Lovesick Bird Finds New Mate At National Aviary

[Kadie]

Lovesick Bird Finds New Mate At National Aviary
February 9, 2011 8:15 PM


PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — It’s a story of love lost – and found again.
It starts with Skippy, a black-necked stilt from Mexico.

“Mr. and Mrs. Skippy were actually an extraordinary couple,” National Aviary Veterinarian Dr. Pilar Fish said. “They did everything together.”

But Skippy’s mate became ill and died.

“Skippy cried – he mourned so much that he cried,” Dr. Fish said. “He stopped eating, he stopped grooming himself and he became incredibly weak because he was mourning so much.”
Dr. Fish brought the now 23-year-old bird to the Aviary hospital. That’s when he saw a picture on the wall.

“We haven’t really thought about the mural because it was there for several years, but Skippy saw the portrait of Mrs. Skippy on the bottom of the mural and he started talking to her and sat right next to her,” she said.

more...
http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2011/02/09/heartbroken-bird-finds-new-love-at-national-aviary/



Skippy
Skippy, a 23-year-old black-necked stilt is seen behind the bars of its enclosure as he looks out from in front of a painting of his mate that is part of a mural in his enclosure on Saturday, Feb. 12, 2011, at the veterinary hospital of the National Aviary in Pittsburgh. According to Dr.Pilar Fish, the Aviary's director of medicine, he was taken to the hospital area a few years ago after the death of his mate. Skippy’s condition had suddenly declined. He wouldn’t eat, he stopped grooming, and appeared depressed. They took the stilt to the hospital area for tests. After that exam, the bird, then 21, was placed on the floor to rest. When the staff heard Skippy vocalizing, they realized the mural with a variety of the Aviary’s birds, including the female stilt, had caught its attention. He was offered food in front of the painting and started to eat again. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)


Skippy
Skippy, a 23-year-old black-necked stilt looks at a painting of his mate that is part of a mural in his enclosure on Saturday, Feb. 12, 2011, at the veterinary hospital at the National Aviary in Pittsburgh. According to Dr. Pilar Fish, the Aviary's director of medicine, he was taken to the hospital area a few years ago after the death of his mate. Skippy’s condition had suddenly declined. He wouldn’t eat, he stopped grooming, and appeared depressed. The stilt went to the hospital area for tests. After that exam, the bird, then 21, was placed on the floor to rest. When the staff heard Skippy vocalizing, they realized the mural with a variety of the Aviary’s birds, including the female stilt, had caught its attention. He was offered food in front of the painting and started to eat again.(AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. When tuky died we saw cookie do real mourning

to this day we know he still misses his brother.

[aquart]

2. He'd know her anywhere.

[Omaha Steve]

3. Thanks for posting!

I'm having a good cry.

K&R!

OS

[Kadie]

35. You are welcome.

I had a difficult time posting it. My screen kept getting blurry. :)

[polly7]

4. Aww. :( Good that he's eating again but pretty sad story. Poor Skippy. n/t

[RandomThoughts]

5. And the entire article misses the point that the bird should not be in captivity.

And worse alone, see the condescending superiority complex of the comment, as if the bird eating was the concern, not that it was looking at a mural, that it should fly with.

Disgusting story.

What good would a daily meal have, if it required imprisonment, although within 'set a table' food is not the issue, but the wrongful thought of those that false imprison without even knowing what they do.

Would you lose your soul for a daily meal, life is not bread alone.

Although the bird eating is not the point, it is more then the jailer, and will be free some day, the jailer may never understand that.

[mopinko]

14. no pet birds either?

[RandomThoughts]

19. You don't understand the concept.

By saying 'pet' you add an error of superiority, if anything that would make you the lesser, so trying to explain it to you.

They can help you learn to treat them correctly, and that is not cages and limitations for your feelings.


It is tough to explain because it is all mixed up with animal representations like zoo and pet doctrine.

But basically, man's best friend, not an owned pet.

Or the worker is more important then the boss.

Or I choose me. (as I learned it from our Lord.)

It is all the same thing, people don't own other people, they show their dignity by treating them with dignity.

