walk into the kitchen, and a bird will actually say in a nice clear female voice, “Hello.” Which is very cool and a little disconcerting.
Anyway, Neil likes birds. He rescues birds, and he’s suggesting you do the same, which of course, is not something you should do lightly, because some of these birds live forever.
So here’s what you should check out. As you can see, they’re called Phoenix Landing. They’ve got a newsletter called the “Phoenix Beakin’,” like a beacon, see?
And if you’re thinking about getting a bird for the family, they want you to think about adopting, rather than purchasing from a pet store. It’s a far better way to go. Here’s how they put it.
The Phoenix Landing Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit all-volunteer organization. It was established to promote and protect the welfare of parrots through adoption, education, and refuge. Almost every bird, from the smallest to the largest, from the most loved to the most neglected, will need a new home someday. Probably several new homes. People’s lives change, often unexpectedly. One day your bird may need a good new home too. Please consider adoption first!
These are outcast birds, heart-broken birds, birds from broken homes and dead owners, birds who’ve lost everything. According to Neil:
Some have been abused, some just ignored by previous owners, some because of a divorce or move to a smaller home by the owner and some because their owners died. Phoenix Landing goes to great lengths to educate owners before they adopt a bird because it is really a major commitment to a pet that deserves a loving home.
You know, of course, that birds are amazing
Did you know that something called a Budgerigar, which is really just a common parakeet, can learn over a thousand words? There’s one in the Guinness World Records for having a vocabulary of 1,728 words.
Did you know that pigeons can do math?
Did you know that crows can use vending machines? Did you know that crows have become “hyperadapted” to living with us? This is a must see movie.
Did you know that the average life span of a macaw is 50 to 100 plus years?
Did you know that the average life span of a cockatoo is 40 to 60 plus years?
Did you know the average lifespan of a bluebird in the wild is 6 to 10 years?
Did you know that house sparrows are the mortal enemies of the bluebird and do not belong in this country?
Did you know I didn’t see a single bluebird this year in my yard, but plenty of stinking sparrows? Did you know I was at war with the sparrows? You can read my bluebird murder mystery here.
Birds can fly. Isn’t that cool? Some people even say birds are dinosaurs, although this guy says that’s sort of baloney.
Save a bird. Make a friend for life.
Oh. You know the story of the Phoenix, right? Well, just to remind you, here’s what Wikipedia has to say.
A phoenix is a mythical bird with a colorful plumage and a tail of gold and scarlet (or purple, blue, and green according to some legends[weasel words]). It has a 500 to 1000 year life-cycle, near the end of which it builds itself a nest of twigs that then ignites; both nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes, from which a new, young phoenix or phoenix egg arises, reborn anew to live again. The new phoenix is destined to live as long as its old self. In some stories, the new phoenix embalms the ashes of its old self in an egg made of myrrh and deposits it in the Egyptian city of Heliopolis (literally “sun-city” in Greek). It is said that the bird’s cry is that of a beautiful song. The Phoenix’s ability to be reborn from its own ashes implies that it is immortal, though in some stories the new Phoenix is merely the offspring of the older one. In very few stories they are able to change into people.
{ 0 comments }






