Tiko

If you’ve been reading our blog for a while, you know that we had to leave our Yellow-shouldered Amazon, Tiko, back in the US with my best friend while we sorted out how to bring him into Mexico.  Unfortunately, it seems impossible to bring him into Mexico at this time, due to red tape relating to bird flu.  A picture of Tiko is above. (If you want to see a video of him talking and climbing around on his cage, there’s a one on our videos page)

You also might remember that back in April of this year we took care of 50 baby birds – Half Moon Conures – that had been stolen from their nests by people wanting to sell them to the bird trade.  The men were captured with almost 500 birds, and Conrehabit, the conservation group, managed the rescue of these birds.  (If you want to read my posts about the experience, here they are.)

The youngest of the baby birds were handled by humans for so long that they weren’t able to be released with the rest of their surviving friends.  Some also had deformities that would keep them from surviving in the wild.  Conrehabit ended up with five birds that needed to be placed with people – and Paul and I were happy to welcome Poncho and Lefty into our home.  We had bought a second-hand cage when we first got here, with the hope that it would be Tiko’s, but these two are enjoying it just fine.

Lefty and Poncho

This is Lefty.  As you can see his right foot is deformed.  Whether
it was damaged when he was captured or if it was that way
from birth, we don’t know.

This is Poncho.  Isn’t he cute?

We don’t know what sex they are, so for now they are boys.  We’ll probably figure it out when they get to sexual maturity, though.  They may fight or get romantic – who knows.

It looks like Lefty is gazing up the street – but it’s the mural in the sala fresca!

Their cage is in our sala fresca – the room that has no windows on one side, just wrought iron.  So they probably feel like they are outside.  They love having a spray-bottle shower in the morning.  I love having birds again, and even though these guys could never replace Tiko, they are sweet and we like them.

Oh, and one more thing.  They can be LOUD!