Be Kind To Pets, Vet case studies, Photography tips, Travel Stories: 4077. Kindle Stories. Bamboo laundry poles to resuce an escapee blue-fronted Amazon parrot

PARROT INVOLVED

Blue-fronted Amazon parrots are among the best-talking birds kept as pets. They have brilliant colorings, and each bird has distinct feather patterns to go along with its extroverted personality. Known as comedians and feathered show-offs, they are an entertaining bird.

These parrots are capable of mimicking human speech and are noisy birds. When they were first discovered, they were called “Kriken”, which is French for "screechers."

Like most parrots, these birds are monogamous and bond with one partner for life.

Range

These birds can be found in Southwestern Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, and northern Argentina up to an elevation of 1,600 m (5,250 ft.).

Habitat

These parrots are normally found in subtropical and tropical dry forest, moist lowlands, arid savannas and dry shrublands.

Population

The global population size has not been quantified, but this species is described as 'fairly common”. There is some evidence of a population decline.

Status

IUCN: Least Concern
CITES: Appendix II
USFWS: Not listed

Ecology and Conservation

These birds are messy eaters and play an important role in forest regeneration.

Their extremely strong beaks are perfectly adapted for extracting hard nuts and seeds.

In some areas, these birds are considered pests because their eating habits are destructive to crops.

The species was heavily traded until 1981 when it was listed as CITES Appendix II. They are also suffering from habitat destruction.

The U.S. Wild Bird Act forbids the commercial import of any bird listed by CITES which includes most parrots, which are endangered or threatened.

Scientific Classification

Common Name: blue-fronted Amazon
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Psittaciformes
Family: Psittacidae (true parrots)
Genus Species: Amazona aestiva

VIDEO of the parrot safely at home

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITsPqPc76kg&t=35s

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VIDEO OF THE PARROT SAFELY BACK HOME IN 2018.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITsPqPc76kg&t=35s

MORE INFO AT:

https://2010vets.blogspot.com/2015/11/2350-unbelievable-story-how-to-get-blue.html

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BAMBOO POLE IMAGES

First cut bamboo is 3 times stronger than wood and very high quality
Straight, flexible bamboo shafts have growth rings (nodes) the length of the cane, and naturally vary in spacing
An inexpensive way to stake plants
Bamboo is a natural product and can tapers from base to tip
Pack of 10 stakes, measuring approximately 3/8 inch x 4 feet long

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STORY

WAS PUBLISHED ON:

https://2010vets.blogspot.com/2015/11/2350-unbelievable-story-how-to-get-blue.html

2350. Unbelievable story. Did prayers get the blue-fronted Amazon home?

Monday, Nov 2, 2015 Story by Dr Sing Kong Yuen, BVMS (Glasgow)

A BLUE-FRONTED AMAZON ESCAPED FROM THE HDB FLAT
Did prayers get the Blue-fronted Amazon home?

Part 1/2

"I don't know whether you will consider me loony," the camera salesman said to me. "After I prayed to Buddha, a big black bee appeared and landed on the crown of my blue-fronted Amazon perched in a tree opposite my 5th floor apartment. The buzzing bee gave my bird such a fright that he flapped his wings and landed onto the ground!"

I was at the camera shop to buy batteries for my Canon camera before going on a trip to Europe this Thursday.

Andrew showed me his wife's iPhone 6's image of the bird perched on the tree last Thursday, Oct 29, 2015. This was the evidence. Now, the unbelievable story of keeping one's faith.

"I have encountered more unbelievable spiritual stories than yours and so do not consider you mentally ill," I said. "Such stories have no scientific basis but are based on faith. How did the blue-fronted Amazon escape from your apartment?"

"For the past 10 years," Andrew recounted, "I have been bathing him every morning in the corridor, outside my apartment. It is a corner unit and so I have this space to spray water to bathe him as he perched on the horizontal part of the staircase railing.

"Is he male or female?" I was shown the image of the bird at home. The blue feathers on the forehead above his beak define the blue-fronted amazon. It is also known as a blue-fronted parrot or turquoise-fronted amazon.

"It is not possible to differentiate the gender of the blue-fronted amazon from his plumage colours or size," Andrew said. 'You need to do DNA analysis."

"Why would he be flying off as his wings are clipped short?" I asked. Andrew had clipped his wings 10 years ago, but the feathers had grown back to normal. Birds cannot fly if their wings have been clipped but this must be done regularly.

"Bathing him was a routine and he had never attempted to fly away in the past 10 years, "Andrew replied. "Except on that day. Some noise had panicked him. He flapped his wings, shot out from the corridor and glided from my 5th floor across to the tree opposite."

