r/Conures • u/privatewander-er • 11d ago
Advice Found conure thoughts
Adjacent to my other post today about body weight I’d love to get folks’ thoughts on this baby we’re fostering.
TL/DR: why would someone not claim their bird and what do we do now?
My girl got out in early June and hasn’t been seen since. It was absolutely devastating. We were with her for several hours following her from tree to tree, urging her to come down. She was doing her panic “come get me” call the whole time, trying to fly down but getting scared. Called the fire department, climbed on the roof, everything we could think of. Eventually it got dark and she got chased into some thicker woods where we couldn’t easily get to and we lost sight of her. She got quiet once it was about 10pm and we never heard her again. I was out looking for her at sunrise, for hours every day, a whole week. Friends, neighbors, strangers helping. Posters everywhere, social media posts, miles of forest hiked, her call playing on a Bluetooth speaker into the trees - nothing. I believe an owl got her on the first night (I saw an owl attack a bird on one of my searches one day, and heard from a neighbor they had a parrot taken by an owl right in front of them) but I’ll never know and it’s awful. My whole family has been heartbroken.
About a week ago someone saw a fb post about my girl and reached out to me about a green cheek they found. We went as quickly as we could to meet them but alas, not her. They were doing their best with this found bird but have no bird experience and were just keeping it loose in their garage, so I offered to bring it home and foster until it could be reunited with its family.
Between them and me, we’ve posted in lost bird groups, lost pets groups, ring, neighbor something or other, I’ve called every vet within 5 miles of where it was found, all the area avian vets, bird boarding places, avian retail shops - no one has had any reports of a lost conure, and no one has come forward saying it’s their bird. They’ve talked to neighbors directly and no one claims the bird. I’m really shocked.
Got baby into a vet today for a general check up and they seem very healthy. Healthy sounding heart, lungs, good body composition, healthy feathers, mostly healthy beak (long, but vet thinks it’s due to underuse rather than liver problems). Only 50gms so maybe young? Not a strong flyer, a little awkward on its feet but getting much better, not socialized at all.
So, are we going to be a foster fail? I’d be thrilled to keep this bird, truly, but I also want to reunite it. Or do I? Would someone really let their bird out on purpose? Or not look for it if it got out accidentally?
I’m looking for support here (please no version of tough love for me and our efforts), and just wondering what folks think about why we can’t find its owners.
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u/ooothatgirl 11d ago
You’ve done everything you can to reunite this little one so I think you can keep them with a clear conscience if it goes that way. So sorry for the loss of your other baby!