Birds..........................

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The Guianan Cock-of-the-rock is a fascinating bird ѕрeсіeѕ that is native to the Guiana Shield region in South America. Its scientific name is Rupicola rupicola, and it is a member of the Cotingidae family.

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This beautiful bird is known for its ѕtrіkіпɡ bright orange color and ᴜпіqᴜe appearance, which has made it a popular subject for birdwatchers and photographers. Its distinctive crest and іmрreѕѕіve size make it a ѕtапdoᴜt ѕрeсіeѕ, as it can grow up to 30 cm in length and weigh up to 270 grams.
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The Guianan Cock-of-the-rock is primarily found in the rainforests of the Guiana Shield, which spans across parts of Brazil, Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela, and French Guiana. It prefers to live in areas that are һeаvіlу forested, near cliffs, and streams.
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These birds are diurnal and typically active during the day, often gathering in groups of up to 25 individuals. They are also known for their elaborate courtship displays, where males will display their bright orange plumage and perform intricate dances to attract mаteѕ.
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The Guianan Cock-of-the-rock is a frugivorous ѕрeсіeѕ, meaning it primarily feeds on fruit. However, it will also consume insects and small animals like lizards and frogs. Its specialized beak allows it to easily сrасk open hard-shelled fruits and seeds.
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Uпfortᴜпаtelу, the Guianan Cock-of-the-rock is classified as a Near tһreаteпed ѕрeсіeѕ by the International ᴜпіoп for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Habitat loѕѕ due to deforeѕtаtіoп and the pet trade are major tһreаtѕ to this ѕрeсіeѕ’ survival.
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When I lived in Mississippi, I managed to rescue this owlet after it fell out of a tree. The bird is in a clear, plastic "sleep cage" for parrots on my work bench in the garage. Fed it raw meat, which it gobbled up. Turned it over to a wild raptor organization in Mississippi. Did my best not to have a lot of contact with the owlet, due to concerns about imprinting.

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I wrote elsewhere on these pages that I'm a bird guy. Apart from a few exceptions from parrots that we'd fostered, birds seem to gravitate toward me. Here are a couple of them that we owned or fostered.

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Daphne, aka "Daffy" was a Congo African grey parrot. Lost her in a freak accident in 2007. Papagena (below) is a Solomon Islands eclectus parrot. She was determined to become a Mommy, so we had to give her up to a breeder who could attempt to make that happen.

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Kizzy's Story:

From 2000 to 2004, my wife and I lived in the Salt Lake City area. We were members of the Wasatch Avian Education Society (WAES) that did the full range of avian stuff -- education, rescue, fostering, etc. We agreed to be foster "parronts" of various birds that were surrendered to WAES for whatever reason. We fostered several birds before encountering Kizzy, a Congo African grey parrot.

Rules were strict with this group. Any bird coming into the organization had to be quarantined for at least 30 days -- even after the required avian vet check. OK, fine, to a point. Eventually, cages have to be cleaned and we had to take measures that broke that quarantine, even for a short time. So I dragged Kizzy's cage upstairs from the basement where she was quarantined, and installed her on a perch next to the patio door.

As I was cleaning other cages at the same time as Kizzy's, I had three cages in a relatively small area of the kitchen. All was fine, until I started disassembling Kizzy's cage and taking the parts outside to be washed. I was careful with the screen door, but I didn't count on tripping and falling backwards through the screen door, which, of course, opened up Kizzy to the outdoors. It took her about 3 nanoseconds to fly out the patio door to parts unknown.

Keep in mind, this is not our bird. We're fostering her. So we spent the rest of that Saturday searching for her, printing out flyers, posting them in the area where we thought she might be. Nothing.

My wife came home from a gig and she asked me if I had posted a flyer at a neighborhood pet shop. Nope, I said. I was beating feet elsewhere. She took one over to the pet shop and we waited.

The next day, we got a phone call from a person who had seen the flyer in the pet shop. "We think we see the bird you're missing, up in a tree in our neighborhood." This neighborhood was about 100 yards from our house in the opposite direction of where I had seen her fly while I was flat on my back on the patio.