Never take routines for granted. Be on the ball.

"Why didn't you tether his toes with a string while you spray water to bathe him?" I asked.

"Birds don't like that. My African Grey parrot was very unhappy with that and so I did not do that with this bird."

"What did you do to get him back?" I asked.

"I rushed downstairs and brought my bird cage with food downstairs and called his name. He would not come down! I had to go to work and at night, I got my cage down again.

As the Malay family was having a wedding dinner on the void deck, a catering truck came. The engine noise frightened the bird further up the tree.

The driver asked me whether I would like to climb to the roof of his truck to get the bird down. But the bird was on a much higher level! On the 5th floor level! So his suggestion was of no use. "

"Did you contact the pest-control man?" I asked. These are private contractors engaged to clear bees, stray cats, rats, termites, bed bugs, ticks in houses and any other pests.

"My second son furiously researched the internet and a bird catcher quoted $1,000 to rescue the bird," he replied. "But with no guarantee. I still have to pay him $1,000. My elder son told me not to be hopeful of regaining my pet!"

Wow, these two young adult sons are very helpful and concerned about their father's misfortunes.

"How far away was this parrot from your apartment?" Andrew had said that his living room faces the tree where the bird was perched.

He estimated about 50 feet away as he could see the black bee landing on the bird's crown clearly. An adult blue-fronted amazon is around 38 cm or 15 inches long. I have doubts about his estimation of such a short distance. But I was not the man on the spot.

So, Andrew went to work from 2 pm to 11 pm and his wife sent him the iPhone image of the parrot still perched on the tree. Stationary. Frightened. Breathing the poisonous particles of the haze from Indonesia in November 2015.

"I cabled 5 long bamboo poles lengthwise and pointed them towards the bird," he hoped the parrot would simply perch on the pole and return home to "Daddy".

"That is a good idea," I replied. "But are you sure you can reach the bird so that he can perch onto it and come home?",

Bamboo poles are used by people to hang out clothes to dry, saving on the waste of money and resources in buying in a dryer. A bamboo pole is around 7 feet long and 5 of them still could not reach the bird.

"The problem was that the 5th furthest pole started to sag downwards, being pulled by gravity!"

So, there was no solution. The bird was still in the tree overnight. There was haze. A drizzle on Friday morning. The bird must be wet and shivering.

Part 2/2

"Luckily, there was no hawk or eagle to pounce on him." I said.
"If he had flown to the ground while I was not around, a stray cat may kill him too."

Life is full of dangers for a strayed pet bird. No wonder he stayed still in the tree.

On Friday morning, Andrew bathed and prayed to his 3 Buddhas for help. One was a bronze, the other was gilded gold and the third one was translucent.

"The sunshine briefly shone through the hazy grey clouds," Andrew looked out of his window after the prayer. "I saw a big black bee flying towards the parrot and landed on top of his head. My bird gave a shriek and flapped his wings landing on the ground. I sprinted downstairs and got him to safety before the stray cats kill him!"

I remembered this episode well as I was outdoors at the clinic on this Friday morning. So many days of poor visibility of the sun and buildings from the haze caused by the forest fires in Indonesia.

So I could appreciate the sight of bright sunshine as most of the time, the morning sun was not visible or bright reddish orange.

"This happened only 3 days ago. Do you consider me loony?"

"No," I said. "I have encountered personally more divine-related stories from one of my clients.

"What happened? What happened?" Andrew asked. Business was quiet nowadays for most retail shops with no customers on this Friday afternoon. Smart phones with cameras have had killed the compact camera business, Andrew said. So, the sales people in many retail shops are fiddling their thumbs, surfing the net or texting during office hours.

"One client's mother had lung cancer. The doctor certified that the disease was incurable. The mother got her insurance money. The mother prayed with faith. The family members were active in the church. One member adopted a stray dog and that was how I met them and got their story. The family prayed for her recovery. "She did not have lung cancer," the daughter-in-law said to me. "The doctor consider this a miracle healing. I still have the doctor's letter of no chance of cure to the insurance company!"

I narrated my unbelievable story to Andrew to let him know that some events are just unscientific and unbelievable.

P.S
In Singapore, the government builds HDB (Housing and Development Board) apartments cookie-cutter style. There will be a car park between apartment blocks. Trees will be planted. Bamboo poles are used as laundry pole to dry clothes instead of dryer machines. In the lower floors, the branches of mature trees can grow quite close to the apartments as shown in the images at: