There are a few birds in the store that you don’t see too much because they are out of the public eye and personal pets. One of those birds is Lucille, a White-bellied Caique. She lives in the back room of the store and adores saying “pretty birdy” and doing her little whistle song when trying to get our attention. She does enjoy throwing a fit when she doesn’t get attention or when is being put away for the day, with her little goose honks of disapproval.
If you ever get the pleasure of meeting her, you may notice that she only has one good eye. Lucille unfortunately has sinus issues that have caused drainage to infect her eye to the point of sinking it inwards. With the surgery to fix it being too invasive, the safest bet was to leave the eye as is instead of risking the anesthesia for removal. This means special treatment is needed, with extra spa days. The semi-retired owner, Paula, still makes it a point to come over and give Lucille a nice warm eye bath to ensure the area stays clean.
She has quickly turned into one of the reasons I love feeding the back room. When I open the door to her cage to grab the food bowl, she runs and jumps right onto my hand because she knows I will always give her a few minutes of cuddles. Her whole head will fluff up, and she gives soft purrs as she gets her morning lovins in for the day. When it’s nice and sunny outside she will typically be found sunbathing in the window sill, that she had cleverly snuck her way onto.
It just goes to show you that even with hardships and disabilities in life, you can still find the little things to enjoy.
-Madison