PART I

Sunday, 13 june there was a parrot & parakeet walk in the Vondelpark, Amsterdam. (Our capital) There was an opportunity to sit down for a picnic and to chat with other parrot mums & dads.
This picnic was a continuation on the campaign about abandonment among pets, that the Sophia Vereeniging has recently started. With the Sophia Vereeniging, they had organized this picnic, to point out the problem of abandonment among parrots.

A parrot in captivity doesn’t lead an easy life: Over 90 % of the 500.000 parrots kept in the Netherlands spends its whole life alone in a cage, while in the wild they spend their lives living in pairs or groups.
Moreover they need challenges, and when you keep in mind that a parrot has the intelligence of a four year old child you understand that a parrot needs more than food, water & a cage!
In the Vondelpark, you’ll be shown that things can be different. The intelligent birds had a great time being outside. A parrot is just like a dog part of the family! Sunday outings, like this visit to the Vondelpark are part of it!
A theater group & the Sophia Vereeniging were present.
(Copied from the folder)

When we arrived in the Vondelpark, not many people were already there. We had chance to look around & see some other fids perched on brought play stands. The Senegal in the left of the photo is Mickey, a gorgeous Senegal parrot.
Iago is perched at the right!

Lorre’s (blue and gold macaw) family had brought a cart that they had turned into a parrot mobile. Zazu thought it was a good place to sit on. Elvis (the lesser sulphur crested cockatoo) thought so too!

Click here to view a movie of the parrot cart (709 KB)
Click here to see a movie of Zazu trying to steal Lilo’s grape (822 KB)
Lorre was quite interested in the dressed up human. This person was dressed like a parrot & had put a small cage over her head to depict the part of the Dutch parrots living in tiny cages.

Lorre really fell in love with this ’caged parrot’..

Click here to see a movie of Lorre in love (383 KB)
On the next photo you can see Zazu’s encounter with a beautiful amazon. If anyone has an idea what species this is, please email me.
 (I received several emails and one person said that this is a subspecies of a Mealy amazon, the amazona farinosa virenticeps. Thank you all a lot for your time to name this amazon parrot!)

Iago found his pal for this day. A beautiful Senegal parrot called Mickey. Even Dr. Hooimeijer was impressed by Mickey’s beauty!
Iago though was more interested in Mickey’s play stand & food.

The story continues on the next page

*** Disclaimer & warning PLEASE READ *** Please note that one should be careful to take his or her birds on outdoor excursions. Wings should be clipped properly and in case of a smaller, lighter built birds, please ALWAYS use a harnass!
If you are not sure if your bird is considered light built, please ALWAYS use a harnass!
The small birds on this page not wearing a harnass are WELL TRAINED and under DIRECT SUPERVISION of an AVIAN VET who was PRESENT at that day!
The birds on this website are thoroughly trained parrots. Some of the activities depicted could put smaller or/and untrained birds in jeopardy.
Also, my parrots are fed a very healthy, organic diet on normal days.
PLEASE only feed your parrot these unhealthy snacks on rare occasions and in VERY small amounts!