I told the woman at the rescue that we would love to adopt one of the two birds we were still considering on a Tuesday. I made arrangements with her to come to the rescue that coming Sunday, August 26th, 2012 to bring him home. We discussed what type of cage and travel cage we would need, as well as food and toys that our bird liked. OUR bird. I already thought of him that way.
I called my husband as soon as I hung up with the rescue. I had a crack in my voice as I told him everything that had been said and that we had the rescue’s blessing to adopt this young male conure. The woman from the rescue had reiterated to me that this bird had never responded to anyone but my husband and me. This and the interactions with him during our visit had made our decision for us. Also, when we found out he had been there for two years as compared to the newer arrivals, my husband especially found this to be the scale tipper.
That Saturday, we headed to Burlington, NJ to a bird store we had heard about, Bird Paradise. Its website boasts it is “The World’s Largest Exotic Bird Super Store”, and they ain’t lying. We were picking our feathered friend up the next day, so we were under the gun to get everything we needed. I took a list of the things the rescue had recommended, yet even with that in hand, and pictures of our bird’s current cage and toys, I still had to call and text the rescue several times. Although we had to move quickly, I wanted to do everything possible to make the move as stress-free for this little guy, who had been through so much. His leg band showed he was hatched in Florida, had somehow ended up at the rescue in New York, which eventually moved to New Jersey. And now, his last move, to Pennsylvania.
We were at the bird store for several hours and left with food and toys and a huge cage that would need to be put together that night. Its box barely fit in my small SUV. We made one more stop at a local pet store to pick up a small travel cage. We spent the night putting together the cage and pimping it out with toys and perches. When we were done, the size of this cage, coupled with all the things for our bird to play with, warranted a name that has replaced the word “cage”. It was christened that evening as the “mansion”.
Everything was ready. We had provided our application to the rescue on our first visit. It included references and our history as bird people and other information about our lives. Normally, the rescue does home visits before approving an adoption, but given our distance from the rescue and our experience with our first bird, Cato, the rescue asked us to please bring some pictures of our home along when we came to pick up our boy.
This was a huge commitment. We knew it and we were ready. Only 25 days had passed since I found our bird online, but that last night without him seemed infinitely long.
To be continued . . .
Previous chapters of ‘A Love Story’:
Part I, Part II, Part III, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7
