Sister Rain’s Note:
In July 2015 I began a series of posts about Piper, my now 17-year-old orange-fronted conure (a type of parrot) who adopted Mister Rain and me when he was 6. I don’t intend to republish previous content on this site but I think the story of Piper and me is worth retelling to all who are new to Sister Rain. During the next several Fridays I will repost the Love Story chapters I had written almost nine years ago. Rest assured, there is a lot more where these came from. There always is when you’re talking about the great loves of your life.
To read Piper & Me: A Love Story (Part 1-3), click here.
To read Piper & Me: A Love Story (Part 4-5), click here.
PART 6
Originally Published August 17, 2015
When I spoke to the woman who owns A Helping Wing Parrot Rescue & Sanctuary about Piper on August 2nd, 2012, I explained our bird parront history and how we had come to the decision to adopt five years after the passing of our cockatiel, Cato. We chatted a bit longer, then she indicated there were two other conures at the rescue we might be interested in, instead of Piper. As is often the philosophy in animal adoption, the thought is the best bird would choose us, so meeting and interacting with a few would lead us to the right decision, “us” including the bird.
I made an appointment to visit the rescue on August 11th, the rescue owner asking me to print, fill out and bring the application that was on their website. When the day came, I drove (I was fully sighted then). It took us almost two hours, the ride filled with nerves and excitement. Now that we were on our way to the rescue, we wanted it to all go smoothly. More than anything, although we had options, I hoped Piper would be the one.
As we made our way up the long driveway, even with the car windows up and radio on, we could hear birds squawking, talking and whistling. We met the owner, the property is also her home. She went to get Piper from a building across the lawn as we waited near her house door. She returned quickly, holding a towel to her chest. As soon as we got inside, she removed the towel and there was Piper.
We went into her large living room, lined with cages full of birds of many different sizes, species and noise levels. My instinct to save them all kicked in but I forced myself to focus on the orange-fronted conure who had brought us here. He had been put on a bird play stand as he readjusted his feathers after being scooped up in the towel. I spoke to him quietly while he preened, having no interest in me. Or so I thought. I shot the photo at the top of this post from a distance that day, trying to play it cool. The image quality isn’t great partly due to twelve-year-old technology, but I’m also pretty sure my hands were shaking.
We also met two other birds, a red-throated conure named Tewie, who just wanted his neck rubbed, and Gomez, a blue-crowned conure, who was quite chatty. Piper was indifferent, although he too knew the “step up” command and would come to us easily. He liked to use my hair to climb up onto the top of my head, perhaps to show us that he was in charge, above us all.
We were there all afternoon, spending time with the three birds and others, a bit overwhelmed by the number of birds needing homes as well as the tremendous work this rescue was doing. We made an appointment to come back the next weekend, then we were asked to narrow our bird pool from three to two by then. Piper was placed back in the towel to be returned to his cage in the other building, we then all walked out of the house together. I said goodbye to him as we got in the car. We left with some sore fingers from being nipped, but mostly with spinning heads, thinking of Piper, Tewie and Gomez.
To be continued . . .
#sisterrain #birdmom #adoptdontshop #parrotsofinstagram #conure #ahelpingwingparrotrescue #piperandmealovestory
