Post by melissa on Apr 29, 2014 21:38:52 GMT 10
Hi there,
At the very beginning of the 2011 floods we found a baby rainbow lorikeet in the backyard, cold, wet, couldn't fly at all.
We lived on the west side of a steep cliff near the beach, and were lucky that the floodwater didn't affect us in any way except to block us in... that and the fact that we had a mini mudslide underneath the house and a river pouring through the front yard.
I must admit I was pretty unprepared for the flooding, but something I had a lot of was Weetbix (6 boxes of the stuff). I have never looked after a lorikeet, but he seemed to take weetbix and honey pretty well. The next morning when it briefly fined up I took him outside and put him in a little tree to see if his parents would come claim him. They didn't unfortunately, but I fed him and kept him warm. He was tame within a matter of hours, and we called him Charlie.
Anyway, I got up early next morning and put Charlie in the little tree and his parents (or perhaps extended family??) came down to visit him. Usually it was a small flock, the most I saw was 7 of them. They fed him in the mornings and the afternoons, and I gave him midday feeds for several weeks, until it got to the point that I would put him in the tree for a couple of hours or on the clothesline whilst I was hanging the washing and several would fly down to him and just hang around with him for a while. One day he up and flew off with them while he was sitting on the clothesline, he'd been practising for a while now, and his first big flight was amazing.
I really miss him, but the experience of seeing him rejoin the flock was fantastic. I wonder if anyone has ever had an experience like this, those birds that fed him were so loyal, I think perhaps it was their input in the whole process that helped him grow up so strong. I did see him several times after that too in one of our trees where they like to roost during the hot hours of the day.
Incidentally, just one of our local vets had 24 baby lorikeets handed in at the time of the floods, I hope those babies did just as well.
The picky below is of him, he was such a cutie.
At the very beginning of the 2011 floods we found a baby rainbow lorikeet in the backyard, cold, wet, couldn't fly at all.
We lived on the west side of a steep cliff near the beach, and were lucky that the floodwater didn't affect us in any way except to block us in... that and the fact that we had a mini mudslide underneath the house and a river pouring through the front yard.
I must admit I was pretty unprepared for the flooding, but something I had a lot of was Weetbix (6 boxes of the stuff). I have never looked after a lorikeet, but he seemed to take weetbix and honey pretty well. The next morning when it briefly fined up I took him outside and put him in a little tree to see if his parents would come claim him. They didn't unfortunately, but I fed him and kept him warm. He was tame within a matter of hours, and we called him Charlie.
Anyway, I got up early next morning and put Charlie in the little tree and his parents (or perhaps extended family??) came down to visit him. Usually it was a small flock, the most I saw was 7 of them. They fed him in the mornings and the afternoons, and I gave him midday feeds for several weeks, until it got to the point that I would put him in the tree for a couple of hours or on the clothesline whilst I was hanging the washing and several would fly down to him and just hang around with him for a while. One day he up and flew off with them while he was sitting on the clothesline, he'd been practising for a while now, and his first big flight was amazing.
I really miss him, but the experience of seeing him rejoin the flock was fantastic. I wonder if anyone has ever had an experience like this, those birds that fed him were so loyal, I think perhaps it was their input in the whole process that helped him grow up so strong. I did see him several times after that too in one of our trees where they like to roost during the hot hours of the day.
Incidentally, just one of our local vets had 24 baby lorikeets handed in at the time of the floods, I hope those babies did just as well.
The picky below is of him, he was such a cutie.
