Feral Lovebirds of Arizona

On June 18th, 1999, three palm tree's were cut down and removed from a private residence in Mesa, Arizona.  These trees were the nesting site of a colony of feral lovebirds.  Falling to the ground were nests full of babies and unhatched eggs, as their helpless parents watched in fear.  Thankfully a few kind souls recovered as many living babies as they could and made sure that they received the care that they needed.

Approximately 30 babies have been rescued, a few of them have life threatening injuries and are not expected to make it.  The remainder of the babies are reported to be doing well and are adjusting to hand feeding quite well.  They range in age from about 3 days to 6 weeks.

I was alerted to the situation by many of my internet friends and have agreed to take in as many babies as necessary since their rescuer works a full time job and can only bring a few to work with her.

I thought that many of you who's hearts and prayers have gone out to these little orphans would like to watch as they grow up and become sweet little lovebirds.

After weaning these orphaned babies will be needing good homes.  This could prove to be quite a challenge since there are so many of them.  For more information on adoption, please contact me at psitacus@home.com

Stay tuned for their internet debut on June 19th or 20th.

I just brought home 24 baby lovebirds.  Many of them have bruising, one has a huge swelling on the back of his head.  I was able to use a syringe with a needle to relieve some of the pressure and swelling.  One has what looks like a broken neck but it seems to be doing ok.  One has bruising and swelling surrounding an eye but I think time will heal him.

I've not seen any wild lovebirds here but I knew that they did exist.  This must be quite a large group to have had so many babies and eggs (nearly 90).  I'm sure that there were at least another 30 or more babies that didn't get
rescued.

Hopefully most of them can be saved, over all they look pretty good.

06/19/99 11:27 PM  I have 11 babies in Intensive care, 5 babies in guarded condition and the remainder doing well.  I've split them all up into pairs or threes so that I can easily keep track of each birds progress.

Intensive care:  unit #1-10 grams, lacking neck control, slow crop
                                      10 grams, slow crop
                         unit #2-10 grams, slow crop
                                     10 grams, slow crop
                         unit #3-16 grams, impacted crop, unusual looking spot on head above the right eye
                                     16 grams, impacted crop
                                     14 grams, slow crop
                        unit #4-20 grams, impacted crop
                                    24 grams, impacted crop
                       unit #5-32 grams, head injury causing sever swelling on the back of the head, slightly slow crop
                                   26 grams, bruised eye

Guarded condition:  unit #1-36 grams, slow crop
                                              46 grams, slow crop
                                  unit #2-24 grams
                                              38 grams
                                              46 grams

The remaining birds are doing good.


06/20/99  The majority of the babies are doing good today, there are still bruises popping up on their bodies and some have sore areas.  But this is to be expected, they are lucky to be alive.  The Oasis Sanctuary was kind enough to help me out with some hard to find supplies.  If anyone is looking to donate money to a good cause, I would recommend looking into the Oasis more.
 

And here's a trio of healthy chicks!
06/22/99  Sunday night Dr. Todd Driggers took time out of his weekend to see some of the injured babies.  Our biggest concern is for the little guy with the neck problem.  Dr. Driggers says that there's swelling on a nerve that's causing him to hold his head funny.  Hopefully there's no long term damage but today he's no better, even with having steroids on Sunday.

The other birds are slowly recovering and some of the bruising is beginning to heal.  All of the slow and impacted crops are cleared up.  Some of the birds were dehydrated but most have completely recovered.

I've managed through without needing cash donations, I really think I have it all under control now, which of course makes me feel SO GOOD!

I've had LOTS of help that came in many ways.

A special thanks to Darlene who was my medical assistant, ambulance driver and who came over to help clean and feed babies.  Amanda and her friend (geez I feel bad when I forget a name but I didn't forget your face :o) who arranged for supplies to be delivered when I couldn't be away from home.  Amanda also was so very eager to do ANYTHING needed, it's great to see someone else as passionate as me!  Sybil at the Oasis and Dr. Driggers, my wonderful vet.  The countless others who emailed offering support, emotional and financial.  And most of all to Margaret, her room mate and mother who saved these babies, without them they would all have faces a pretty bleak future.

And Cheryl, Mona and the rest of you that just HAD to tell me about this mess, I owe you!  In appreciation for your caring, I'll be sending you each a small group of lovebirds to care for!  ha ha ha ha ha ha  :o)