A bird in the hand is worth 4 in the basement

I have been fascinated with birds for as long as I can remember. Watching them soar through the sky, or gliding with and updraft, I have found myself always at peace observing these feathery creatures. I can distinctly remember being the age of 7 setting up a make shift trap with a box, a stick and a very long string, and a few bread crumbs, trying to catch birds to have as a pet. Long summer days were passed while I was attempting to catch then claim a bird for my own. I came close once, but my reaction time was just too slow, and the seagull was quicker than I was. The bird managed to get the bread, and I was left alone holding the string.

I got lucky one day, I was strolling along kicking a rock, and low and behold I found myself a baby robin that fell out of it's nest. I gently scooped it up, ran home as fast as my little legs would take me, all away across the park to my home. I pounded on the door, giving my mom a scare to show her my new found friend. She noticed the bird in my hand, but I still got a scolding for scaring the crap out of her. After much begging and pleading, I had to bring the robin back to where I found it, in hopes that momma bird would take care of it.

It wasn't until years later that I was able to own my very own bird. It was a double yellow headed amazon. I drove literally 400 km one way to pick up Baloo, then promptly turned around and drove back home. He was a handful, he loved to screech in the early morning, and as the sun was setting. He loved music to some extent, it was how he appreciated the saxophone. He screeched right along with it. It was one of the best experiences I ever had, watching and learning from him. Sadly, my marriage was coming to an end (not the bird's fault I assure you) so I ended up losing my best feathered friend in the divorce. He was birdnapped!!!

Time passed, 10 whole short years, do you sense the sarcasm? I stumbled upon this little green cheeked conure. So cute, so adorable, and soooooo much more quiet than an amazon. I couldn't resist her. She had so much personality wrapped in such a small package. It took a lot of convincing and a lot of stops at the various pet stores to convince my fiance that the family needed one. The kids loved the idea, so in a matter of no time, I found a breeder that was within a half hour from where we are living. They had a small clutch of 6 green cheeks, and they would be ready to go, fully weaned, I would just have to wait 3 more weeks. We were in the process of moving, and wanted to make sure that "Summer" would arrive to a completely calm and setup home. From day one Summer loved it, the kids loved it, and we were hooked.

Fast forward, another year has passed, our "Summer" has turned one. I sent a quick email to the breeder letting them know that our feathered family member was thriving. She wrote back demanding pictures of her long lost daughter. I quickly snapped a few pics and sent them on the way. Long story short, after a few exchanges of emails, we were on the way to expanding our flock by 2 more. A proven breeding pair of green cheek conures were on the way. But at the same time, I was following other breeding pairs, and stumbled upon another proven pair of yellow sided green cheeks. They were owned by an elderly couple that were getting too old to tend to their flock. I met them, and before long, the birds were mine.

Now we have 5 green cheek conures in our house. Summer, our hand fed baby, and 2 breeding pairs. Now we sit, wait, clean cages, feed them, and wait ...and wait......and wait in hopes that we will find a clutch of eggs, just waiting to be hatched and hand fed.