by Carol Anne Massi

Created on: April 29, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

CHANCEBIRD

I don't have any grandchildren but I do have a "grandbird". His name is Chance but he also goes by Chancy, Chancer, and Chancebird.

Chancebird is a love bird. He was found on a doorstep at a residence by a caring person who couldn't take him into her house. She brought him to the veterany clinic where my daughter was a vet assistant. The second luckiest day of Chancebird's young life was meeting my daughter. She adopted him and named him Chance because he got a second chance at living.

When she first got Chancebird, my daughter noticed that he was dull in color and very afraid. When she put him into his cage, he would go as far away as possible from her. It took a long time and much patience before Chancebird would tolerate my daughter's presence near his cage. Eventually Chancebird actually stayed in place when my daughter opened the cage door to put in treats of fruit or special seed. He used to squeal in a very loud high pitched way, so loud that the neighbors in my daughter's apartment complex complained. I concluded that this was an abused bird, terrified of human contact. With love and, again, patience Chancebird even came out of his cage and started to fly around the room, but soon retreated back to his cage as a refuge.

When I went to visit my daughter, as soon as I walked in the door Chancebird would scurry to the back corner of his cage and hide his head. He thought that if he couldn't see me then I couldn't see him, not true of course. He felt threatened by any stranger.

Chancebird today is a different bird. He is happy, secure, well fed, healthy, active, almost fearless. He has such beautiful colors, including red and bright blue. My mother used to "birdsit" for him when my daughter had to be away overnight. Chancebird loved to be out of his cage so much that my Mom had a heck of a time coaxing him back. He liked to land on my Mom's head or shoulder and would bite her left earlobe. Whenever she would run cold water in the kitchen sink, Chancebird would land on her shoulder, walk down her arm and take a drink from the faucet.

Living at home with my mother is my Down Syndrome brother. When my mother "birdsits", it is a special treat for my brother. Chancebird and my brother have a special bond. Chancebird chirps when my brother comes home from work. Chancebird will then give my brother a kiss. Anytime my brother says "kiss, kiss", Chancebird comes over to kiss him. In fact, since my daughter moved to Tennessee for vet school, when she calls my Mom, my brother asks to speak to Chancebird even before speaking to my daughter. Chancebird chirps into the phone and my brother talks back to him.

Chancebird is my second "grandbird". The first "grandbird" was Buttercup, also know as Sweetie. She was a beautiful lutino cockatiel [bright yellow with a little orange near her ears] who liked to gnaw on the buttons of my housedress as she sat on my lap while we watched television. She died after being operated on in a vet hospital and was buried in a special ceremony at a pet cemetery. I still miss her. It makes me too sad to recount her story hereperhaps another day.

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