Bird Rescuers

I am such a sucker for birds--parrots, cockatiels, macaws--they all fascinate me.  I knew a lady once, in Carmel, Ca, who had a beautiful, though a very noisy parrot.  She and I were relaxing one day, in one of those charming patios you find all over Carmel, chatting and watching the tourists stroll by.  Buster, her parrot was perched on top of a double Dutch door nearby.  He was amusing himself by noisily wolf whistling at every female that walked by, then insulting every man with a loud squawk, followed by a raucous cackle.  I was impressed that Buster knew the difference in the sexes but it was when he dropped a large and messy bird poop on the sidewalk that I realized his use of vocabulary was also rather impressive.  He immediately stopped the whistling and squawking, turned, tilted his head, looked down at the mess on the patio floor and very clearly announced,  "Buster is a dirty bird!"  He then followed his pronouncement with another very loud cackle.



One day last week I drove up to Balboa Park to take in the museums and it was then I discovered these lovely birds on display in the mall area. 

This sign immediately piqued my interest.



The birds were mostly tame and very willing to be handled by the many people that had gathered around.

Some were noisy and nasty and a few even used some rude words to keep the onlookers at bay.

But overall they were beautiful and I felt a yearning for my own cockatiel back at my house in Tucson.

 

 I don't suppose it would make sense to adopt another bird and carry him along in the RV....Sigh Me would probably object.



I asked the couple that cared for the birds a few questions about their rescue  endeavor and finally I dropped some money in their collection box--after all the birds seemed to be well cared for and I was impressed with the efforts to save them from harm.

 

The mall is lovely--this man was playing the saxophone.

When I first arrived on the mall I saw a little guy sitting in front of this sign...

 

   Thirty minutes later when I left he was still there.  I think he was hoping the sign was real.

 When I got back to Ron's apartment I told him about my day and he gasped, "You didn't give those people any money, did you?"
"Of course I did. Why?"
"Because those people don't rescue any birds.  They are out there every weekend with the same birds and the same stories. The city has tried to get them to leave, the TV stations have done stories on their con game, the park employees all warn against giving them money.  Mom, I can't believe you bought into that."
I think I just heard Buster cackle.