The story of Ecko

Two, almost three years ago I was still very new with birds. I had only had Arthur. my Jardine's, about a year and a half at that point and Bryan had just recently moved in with Pickle, his Hahn's. Needless to say, I was no expert and always bowed to Bryan's experience since he had grown up with birds in his house.

It was October and one of the bird clubs way north of us was having their annual bird show. I had never been to a bird show and was excited about going. Bryan's mom had come up from Virginia to go with us because she had gone to this show years before and was saying how excellent it was. She has birds of her own (a B&G macaw and a Gray) and was looking for some new toys and stuff for them. For me, it was even more exciting because birds were my new "interest" and being in a car with two veteran bird owners for several hours was a boon for me. I asked questions all the way to the show.

When we got there we roamed the tables, looked at what was there and we made our way to the back of the room where we realized there was a table with some loose birds being handled. Bryan and I headed over and immediately Bryan was like "Oh my God, look how sweet!" and there was this Hahn's on a perch there. He was almost totally devoid of feathers aside from his head, but he was so sweet. The man standing there saw us looking at the bird and said "Would you like to hold him?" and before we could answer, that bird had scrambled up Bryan's arm as was cuddling in his ear and chattering and that was it. We must have stood there for a half hour with the little guy and Bryan couldn't bear to put him down. The woman standing there started to talk to Bryan and he told her he had a Hahn's at home and wouldn't it be wonderful to get another. Turns out the little cutie was up for adoption and the people we were talking to were Jeanne and John from A Helping Wing.

I finally got Bryan to tear himself away from the bird and we took their information and told them we were interested and would come the following weekend to discuss the possibility of adopting another bird, that we would have to discuss it first and decide if it was a good idea. By the following weekend, I still don't think we had made up our minds but we went to the rescue anyway. And that was it....

Jeanne and John were so easy for us to connect to, they were crazy bird people like we were (OK, maybe a bit crazier considering they had about 180 birds in their house) and we had tons in common. I think we ended up spending about 7 hours there that day. It was such an overwhelming experience for me. I had only ever seen or held a Jardine's and a Hahn's up to that point. But the end of the night I had held several macaws, including a Hyacinth, grays, conures... I was actually brought to tears. So many loving, needy birds and I wanted to take them all home.

We did end up adopting Ecko, the Hahn's we had met at the bird show, and he's managed to grow back a good portion of his feathers. But even more importantly, Bryan and I met two people who would change our lives forever. We began volunteering shortly after that weekend and became closely linked to its activities and in the years that we have been with A Helping Wing, I have learn more than I could ever learn anywhere. On occasion we have vet tech trainees come to us to learn about birds they have never handled and several have told us that they learned more with the time the spend with us than they did in vet school. I've gone from a meek small bird handler to a confident (albeit bruise and scar covered) any bird handler. And none of it would have happened without Ecko.

I really loved reading this story.

Thanks. It was odd, but that day had to happen. We had planned to go and at the last minute some plans had changed and I remember how Bryan and I both were still very adamant about going. We almost passed the place where the show was and were considering driving home but ended up driving around for a half hour until we found it. Something was drawing us there, it was fate I think. So much has changed for us since we met Ecko, Jeanne and John. We've met so many great new friends, who are also now volunteers at the rescue and John and Jeanne have become very close friends. So close that we will be moving with them to the new property they purchased for the new rescue. And we have since adopted two more birds... first there was Merlyn, our Catalina macaw and then Sebastian, our Harlequin. If we had a larger house, we'd probably have more but once we move that won't matter because we'll be right there with A Helping Wing and its needy flock

thats fantastic! I'm extremely jealous, I've been looking for rescues in my area but the only one around doesn't have a single facility to keep their birds- they rely on volunteers to foster them untill they can place them in permanent homes. It's a great rescue, one of my friends got their cockatiels there and are fostering two others, but it's not somewhere I could get much handling experience unless I was able to foster birds (which at some point I do plan to do). Ecko and pickle are quite the cuties by the way! and keeping 180 birds in their house?? that's dedication right there

I read that story with a pleasure, because it proves, that not-bird person could be later in life fantastic bird maniac!
Vikki, I'm glad you could change the hobby into kinda lifestyle, and of course good for Ecko to being with such a people like you guys.
:Vikki: , going off topic, how many hobby's you have

Margaret wrote:

going off topic, how many hobby's you have

Too many... though some I wouldn't classify as hobbies. I write (and am published), I'm a geneologist, a medieval and pirate re-enactor, and I love to research history.

Vikki wrote:

Margaret wrote:

going off topic, how many hobby's you have

Too many... though some I wouldn't classify as hobbies. I write (and am published), I'm a geneologist, a medieval and pirate re-enactor, and I love to research history.

I'm not an reenactor ,but i might be a bit of a pirate.

I've definately got some pirate in me. I think I was Anne Bonney in my last life!

I'm more Gráinne, myself.