[mopinko]

20. i treat my pets with great dignity.

but they nonetheless are completely dependent on me. none of them can drive, or even open the food container. and they certainly don't have paying jobs.
they are magnificent beings, but they are not people. superior in some ways, perhaps, but not people.

[RandomThoughts]

22. You are mixing metaphor with literal.

If you are talking about actual pets, that is literal, and no they are not people.

Although many of the metaphors of zoo and pet, talk about people as animals, or some people superior then others.


Take what you said, replace landlord with the person, and pet as some tenant or worker, and that is how some think.



So in metaphor the problem is some think of some people as animals.


By jumping between metaphor and literal, there are two different conversations, obviously a cat or a dog is not a person, but obviously when someone treats a person as a dog or cat, they are a person, and treating them not like a person is the problem.



And on your comment, if you treated them with dignity, you would not think of them as helpless, but maybe understand it is them helping you by sharing kindness, because you need that. I know you are talking metaphor, but they are only helpless in some material quantity of something, you are helpless in the spiritual, hence why you are not superior, and they are not pets in the metaphor concept.

And in many cases they are 'helpless' in the material, because they don't want to be like you, and are trying to show you that. Then again, some people go animal and then 'big brain box doctrine' gets into the conversation, and concepts of good and bad animal, and many other concepts complicate it. But basically in metaphor, you are the lessor, they just arn't mean to you when you are a material prick.

And they are trying to help you, while you don't even understand and think having some material thing means something more then it does. And again in metaphor, you don't even have a clue of what they are capable of, because they mostly try to help you, and unless things get really bad, that helping can be done without you having to know, even if you are a prick about being in control of some material thing, they can still share with you.

In metaphor, you don't understand any of it.

The pet is trying to help you in metaphor, because it knows it is not your pet.

[Maraya1969]

34. Mine are my babies. I don't even refer to them as pets anymore.

[Curmudgeoness]

6. Heart-wrenching story. All I can say is *those amazing animals*.

We as humans think we are the only species with complex feelings like love. Oh, what we have to learn!

[luv_mykatz]

7. Sad, and touching.

Wishing you peace, Mr. Skippy, until you and Mrs. Skippy are flying together again.

[Frustratedlady]

8. What a beautiful story and so timely.

Dogs definitely mourn and can do so for months. We had a neighbor with two golden labs and one died. You could hear the other cry all day long. It was such a mournful sound. She did that for many months before she finally quit.

If only people could be so loyal and loving.

[Odin2005]

9. Poor bird!

:cry:

[northernlights]

10. I had a pair of Fischer's lovebirds that I rescued...

they'd been sent to a pet store a couple days earlier by mistake. Didn't belong there, on a shelf with people tramping through staring at them. They were terrified. I brought them home in a box. When I opened it at home, they were huddled in a corner with Papaya covering Peaches as best he could under a wing.

I set them up in a private cage between my cockatiels, sun conure and peachfaced lovebird on one side and my senegal parrots on the other. Surrounded by other birds in a people-quiet environment, they slowly lost their fear of me. They would never be comfortable around me the way the hand-fed babies are, but they were comfortable and safe.

Two years later, Peaches died unexpectedly, most likely of egg-yolk peritonitis (the one way I know of that they can die suddenly, without suffering. Her vent was damp and yellowish -- the only symptom). I thought Papaya would kill himself. That night he escaped twice and flew wildly around the house, crashing into things. I tried him in with the mixed flock. Suddenly, they all paired off into the furthest corner and left him alone, bereft, staring at his cage, looking for Peaches. So I returned him to his own cage, where he sat huddled and forlorn. :cry: :cry: :cry:

I stayed up all night, online, searching for a Fischer's lovebird. Could only find some on the other side of the country, and I believe that flying baby birds around in cargo is criminal and wouldn't do that. The next morning I called all around the state and found a handfed peachfaced lovebird, probably female, just available. So I drove 5 hours to the breeders and 5 hours back home with Sage.

At first, Sage went right up to Papaya to say hello. He scrambled away and would have nothing to do with her. She looked at him with head cocked, and then slowed down and quieted down. Over the next few days, she moved a little closer and a little closer on the perch. By day 3, he would let her perch right next to him. And then on day 4 I saw her poke him gently with her beak. Over time they bonded, and are now a bonded pair. She will outlive him, but she is very bold and is good friends with Domingo, my sun conure. Domingo was bonded with Joey, my old peachface. He died of old age (15 years) a couple years ago. So I think Domingo and Sage will pair up when Papaya passes on.

