The habitat has been full of adventure lately, keeping me very busy, but my latest experience  lead me through such a wonderful journey that I wanted to  share it with you alll. One of the wild green Monk parakeets mysteriously appeared at one of the bird feeders a short while back. Unfortunately it was wounded and unable to fly . It  looked like he had a wounded wing, but upon closer examination, I  saw that his wing feathers had been sheared off  and the actual wing was injured as well , so the poor thing wasn't free to fly. I figure it was the result of some humans attempt at taming the wild bird.
 
 Since there is a flock of at least 100( that I have posted about previously), living in the communal nest of a palm tree near here,  I assumed this is where he came from.The good news was that the vet assured me that the wounded guy, (which I nic-named "Mr.P"), would mend, grow his feathers back , and hopefully be able to return to back out into the wild. And  Mr.P  did just that, but it took time and I was very worried for him, knowing that he would be defensless against any predators that he may encounter. A couple of my neighbors who were worried for his saftey also helped keep an eye out for stray cats or dogs in the area. But Mr. P actually got around fairly well and by using his strong hooked bill and claws he could scramble pretty quickly through the branches . When danger came (like the hawk), he hid so well it was as if he just melted into the leaves.

 There was an occasional argument between Mr.P and the critters that tried to pass through there, but wounded or not, he could pretty much hold his own. Like when the squirel got to close and Mr.P gave out a real loud hissing  sound (the oddest noise I ever heard comming from a bird), the squirel got the message and detoured his route to another branch from then on.

 There was a particular area of the tree where  Mr.P hung out and he sat there quietly munching leaves from the branches and discarding left-over twigs down to the ground. Every morning he would climb up to the clearing  and wait for his buddies to drop by.There were three other green monk parakeets just like him that would come to hang out and chat with him . Sometimes it seemed like they were coaxing him to try to fly and go with them by gently nudging him off of his branch, but he would just drop down to a lower branch, unable to take wind with his sore wing yet, and they would eventualy fly on to make thier daily journies around the community, leaving him behind. Some evenings they would stop back by to check in on him before heading off towards the dirrection of their nest a few blocks away.

 Although he was very leery of humans , he wasn't shy around any of the birds in the habitat, and when Mr.P made his way down to the feeders the other birds stayed out of his way, probably because he was the biggest and loudest bird in the habitat at that time, but I would rather think that perhaps the other birds just knew that he was wounded and were being nice to him ... (smile).

 As time went by Mr.Ps' feathers grew out and his wing began to function better. He would make short fluttered hops to nearby branches trying out  out his wing capabilities but not really ever maling it  very far. And I was begining to  get just a little concerned about him  ... until one morning , exactly 33 days after his arrival ,   he finally did take flight !

 When his buddies came that morning they were alot noisier than usual because about 15 to 20 more of the parakeet flock were in my nieghbors tree at the back of the habitat. I could sense that something was going on just by Mr.P's restlessness. He perched up on the open branch and fluttered his wings in every possible direction before shaking them all back into place again, and he did this over and over for several minutes. Then he used his beak to preen and smooth, (what seemed like), each individual feather on his whole body before he made a grand departure with his 3 companions loudly cheering him on and following right behind him.

 Now I don't mean he just flew off, he actually only flew a short distance, but he did fly out of the habitat and into a nieghbors tree where the other parakeets were all hanging out there in the back trees together. Normally  when there's so many together they  just fly right on over the habitat in search of  more prefered food sources. But for some reason, they decided to change thier usual routine that day . It was as if  they had all just stopped by there to lend a little encouraging  support to their buddy, because they stayed there with him, all bouncing noisily, in and out of the tree branches  like a swarm of bees in slow motion , and Mr.P blended right into the swarm of flutters. 

 They danced through the branches  chattering noisily amoungst each other like that for almost two hours . And then all at once they flew off together, all of them, including Mr. P. But I heard one that was steadily squawking as they left and I am almost sure it was Mr.P  saying thank you ... Yep , I am a little bird crazy but I did get to know Mr.P pretty well, and when ya hear the same bird every morning and evening, for over a month... you recognise that sound. And even though there are many parakeets just like him, they each have their own unique vocal sounds, just like us humans do.

 Now when the parakeets fly over in the mornings and evenings I sometimes hear that familar squawk ... yep , I am sure it is Mr. P. and I am just thankful that things turned out alright for the little guy and he is back where he belongs, with his family and friends, free to fly in the wild as he should be.

 And I just hope that people, like the person responsible for Mr. Ps' injuries, realise how unfair and devestating it can be for wild birds or any kind of wild critter to to be taken out of the wild and out of the safety of their natural environment like that.

Here are two videos that I made durring Mr. Ps' visit ...

drinking at one of the waters

Preaning just before his departure

And here are a few pictures I was able to catch of Mr. P ...

 The damaged wing  when he first arrived (below)

unwounded side (below)

healing slowly  (below)

 blending in to the Huisache tree (below)

blending in to the Poplar tree (below)

dangeling in the tree top (below)

sitting in the clearing of the tree preening himself thoroughly (below)

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