One decade lived in Florida showed me you can run barefoot on the beach in January, never have to own a snow shovel, earmuffs or water proof boots. My background in theatre and music got me a job on cruise ship. By 9:30 pm we were in international waters and the casino opened up. I sang at midnight, so I had time to enjoy a free buffet on deck before. I couldn't have dreamed of a more thrilling outcome for my theatre degree and stage experience.
Between café and boat gigs, doing commercials and teaching drama at summer camps I acquired a husband and a new career in home remodeling and rentals. (the new career came through marriage!)Our home wasn't far from the beach, so Saturday morning walks to 711 came with an ocean breeze. Feeling like a butterfly that had finally broken from the cocoon, I imagined I would die under a Florida sun.
In 2004 after a few warm up hurricanes I was showing an apartment for a client of ours. Hurricane Frances had left its windy mark all around. I was at a commercial building with an apartment on the second floor. In walking up the outside steps to the second floor, I noticed a shivering pale yellow bird with orange cheeks atop a high wooden fence just below me. Some feathers looked missing , the body was dirty and eyes disoriented. A few neighborhood cats were lurking around. In a panic I called my husband. He arrived with long green net on a stick, and we retrieved the frightened bird.
We acquired a blue cage we found in the trash, and cleaned it up. Frances' tail winds had broken apart a few aviaries , a sometimes delicate refuge for domesticated and wild birds and our new friend "Sunshine" was our first official rescue from a hurricane.
Sunshine loved riding around on my shoulder and nuzzling me with a beak. A friend who
knew a lot about keeping birds announced we had a male. Within weeks, with a little echinacea in his water, proper food and a clean cage with toys, Sunshine bloomed to his former glorious yellow. Wings expanded, feathering grew back and bright orange cheeks popped out at you.
My husbands had placed the cage on a TV tray in our living room and build a bamboo ladder
which allowed Sunshine to hop down to floor level and wander at will around the house. We would leave the cage door open during the day and every thing went fine for awhile.
One day after I had set out salads for dinner, I ran to the porch for a minute. When I returned, Sunshine had perched on an upside down fork and was munching my salad. I laughed. We were not in the habit of covering the cage at night, and wasn't very sensitive to keeping Sunshine away from the blare of Cable TV. Every night, around 7:30 pm, he would start to make noises and stomp around his perch. One night he climbed down the ladder and did a highly agitated dance and bird shrieks during one of our favorite programs. After reprimands from fellow bird friendly neighbors, we realized we needed to cover the cage, in a quiet room, so he could go to sleep. What an idiot I felt like! We also tried in vain to try and track him to a former owner. But the hurricane had simply delivered a rescue baby to us, and that was that.
Before long, we placed a cage above our jacuzzi in the rear mother in law quarter off the kitchen. Now , Sunshine was above us. He would swoop over head, and I got the feeling with one open window someday he'd make his escape. But he was definitely a domesticated bird, the way he interacted with me. One night, after returning from a musical rehearsal with friends, I heard my husband shouting in French. Back in the mother in law quarter my husband was running around, yelling at the bird and the bird was swooping and high flying back to his cage and then around the room. The poor bird had crapped in the jacuzzi while my husband was lounging inside.
"Time to clip the wings!" My friend was laughing and shaking her head. Clearly Sunshine had been domesticated, yet placing his cage above our heads was a mistake. He felt superior, that he "owned" the jacuzzi.
So one Saturday I packed Sunshine up and we went to North Miami, where his clipping awaited him. Five dollar and a few bird shrieks later, he sat calmly on my shoulder, not going anywhere fast.
The day came to sell our house and move back to my hometown in New York, Family issues and business urged our decision. I was faced with re housing Sunshine. I posted notes on many pet store sites. If anyone wanted a mature, clean well kept male cockatiel, they should call me!
While on our last small painting job in Fort Lauderdale, a call came in from an older gentleman
who wanted a mate for his female cockatiel. We chatted about fifteen minutes and Sunshine seemed like a great fit. Whatever sadness I felt at parting dissolved when I saw Sunshine his new playmate , getting his new start in life.
Here up north, I miss more than one form of Sunshine. Even if I have a shovel, earmuffs and have no way to drown sorrows on the beach without taking a long ride , I find very warm memories inside my mind.
I am also sure I am not done with rescues.
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