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Date Posted: Fri, 08/29/03 11:23am
Author: Caseyngeneva
Subject: My Sweet Bird

Tuesday night my bird had a stroke. I stayed up with him all night, kept him in bed with me. By morning he lost most of his functioning, so I called my vet and we brought him in. His condition was grave, he was an old bird, and she agreed it would be most humane to put him down. I knew if I brought him home to die, he would only linger and die the next day. August 28 is hard enough for me, the anniversary of my father's death.

Probably sounds silly that I'm going on about a bird, but he was VERY special to me. I got him as a baby, 3 months old - "hatched" on October 1, 1980. He was a gray cockatiel, with a yellow head and peach cheeks. He would have been 23 yrs old this October. The vet said she rarely sees them live more than 10 yrs in captivity. He's been there for me all this time, wolf-whistling at me in the morning, greeting me with a big HELLO when I would come home, and running up to me and dancing when I talked to him. He outlived 3 dogs, 4 cats, and endured my son when he was a rambunctious toddler. I was extremely close with this bird -- he was so smart and affectionate.

Several yrs after I got him, I watched a program about wild cockatiels in Australia. It made me feel guilty for having a bird in a cage (even though he was from a pet shop and out a lot), so I bought him a big parrot cage. He really liked that cage, but I kept thinking how he would enjoy flying around the tops of trees, collecting berries with his buddies or mate, living as he should.

Just before we left for the vet, I went out to my backyard. Several common nighthawks were swooping around in the sky above me. They were close enough and stayed long enough for me to identify them -- a rare treat for me, and I had never seen them before.

Now that Woodstock's gone (my former neighbor's kid named him after Snoopy's friend), I don't plan on keeping another bird in a cage. I'll honor him by focusing on some birdhouses and making my backyard more of a sanctuary for the free birds.

It's so quiet here -- never realized how much noise he made, lol. I really loved that bird.

Kathy

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