by Gina Groitman
Fall 2002 newsletter

Hello!

They call me Lemon, I suppose because of the lemon yellow feathers in my crest on the top of my head. You can see my beautiful crest only when I open it up like a fan. I do this when I'm excited or scared or angry. I usually add a high squawk, just to let you know that you should watch out, that I mean business.

There is a little yellow near my eye but the rest of me is white, very white especially when all my feathers are grown in but that's not often because when I am nervous or lonely, I clean my feathers over and over again until they fall out. I've heard some people say that I pull them out when I'm unhappy but I'm not really sure what that means. I do know that I miss having what I used to have... I miss having a family.

I live in a sanctuary now but once I lived with a family. They bought me from a pet store when I was small and really, really cute. That's what everybody in the family kept saying. They would look at me with big smiles on their faces and say that I was sooo cute. They wanted me to come home with them but I was sorry to leave the pet shop where I was born and where I had lived with my friends and family. You see, those are things that are important to me. I need to have company. I have heard humans say that birds of a feather flock together but that's because we need our flock, like people, we need a family.

At first, I had a lot of attention in my new home. There were always people around to talk to me. "Hello Lemon," they would say and they were really surprised and happy when I first started to answer them back.

"Hello Lemon," I would say. And the little girls clapped their hands then told all their friends who came to see me and hear me say, "Hello, Lemon." Those were wonderful days, days when everyone talked to me and were happy to spend time with me.

Then, one day, the little girls started to go away for the whole day, and the mummy and daddy, too. I would be alone all day in my cage with just a few toys but no one to play with. I would try to call them. I would call out "Hello Lemon" but there was no one there to answer. So I would clean my feathers and sharpen my beak that was growing every day and I would wait.

When everyone came home I would get so excited, I would call out "Hello Lemon" and the little girls would come to my cage and smile big smiles and talk to me for a little while. Sometimes, they would take me out of my cage and let me fly around but the mummy one day the mummy found me on top of her dining room chair, sharpening my beak by breaking off a piece of the wood. She was very angry and put me back in my cage. She put the cover over my cage so it would be night inside. I knew I was supposed to go to sleep but it was too early and so I began to squawk and scream. The mummy did not smile a big smile when she finally removed the cover. I said, 'Hello, Lemon," but she did not answer back.

I did not understand why she was not smiling a big smile. But she did not understand either. She did not understand that I need to sharpen my beak. That's what I do. I am a cockatoo… a sulphur crested cockatoo… and that's what I do. If I were living in my native Australia, that's what I would do in the trees.

And when I call out it is because I need my flock. How will they find me if I don't call out? How will they know where I am if I keep quiet? Who will come visit me if I don't say Hello.

I didn't understand why the mummy stopped smiling or why the little girls soon preferred to play with their new dolls and other toys. So I just kept cleaning my feathers and continued trying to be nice.

They would take me out of my cage every day. They would feed me. They would talk to me and play with me a little but then they would get tired and put me back. When I didn't always want to go back, they would get this look on their faces. They would smile big smiles but they were not happy. They would say, "Be a good girl, Lemon, it's time to go back into your cage." But I didn't want to. I wanted to give them kisses on their cheeks. I wanted them to pet my head and scratch the feathers underneath my wing. I wanted them to stay close to me and be my flock. Instead, they would get me back in my cage and would throw the night blanket over so I would not call out. Soon, it seemed it was night more than it was day.

One day, my cage started moving. The night blanket was still on so I couldn't see where I was but it felt strange and I had to hold on extra tight to my perch so as not to fall off. Finally, the night cover was lifted and I saw I was in a big room with lots of windows. There were other birds in the room but they didn't look like my flock. Some were small, some were green. None looked like me at all.

There was a very nice lady who spoke to my family. Their faces were wet and they were very unhappy. Nobody was smiling big smiles. Instead, they were waving their wings and moving further and further away until I couldn't see them anymore. And then they were gone.

Now I live in the large cage and I have some friends who come to visit me when they can. They live in a flock far away, I guess This is a good place with lots of room and wood to chew on.

Do I miss my family? Of course, I do but I never saw them again. I guess they didn't want me after all. Maybe I wasn't sooo cute anymore.

Well, that's my story. Since I don't know how to say goodbye, I'll just say, "Hello Lemon."

editor's note

This is a fictionalized story about Lemon who really does live at Fauna. A sulphur-crested cockatoo native to Australia, Lemon is a beautiful, demanding, smart, destructive, possessive, and very, very affectionate bird.

Like most members of the parrot family, cockatoos are very social birds. They usually live in large flocks and are thus used to heavy interaction with others of their species. It is natural for them to seek companionship and to frequently communicate with others of their flock. They are also very intelligent birds and require stimulation.

Cockatoos are known as one of the most affectionate species of birds. The term "velcro bird" is often used to describe their affectionate behavior which so endears them to humans. They are birds who usually bond to a mate strongly and for life. It is this characteristic which enables them to be so loving to a human.

Cockatoos live an average of 90 years.

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update — April 2003

Although we at Fauna did not know too much about parrots, we did know that, like primates, cockatoos are very social and demand a lot of attention. We wanted to provide a better home for Lemon, so we began searching for sanctuaries. After contacting several parrot sanctuaries in the U.S., we were referred to a sanctuary in British Columbia. We visited their website and contacted the owner and decided it was the perfect place for Lemon. With the help of Fauna volunteer and flight attendant Lyne Charron, Lemon was off to B.C.

The first thing that we found out from World Parrot Refuge owner Wendy Huntbatch was that Lemon was not a she, but a he! Wendy personally picked up Lemon from the airport and they hit it off right away, playing games of peek-a-boo on the drive home. He first lived in Wendy's home until he became comfortable and made some avian friends. He is now living in the general population with many other parrots. He ignores the other Citron Crested cockatoo that he is living with, but he has taken a particular interest in a female Goffins cockatoo. He continues to be a chatterbox and is enjoying the freedom of a large enclosure.

Below is the info on Lemon's new home. The sanctuary provides care for over 300 parrots and has amazing plans in the works to build the largest free-flight parrot refuge in the world in Costa Rica. You can help make this dream a reality by donating. You will be giving Lemon and hundreds of other parrots like him have a chance to live in paradise.

FLOPRS — For The Love Of Parrots Refuge Society
Post Office Box 2267
Clearbrook Station, Abbotsford
British Columbia
CANADA
V2T 4X2

WendyHuntbatch@floprs.org
www.floprs.org

(604) 854-8180 phone