In the meantime, everybody is happy again...

[Darth_Kitten]

15. That's a sweet story.

:)

[Kadie]

36. awwww

Sweet story. Thank you for sharing.

[beac]

11. I had a stupid fight w/ mr. beac today. This story prompted me to stop

pouting and make up. :hug:

Thanks for posting it.

[elleng]

26. Nice.

:hi:

[Kadie]

37. .

:hug:

:hi:

[xchrom]

12. Very sweet. Nt

[frogmarch]

13. Ohhhh

What a touching story. I hope Skippy will be all right and that he's not sad anymore.

[flvegan]

16. Complex emotion.

I think more animals have them than we give credit to. Reason number 73 I don't eat any of them.

[1monster]

23. They have emotions just like us... When eight year old Gatita's brother, Mr. Squeeks,

disappeared one night (we found out three weeks later that he had been killed by another animal, probably a bob cat that we did not know was in the neighborhood), she retreated to what I guess they call a plant shelf (a useless space in the hall over the top of a closet) and stayed their except for short trips down to use the litter box and to eat and drink a little for three months.

She finally rejoined us when I fostered three abondoned three-week old kittens. Two were Siamese marked and one was a Tuxedo. She had a maternal flash for the Tux and watched over him till he grew older. She still has her moments of hiding away and she has never bonded with any of the other cats in house.

Our four-legged friends love, miss, remember, and mourn for their families, same species or not.

[flvegan]

25. Yup.

Thanks for sharing that.

[Lorien]

27. Yep. nt

[a la izquierda]

28. +1000

[Arugula Latte]

17. I hope they find him a real bird friend, though.

Poor Skip. :(

[XanaDUer]

18. Lovely story

nt.

[AtomicKitten]

21. Ahhhh. Sweet story.

[Honeycombe8]

24. Sad story. Why don't they get him another girlfriend, for pete's sake? nt

[Solly Mack]

29. Very touching!!

[Lorien]

30. When my beloved kitty Peewee passed away his best buddy Miro stopped eating and drinking

and cried nonstop for weeks on end. I felt like Miro did, but I wasn't ready for another cat. Soon I had no choice though; he declined rapidly so I went for a frantic search through every animal shelter to find him a new friend. For some reason the shelters were sparsely populated at that time and none of the cats that I found there "felt right". I heard about a cat show that was taking place on the weekend, and all of the local rescue groups would have kitties up for adoption there. So I went, and while I was waiting for the staff of one rescue group to return from lunch a little Maine Coon kitten kept reaching out of his cage and grabbing my arm. I didn't want to buy a purebred cat, so I kept ignoring him-but he was persistent. I went home from the show empty handed, but thought about the kitten all night. It just seemed like he was "the one", despite my objections (as a rescuer myself) to purebred animals. Miro was still not eating the next day, so I rushed out to the show again and brought home the kitten. Miro and Oberon remained the best of friends for the rest of his days:

[KT2000]

40. I remember Oberon

as I recall he is now a very large cat?
And who is the baby kitty in the third pic? Is it related to the others?

(sweet kitty pics!)

[woo me with science]

31. This is a sadder story than your headline promises.

A painting on the wall is not the same as a new mate. :cry:

[Historic NY]

33. maybe so but it allows him to grieve

[felix_numinous]

32. Humans used to know how to communicate with animals,

this knowledge used to be part of us, we didn't separate ourselves from them like we do now. We have become so separate that we have lost our ability to sense their feelings and recognize their intent, and have lost much wisdom about the ways of each animal.

I remember one morning I went to work and a whole swatch of trees had been bulldozed down, a silent morning in AK. A bird was crying, mourning the loss of most likely a nest since it was Spring, and all I could do was cry too--the sound was unmistakably a bird crying, it rang throughout the valley that morning.

[Luciferous]

38. Awww :(

[GoddessOfGuinness]

39. ~sniffle~

What a sweet, sad story...

[arthritisR_US]

41. What a wonderfully tender story to post, TY :-) n/t