I like this forum because

[delray]

afinch thanks.

[KarenB]

I blame my mother. She always had budgies while I was growing up. She claimed to have gotten them for me, but I know better. She was just as bad as I am now. Actually, I'm probably twice as bad. But she is largely responsible for my birdaholicism.

As soon as I left my parents' house at 19, I got my first bird, a cockatiel I named Coco, a normal gray girl. I thought I was really moving up in the bird world then. She bit the heck out of me taking her out of the box they put her in at the pet shop. I persisted, and in a few days she was tamed. I think it must have been that moment when I was destined to keep birds the rest of my life. I had become THE BIRD WHISPERER.

A few years later I bought my first house and then became entranced by the outdoor birds. I bought a book and looked them up. Called mom and we would discuss them at length. Then one day a co worker of mom's invited her to go bird watching, aka birding. She enjoyed it so much that she told me I had to go with them the next weekend. That week I went out and purchased my first field guide for North American birds. We went birding on Saturday. It was April during migration. In those days if you had a fallout, warblers would literally be dripping from the trees. It was difficult to know where to look next. Every bird was new and beautiful. A total treat to find and identify. That began my obsession with birding.

A few years later I decided I needed a "real" parrot and got a cockatoo, lesser sulphur crested. After I had had Bebe for a couple years, my mom lost one of her cockatiels when it flew off her shoulder as she walked outside. The bird lived on her shoulder, and she just didn't think when she stepped out the door. I then gave Bebe to her and got an African grey parrot, who became my everything.

That was 30 years ago, and I'm still just as crazy as I was then. Thanks, Mom.

[afinch]

Karen that was a beautiful story. Could be a column in a bird magazine. I guess I have to blame my dad. He built "me" a little aviary on our balcony and fulled it with finches. My mom tells me I used to spend hours watching them as a toddler.

[MariusStegmann]

We all share a love for birds. We come from different cultures, live in diverse places and keep our birds in very different habitats, but we all are passionate about our birds. I like the fact that I can ask for advise and share my birdy triumphs with other like-minded people. I also like to see and hear about fellows addicts's birds and their success stories.

[KarenB]

afinch, Yeah, they get you while you're young......