Species: Red lored (Amazona autumnalis) Arrival Date: 31 July 2008 Approximate age on arrival: 4 months (hatched 2008) Status: Still at Centre 31 July 2008
Chilli came to us via a friend on San Pedro, Ambergris Caye.
She spotted Chili in a local store. She was obviously a young parrot and didn't appear to be doing so well. She convinced the owners to give her up, using the tried and tested method of explaining the illegalities and potential fines associated with owning wildlife.
A manic water-taxi ride and 50 mile car journey later, and Chilli is probably back almost where she came from. Unfortunately, the trafficking of wild-caught chicks from the mainland to the islands (Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker) is brisk during breeding season: parrots do not occur naturally offshore and are greatly sought after by islanders.
Chilli is an affectionate bird and bonded to Nikki almost immediately. She made it very clear that under no circumstances was she going to sit quietly in any kind of cage, and has become a permanent fixture on Nikki's shoulder. This is quite common for young birds: they would normally spend at least a year with their parents and desperately need that affection and contact in the first 6-12 months. Unfortunately, Chilli's baby feathers have been badly clipped and regrowth on such a young bird does not happen quickly.
January 2009
Chilli has found her wings. She spends a lot of time outside in the orchard and in the surrounding forest and treats the house like a hotel, coming in every night for food and attention. She still enjoys Nikki's company, but values her independence. She is a determined, wilful bird. Unfortunately she has taken a shine to the neighbours young boy and flies the 500 or so yards across to their house whenever the mood takes her.
May 2009
Chilli is still around, enjoying her freedom, but visiting the neighbours a little too often for our liking. We are hoping she will meet a handsome male to sweep her off her feet and away from people!
15 May 2009
Chilli seems to have left home: there is no sign of her anywhere. We can only hope she is safe and well.
4 September 2009
We received a message from the neighbours: they thought that they heard Chilli's distinctive call from a farm further down the road. We immediately went around there to find not only did they have Chilli, but another one of our recent releases, Spike. We were horrified. Chilli and Spike were totally traumatised, and horror of horrors, their beautiful wings had been clipped shorted than they ever had been before. It transpires that the person living in this house had become familiar with Chilli on her visits to the neighbour, and used this familiarity to lure her into their home. We assume Spike heard Chilli - a distinctive call with which he was very familiar - and associated the noise with safety.
9 November 2009
Chilli has begun to grow some new feathers at long last. It's still going to be a long road to get her back to where she was, and she is still extremely insecure. She has met the neighbours a few times since her return, but shows no sign of wanting to go to them: in fact she is a little wary of them (although she still hoots and whistles when she sees them). Let's hope she has learned her lesson.
3 January 2010
Despite having very few flight feathers, Chilli is beginning to fly again, and is growing in confidence as a result. You can see in the shot below that she only has two or three new feathers on each wing, but still stays airbourne for however long she wants to, and can gain height and change direction easily: it's quite remarkable. She does not go to any person other than Nikki and stays very close to home. She's had a few rainbaths and is starting to look more like her shiny old self. She was the first of our birds to be banded: GOB FD 001 (Government of Belize Forestry Department). We are not sure if seeing a band on a bird will deter anyone from repeating the kidnapping incident, but we are hoping with a good publicity campaign and greater public awareness, word will get around that these birds are strictly off limits (as should all birds be, but unfortunately we don't live in a perfect world)
