Oct2005 Natasha

Natasha the U2

Natasha (aka Tashi or Tash) is an umbrella cockatoo who we adopted from a rescue nearly 4 years ago when she was 10. She was such a sad sight to see, having shredded or plucked nearly every feather she could reach (picture a roaster chicken) and had mutilated herself under her right leg. But we immediately fell in love with her.

She was very timid and trembled when we neared her cage, but she did allow us to put our hands into the cage to pet her and give her skritches. We visited with the other parrots and then were drawn back to her cage. This time she came out of the cage and laid her head in my hand. We pet her for quite a while, all the time whispering to her that we loved her and that she was a sweet girl. When we left the rescue that day, Natasha was clinging to her cage door watching us leave.

We visited the rescue again the following month and went immediately to Natasha’s cage. She recognized us and came out to greet us. We spent a long time with her that day and, to my amazement, she allowed us to touch practically every part of her body and would lift up her wings for us to pet her underneath. She would bury her head under my chin and make little cooing noises. For an abused bird to be so trusting and loving was incredible. It was on this day that the director of the rescue asked if we would like to take Natasha home. Boy did we!

Natasha came to live with us in October of 2001 and joined our flock, which at that time consisted of a blue and gold macaw, a vosmaeri eclectus, two ringnecks, a Senegal, an African gray, and three cockatiels. She was a timid, frightened little girl who would tremble most of the time and prefer to stay in the back of her cage. We spoke softly to her and she would notice that no matter how noisy the other birds were (and some of them are pretty noisy) no one would tell them to be quiet or get angry with them. In fact, most of the time we would join right in with the noise and silliness. (Actually, my son says I START it most of the time.) We also abbreviated her name because she occasionally seemed to become anxious if we called her Natasha (similar to when a child is called by their entire name when caught doing something they shouldn't be doing).

In time, Natasha also joined in with our silliness and noise. She especially liked to dance and her favorite music is the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack ... she's a real disco queen! All I have to do is start singing, You should be dancing ... and off she goes with wings flapping, head swaying back and forth, and feet hopping, complete with sound effects of the typical 'too greeting. She will also try to sing along with Roy Orbison (and it 's NOT pretty). We also discovered that she loves to play hide and seek.

She stopped chewing at the sore under her right leg and it healed very quickly. She has never gone back to chewing that area. She began to have less and less interest in shredding her feathers and would not chew or shred the new feathers that molted in. All of this has taken time and patience. One day I moved her cage to the other side of the room because I thought she might like a change of scenery, and she didn’t stop screaming until I put it back where it originally was. And if her food dish is getting low, she will let me know. And heaven forbid there should be what I call a flupz (a piece of food, chewed wood, etc.) in her water dish. This will not be tolerated and even the tiniest piece must be removed immediately. This girl knows what she wants!

And she will nip off the occasional feather, especially on her tail. We think she is part chicken, because that’s what she looks like with all of her tail feathers nipped off. There was one point when she had almost all of her tail feathers intact and I got so excited that I called anyone who would listen!

Over time, she has come to understand that we allow our birds to be themselves – BIRDS – with no demands or expectations placed on them. It has now been almost 4 years since Natasha came to live with us and we have seen a remarkable transformation in her, especially over this past year. What once was a timid, frightened, anxiety-ridden 'too has become an outgoing, happy, fun-loving, silly, and playful girl. Because she had been through so many homes in a short time, I believe she needed some time to come to the conclusion that this was where she was going to stay. She will test boundaries and can be very strong-willed, but we realize that she has finally become the 'too she once was and was meant to be. She is allowed to assert herself without fear of punishment and has regained her self-confidence.

She is loved more than she will ever know and, as we tell her frequently, this is her forever home. Natasha's transformation didn't happen overnight, but it was definitely worth the effort ... for both of us!

Julie

This page was last updated on 08/17/2012

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