Posts Tagged ‘birds unlimited’

So I’d been thinking about getting an African Grey for a while now, and my b-day was coming up, so I dropped a few hints to Charlie, which were well received- likely even anticipated. There happened to be a bird show coming in about a month, so I figured that’d be where the deed would be done.

Except that after dropping my daughter at the airport I noticed a place that specializes in birds that I must’ve passed a hundred times, but since it really didn’t apply to me until this very moment, it just never registered. I figured, what the heck? I’ll stop in, get to handle a bird or two, make sure this is something I’m really interested in.

The place is just off a major commercial road in the area, in an old cinderblock building. I parked and went in, expecting, with a name like Birds Unlimited to find…well, unlimited numbers of birds.

Not so. Walking in, there seem to be unlimited cages,foods, treats. No birds. Except for this woman, Joann. She’s no more than 5ft tall, and there’s definately something avian about her; thin, wrinkled, sharp eyed, she immediately knows me for the novice I am.

Most likely against her better judgment, she points to the far corner of the store where the actual birds are. I tell her what I’m looking for as we enter the room, whereupon all hell breaks loose. Everything from three massive macaws down to dozens of teeny finches make an unbelievable cacoughany. I wince, barely managing to not cover my ears.

“Greys?” she says. “No greys right now. (pause) Well there’s this one over here, but he’s already got a deposit on him, so I can’t let you handle him.” She brightens. “I’ve got a brood I’m hand raising now, they’ll be ready in about six weeks.” Hmmm. I was really hoping to get to see (read:play with) one today.

“Well,” she says reluctantly, “there’s this one.” Read the rest of this entry »