Me and SunnyBoy...

Well I’m writing this with my new ‘Feathered Friend’, a cute lutino Cockatiel, sitting on my shoulder. I’ve had him just over 24 hours and he is a very friendly bird. I’ve named him Sunny Boy, Sunny for Short, as he came with no name.

I don’t know much about his past life, but he must have had some loving parent at one time, because he not very shy or skittish around me. He’s not ready to get on my finger just yet, but he will fly somewhere, allow me to pick him up, and then he wants to be on my shoulder. He wanted to be on my shoulder so bad, he flew from the top of his cage to my bed, just because he couldn’t stand seeing me lying down. Ha Ha Guess if I can’t pick him up yet, I just need to ignore him and he will come flying like some bat out of ‘H E Double Hockey Sticks’ straight for me. That’s pretty good for just 24 hours.

I’ve wanted a bird for a bit, but the real bug didn’t come until a few weeks ago when I saw this traditional cockatiel in the pet store. He whistled, I whistled, and he mimicked me back—this went on for a bit and I was hooked. I feel in love, but I waited too long and I didn’t get him. So, my mission began. I wanted a bird and I need to do a little searching. I overheard one of the cashiers talk about her bird and how she got it from a rescue center. A kernel was planted and I was online that night looking for my feathery friend.

Now, I have to say it wasn’t as easy as I thought! You would think typing in the search field for ‘Michigan Bird Rescue’ there would have come up with at least 1 entry, but I was getting really off the wall links. I finally found a huge rescue center in Maryland. I email the gentlemen there and he recommended I call Mary at Aviary Rescue in Waterford, Michigan. I contacted her, went over to her house, and viewed four birds. Sunny was the fourth bird I saw that day, but he wasn’t my first choice. I really liked the little female Cinnamon Pearl, but decided to think about it more.

There was some hesitation on getting a bird, especially with an unknown history, but after a few weeks of searching breeders…my internal heartbeat was telling me I needed to rescue a bird. I’ve been trying to do some volunteering work and it just made more sense for me to adopt. Mary was great and informed me that I could foster and see how I and my feathered friend got along. Bright light went on…and that sounded like the perfect plan. I could help a bird and hopefully we would get along and I could adopt him later.

Less than 24 hours and he’s shown that he’s a little lover boy…or I’m hoping he’s a boy, since I’ve named him Sunnyboy. Of course Sunny can be for a boy or girl, but if I had waited a bit, Romeo would have been the perfect name. Either way, my first real experience with the feathered kind is great.