So like a flash, on a Sunday morning, we flew over to the area where the woman said she saw Kizzy. Sure enough, there she was, about 200 feet high in a tree. Tried all kinds of things to get her to come to me (I was her favorite), but no dice. An extremely nerve-wracking point came up when Kizzy was attacked by a kestrel -- we really thought she was a goner. But Kizzy eluded the kestrel and then my wife went home to get some raw peanuts.

Kizzy loved raw peanuts and when she saw me with those, she flew down to me. I cradled her, detaining her, until we could get home.

There were some unhappy people within WAES, especially concerning the quarantine issue, but we were relieved and happy to have recovered Kizzy.

Kizzy eventually went to a person who adopted her.

Dodged a bullet on that one.

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Eupher said:
Kizzy's Story:

From 2000 to 2004, my wife and I lived in the Salt Lake City area. We were members of the Wasatch Avian Education Society (WAES) that did the full range of avian stuff -- education, rescue, fostering, etc. We agreed to be foster "parronts" of various birds that were surrendered to WAES for whatever reason. We fostered several birds before encountering Kizzy, a Congo African grey parrot.

Rules were strict with this group. Any bird coming into the organization had to be quarantined for at least 30 days -- even after the required avian vet check. OK, fine, to a point. Eventually, cages have to be cleaned and we had to take measures that broke that quarantine, even for a short time. So I dragged Kizzy's cage upstairs from the basement where she was quarantined, and installed her on a perch next to the patio door.

As I was cleaning other cages at the same time as Kizzy's, I had three cages in a relatively small area of the kitchen. All was fine, until I started disassembling Kizzy's cage and taking the parts outside to be washed. I was careful with the screen door, but I didn't count on tripping and falling backwards through the screen door, which, of course, opened up Kizzy to the outdoors. It took her about 3 nanoseconds to fly out the patio door to parts unknown.

Keep in mind, this is not our bird. We're fostering her. So we spent the rest of that Saturday searching for her, printing out flyers, posting them in the area where we thought she might be. Nothing.

My wife came home from a gig and she asked me if I had posted a flyer at a neighborhood pet shop. Nope, I said. I was beating feet elsewhere. She took one over to the pet shop and we waited.

The next day, we got a phone call from a person who had seen the flyer in the pet shop. "We think we see the bird you're missing, up in a tree in our neighborhood." This neighborhood was about 100 yards from our house in the opposite direction of where I had seen her fly while I was flat on my back on the patio.

So like a flash, on a Sunday morning, we flew over to the area where the woman said she saw Kizzy. Sure enough, there she was, about 200 feet high in a tree. Tried all kinds of things to get her to come to me (I was her favorite), but no dice. An extremely nerve-wracking point came up when Kizzy was attacked by a kestrel -- we really thought she was a goner. But Kizzy eluded the kestrel and then my wife went home to get some raw peanuts.

Kizzy loved raw peanuts and when she saw me with those, she flew down to me. I cradled her, detaining her, until we could get home.

There were some unhappy people within WAES, especially concerning the quarantine issue, but we were relieved and happy to have recovered Kizzy.

Kizzy eventually went to a person who adopted her.

Dodged a bullet on that one.

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Beautiful bird and wow, what an experience. You could have been very badly hurt! Bless you folks who care for these lovely creatures @Eupher 🌹
 
Lisa (pictured here with Louie (the blue and gold macaw perched on her right arm) and the male Solomon Islands eclectus (sorry, I forgot his name)) adopted both these birds, which we had been fostering.

Both birds were fascinating. Louie (who turned out to be female) had been severely neglected. We took her to an avian vet who fixed her beak, which was out of kilter and lopsided. She gravitated readily toward me when I began removing the keratin from many of her feathers that her out-of-whack beak could not address. The male eclectus was the proverbial sweet guy. He'd puke up his food for anybody (a sign of taking "care" of his mate).

Lisa's SO Brian was also at our house when this photo was taken when they picked up the birds, but it was clear that Lisa was the driver in this decision. She and Brian were in the Air Force at Hill AFB, located about 35 miles north of Salt Lake City.

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