Good Morning All!

This morning I was awoken by my rescued African Grey parrot saying my sisters name "AMBER!" over and over again. She is so sweet and I thought, I need to tell everyone the story of little

NITTY SUE

Well, It all started when my mom got a job in King Cove, Alaska... which is in the Aleutian island chain. It is a place/village of only around 800 people, 5 miles of roads, and lots of bears. Right before we left for Alaska, five days to be exact, we took our birds at the time (still Bimini our 'too, and our rescue blue fronted amazon Paulie) to the vet to get healthy bird checks for the airplane security. Paulie needed to get his toenails and his beak trimmed and he would not let us do it at home, so the vet offered to do it and he ended up suffering a seizure and dying right then and there. It was so traumatic for myself because he liked no one else in the house except for me... He had become "my bird" and I know this may sound cheesy but it was almost like he was my animal soulmate and I was his. He would call me lover when ever he saw me and it was adorable... but anyways back to the story. After Paulie passed away I was in a funk until we left for Alaska because they were supposed to be coming with us... we even ordered him a new bird cage! One we got in the air on June 20th, we landed in Anchorage, Alaska and we had to be there for five days because my mom had training. I was then determined to find another bird to rescue, and I looked all over online. I check craigslist, animal adoption websites and other various places. I then stumbled across an ad for a "Sweet, talkative Congo African Grey Parrot" and I fell in love. I convinced my mom to drive us out to Palmer, Alaska which is not too far from Anchorage where we went to just "look at her" as my mom put it. I knew that if my mom was going to make the trip, we were getting her. We went inside this home and immediately realized these people were hoarders and possibly drug users. The house smelled terrible and was messy, there was dog poop on the floor and the people didnt even notice. It was disgusting to say the least. We then went into the GARAGE... yes i said GARAGE, where we saw Nitty. She was talkative, but had a sad look in her eyes. This lady had five or six other birds that were in terrible condition that I wish I could have taken home too, but we did not have the space for them. My mom fell in love with her. We ended up buying her from these people and soon realized how traumatized this little bird really was. She had very long toenails, and a super long beak... her wings werent trimmed and her characteristic red bottom wasnt very bright as it should be (most likely   indicating a poor diet). We found out that all she had been fed was pellets, which doesnt give her much variety. Her poop was red, almost bloody when we got her and she was very timid when we would take her out of the carrier she was in until we got to our home in King Cove. She was easily frieghtened and would bite or fly when she was scared. She was freightened of BIRD SEED, because she had NEVER been given anything other than pellets in her entire life. Once we arrived in King Cove and she was allowed to be more explorative with her new cage, new types of food and a new surrounding she soon warmed up to us... a little bit. We ended up coming back to Montana from Alaska, where Nitty fell in love with my Mom. She tends to love ALL men, and women with short hair. My mom has recently moved to Georgia where she works for the DoD, and Nitty fell in love with my grandma! She is so much more talkative than she was, and she is beginning to explore her options with human food a little more, but is still pretty timid around that. She does not fly as much as she used to and does not really bite, if she does its a warning "pressure pinch" which still hurts but she wont break the skin anymore. She has dropped all of the nasty words she would say before we had her like curse words and words that had to do with drugs and alcohol, and has started to pick up songs and words we say around the house. She loves to say my sisters name "amber" and my brothers name "braeden"... but she has yet to say my name... "ashley". She sings the "Moves Like Jagger" song, and dances to most music. She has become a joy to have in our house and I  wouldnt have it any other way.