Jul 11, 2010
Chiekka…
…oh my…..we are on a quest to find a sitter for the upcoming winter. While doing so we spoke with a very knowledgeable bird person in Trail, B.C. This lady explained to us that the Mexicans highly value double yellow headed amazons and will even go so far as to dye the birds head yellow!!
About a week after we got her
As most of you know Colin rescued Chiekka from a mercado in Acapulco in December 2008. He felt so sorry for this parrot being cooped up in a very tiny cage sitting on the street inhaling bus & car fumes and being poked at by the many stray dogs that he just had to buy her. So he brought her home to the RV Park at Playa Luces with the intention of setting her free before we left for Canada. Little did we know that she had had her wing cut right to the flesh and would not be able to fly for a long time. We couldn’t find anyone to care for her there so we brought her home with us. When we first got her she did not eat for close to a week…..we were calling avian vets in the US for help and finally not realizing that she was so young we started making mashed warmed baby food for her. She soon started to thrive. And the love grew…..Carmeh decided that the bird was her baby and to this day still thinks so.
We just had to put them in the same cage!
We have discovered that Chiekka is in fact a red crowned amazon (she is an endangered species but at least alive)and that she was probably captured right out of her nest near Acapulco. However it is news to us that she may have had her head dyed. Luckily she was not blinded, if in fact this is true. The photos show the transition of her colors. 
She has been checked by a local avian vet and is in perfect health. She prefers Colin but is very slowly warming up to me. The first winter we left her behind she spent the time with a wonderful woman and her African Gray called Homer. Unfortunately they had to move and could no longer take Chiekka and we found another person to care for her the winter of 09/10 but alas that situation has also changed so hence our quest.
Caeli howling in protest that the bird is free!!
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