Story Bird: Myrtle
Myrtle:
A Cautionary Tale
While shopping for mealworms for my
lizard in a pet store, I became
inexplicably attracted to a baby
lutino cockatiel that caught my
attention and demanded my
affection. I had never had
the slightest interest in birds and
to this day I have no explanation
as to why this was different.
I didn't even know what kind of
bird this was. But the owner
of the pet store
removed her from the cage and I
swear our bond was instant and
mutual. I spent less than
$100 on Myrtle and four times that
on her housing, toys, and
literature. I handfed her by
syringe for a month and became
"daddy-mom." The store
owner explained that her wings were
clipped so she couldn't fly. What
he should have said was that her
flight was "limited."
I lived in Florida at the time, and
the ocean was 30 feet from my back
porch in the form of a deep canal.
Myrtle loved to perch on my
shoulder, and I walked outside to
see something. Myrtle glided
off my shoulder and landed in the
middle of the canal. The
panic on her face was visible even
100 feet away. I stripped, hit the
water, and got to her seconds
before she went completely under.
She must have known the danger
because she stayed on my hand until
I could get her to shore.
Lesson learned: Don't take
the bird outside!
As time went on, Myrtle's addiction
to me increased, and although she
tolerated my wife and dogs, I was
her entire focus. She
"had" to be on me at all
times, and I enjoyed the totality
of her love. In time, she
also regained her ability to fly
and I never reclipped her wings.
She loved to fly, and it certainly
seemed like good exercise.
I never closed the door to her
cage, and she had free run of the
house. I also cook, and was
always very careful not to allow
her in the kitchen. Once,
while entertaining neighbors, I had
cooked some wonderful cajun food,
and while eating on the back porch,
Myrtle flew to me and landed in a
bowl of hot melted butter and
cayenne pepper. She screamed
and flew into the house and began
rubbing her eyes with her little
burned feet, compounding the
disaster. This began my
association with Birdsafe.com.
After talking me through this
incident, Debbie, at Birdsafe,
helped me understand a very
important fact about Myrtle.
Birds are "not" dogs.
To not understand this could be
fatal to your birds.
In December 2000, we were planning
our move to Texas, and a realtor
was looking around our house.
I took the realtor to the garage,
and Myrtle, in her insistence to be
on me, flew behind me. I had
no idea she was there. I
opened the door to the garage, and
she flew over my head and into the
open garage, and then outside, and
out of my life. I was
devastated. Even my wife, who
wasn't too crazy about her, cried
for days and roamed the
neighborhood calling her name until
the day we left.
I am
writing this to hopefully save
someone else the heartbreak from
losing a loving companion.
"Please" use appropriate
caution when caring for your bird
and take full advantage of Deb and
Joe at Birdsafe.com. Birds
are their lives and that's what
they're there for.
Post Scriptum: The day we
left for Texas, a beautiful green
conure flew into our lives.
Literally. But that's a tale
for another day.
Jeff