May 2012
Dear Birds, Dear Humans, Dear Elephants,
I have a tentative program for June, but I am still open to suggestions and I, as of this letter, have not gotten any.
One of our members and our website coordinator, Robin Stears, is moving to California. She has gotten a job at UC Davis and we all wish her the very best. They cannot get a finer, brighter or better person and she will still be taking care of our website, so that is a good thing for us.
Amy and Les Kristt, Rick Stein, Debbie Napolitano and I did a bird education program for the Sullivan County Chapter of Hadassah, at Temple Shalom in Monticello on May 2nd. Les and Amy brought all 6 of their birds: Tutu, Boscoe, Killian, Rosie, Buddy and Fiji. Debbie brought Sammy and Lucy, Rick brought Barnaby, his 35 year old cockatiel and I brought Aristophanes and Emma. All the birds were very well behaved except Aristophanes, of course, who decided that he really liked Les Kristt and he only wanted to bite me, which he finally succeeded in doing as I was putting him into his carrier to take him home. I think he likes to make me bleed.
Aristophanes is quite a character. I know that scarlet macaws are supposed to be more high strung than other macaws, but he exhibits some really strange behaviors. He is wonderful and loving when I am home alone with him or when it is just Jackie and I who are in the house. If anyone else comes in, he will bite me. You can imagine what he was like with all the people at the program being around him. The first time I remember where he did that was with Dr. Kasman. I brought him over there, many years ago. I warned Lonnie to be careful when he came into the room because Aristophanes could bite. That crazy bird was standing on my hand; he looked at Lonnie, then back at me, then at Lonnie and then back at me again and then he took a chunk of flesh out of the back of my hand. OW, did that hurt! I believe that behavior is explained as "he thinks of you as his mate and he wants to get you away from the other person"......I wish he would think of somebody else that way. I love him but he can be a very painful friend or mate or whatever he actually thinks. Far be it from me to know what actually goes on in that beautiful red head of his.
Emma was great along with all the other birds and I think we made quite an impression on the people who were there. Killian was in rare form and was an absolute delight to watch with Amy holding him. He is a very lucky boy to have been rescued and so dearly loved. We explained what it is actually like to have a parrot as a pet and to be very careful of pet shops and breeders who will basically sell to anybody, as long as the cash is in your hand. I was told, that despite all our talk of how daunting a task it is to own and care for a parrot properly, that someone there was going to call me about adopting a bird. As long as they know what they are undertaking and make an educated and informed decision, then I am very willing to talk about it.
Everyone is always invited to participate in these educational programs that we do. If you have a school, or organization that is interested in a parrot program, then all you have to do is let me know and we are happy to do it. The more birds we bring the better and there were 11 birds, all different species, at this program.
Tonight we have Gene Weinstein coming back to us, after many years, to do an exciting program about bald eagles. This was a species that almost became extinct due to the use of DDT. Now, with the banning of that chemical's use, they are back and doing well. We have a very fine population of them in Sullivan County. One of my favorite winter activities is going eagle watching. My younger grandson, Elijah, likes to do that with me. One day, he and I went to the Mongaup Pond, where there is a special blind for watching eagles, and we saw 17 of them. It is truly fascinating.
I will announce our June program as soon as I have it firmed up. Things to look forward to are our 26th anniversary dinner/meeting in July and, of course, our 21st big show at our new venue, the Liberty Firehouse. Hope you all enjoy the newsletters that I email as I get them. They are sent from other bird organizations with whom we share ideas and publications.
Be well and happy and kiss your birds and elephants (and fellow humans)
Love,
Richie
I have a tentative program for June, but I am still open to suggestions and I, as of this letter, have not gotten any.
One of our members and our website coordinator, Robin Stears, is moving to California. She has gotten a job at UC Davis and we all wish her the very best. They cannot get a finer, brighter or better person and she will still be taking care of our website, so that is a good thing for us.
Amy and Les Kristt, Rick Stein, Debbie Napolitano and I did a bird education program for the Sullivan County Chapter of Hadassah, at Temple Shalom in Monticello on May 2nd. Les and Amy brought all 6 of their birds: Tutu, Boscoe, Killian, Rosie, Buddy and Fiji. Debbie brought Sammy and Lucy, Rick brought Barnaby, his 35 year old cockatiel and I brought Aristophanes and Emma. All the birds were very well behaved except Aristophanes, of course, who decided that he really liked Les Kristt and he only wanted to bite me, which he finally succeeded in doing as I was putting him into his carrier to take him home. I think he likes to make me bleed.
Aristophanes is quite a character. I know that scarlet macaws are supposed to be more high strung than other macaws, but he exhibits some really strange behaviors. He is wonderful and loving when I am home alone with him or when it is just Jackie and I who are in the house. If anyone else comes in, he will bite me. You can imagine what he was like with all the people at the program being around him. The first time I remember where he did that was with Dr. Kasman. I brought him over there, many years ago. I warned Lonnie to be careful when he came into the room because Aristophanes could bite. That crazy bird was standing on my hand; he looked at Lonnie, then back at me, then at Lonnie and then back at me again and then he took a chunk of flesh out of the back of my hand. OW, did that hurt! I believe that behavior is explained as "he thinks of you as his mate and he wants to get you away from the other person"......I wish he would think of somebody else that way. I love him but he can be a very painful friend or mate or whatever he actually thinks. Far be it from me to know what actually goes on in that beautiful red head of his.
Emma was great along with all the other birds and I think we made quite an impression on the people who were there. Killian was in rare form and was an absolute delight to watch with Amy holding him. He is a very lucky boy to have been rescued and so dearly loved. We explained what it is actually like to have a parrot as a pet and to be very careful of pet shops and breeders who will basically sell to anybody, as long as the cash is in your hand. I was told, that despite all our talk of how daunting a task it is to own and care for a parrot properly, that someone there was going to call me about adopting a bird. As long as they know what they are undertaking and make an educated and informed decision, then I am very willing to talk about it.
Everyone is always invited to participate in these educational programs that we do. If you have a school, or organization that is interested in a parrot program, then all you have to do is let me know and we are happy to do it. The more birds we bring the better and there were 11 birds, all different species, at this program.
Tonight we have Gene Weinstein coming back to us, after many years, to do an exciting program about bald eagles. This was a species that almost became extinct due to the use of DDT. Now, with the banning of that chemical's use, they are back and doing well. We have a very fine population of them in Sullivan County. One of my favorite winter activities is going eagle watching. My younger grandson, Elijah, likes to do that with me. One day, he and I went to the Mongaup Pond, where there is a special blind for watching eagles, and we saw 17 of them. It is truly fascinating.
I will announce our June program as soon as I have it firmed up. Things to look forward to are our 26th anniversary dinner/meeting in July and, of course, our 21st big show at our new venue, the Liberty Firehouse. Hope you all enjoy the newsletters that I email as I get them. They are sent from other bird organizations with whom we share ideas and publications.
Be well and happy and kiss your birds and elephants (and fellow humans)
Love,
Richie