Meet my fascinating new cousin, Wayne! We live 3,000 miles apart. Ancestry DNA introduced us! Our animal loving gene runs deep as he has also dedicated his life to animal welfare.
Wayne and his wife, Kate’s, lives changed when they bought two Zebra finches “just for pets” who “present-ed” them with eggs. The couple ‘researched’ a $7 book on how to raise their feathered babies and a few months later they had 35 Zebras! Birds that is.
They had dived headfirst into the world of feather crazy. They bought a Green-cheeked Conure parrot, then another and another then switched to cockatoos. They had a big home and filled the basement with 30 species of birds, 100 parrots. It was a noisy house with baby birds that needed around the clock feeding every two hours. One African Grey they acquired had its previous owner’s English accent. But in a few weeks, the bird sounded exactly like Wayne, frustrating Kate who never knew who
was talking.
“After a few years, I was president of our local parrot club and VP of the Parrot Association of Canada,” said Wayne.
Birds kept the couple on their toes. “We had to change their cage locks because they learned to let themselves out. One day, we found four pairs of Goffin cockatoos who had escaped, then flown into each other's cages. They changed mates to the ones they preferred and started laying eggs. Never underestimate the intelligence of parrots, it often outweighs humans. One African Grey had an incredible vocabulary and used words correctly in conversation. He was amazing, he understood
language and shared his thoughts and humor.
One bird took after our cat, Sasha. The cat flew past one of our dogs and batted it for good measure, not understanding where the attack came from, or maybe he was tagging the dog to help him out like a running race.
“Then one day, Niagara Falls Bird Kingdom Zoo’s curator phoned asking me to be their Senior Keeper. I soon advanced to their Curator. It is Canada’s largest Avery and the largest free flying indoor aviary in the world. It has a half million cubic feet with 400 birds. They would go wild with El Nino or when the barometric pressure rose indicating the rainy season.
I named EVERYTHING ‘Fluffy’ for fun. We had a very tame bearded dragon that sat on my shoulder. Her name? Fluffy, of course. The bird eating spider that was the size of a dinner plate - yup - Fluffy!
While banding birds of prey like eagles and falcons, we had to be careful as they would drive their talons through our arms. And a fun fact! Did you know that when you hear an eagle’s cry on TV or a movie, it is not an eagle as the directors deem a Red-Tailed hawk’s screech more majestic? An eagle sounds like a crow/seagull combination.”
When the adventuresome couple retired, it took them six months to rehome their birds. Now they opt for a quieter hobby collecting silent fossils which they donate to museums. They did adopt a royal standard poodle, an Afghan, and a Siamese cat. These pets sleep a lot, not like the birds. Also, there is not much room on their bed at night, but the house is much quieter without 100 squawking birds!
