Parrot paradise
Art and Stephanie Davis turn heads when they take their pets for a stroll.
“You see owners out walking their dogs all the time,” Art Davis said. “Here in our neighborhood, everybody knows that we’re going to be out walking our parrots.”
The Davises’ Cahaba Lake Drive home is also the host of Alabama Parrot Rescue. At any given time, the Davises are taking care of 15 or more macaws, cockatoos, conures and more.
It all started with a single bird 19 years ago: Turbo, an African grey parrot Art Davis bought for his wife when their children went to college.
“One led to three, and before we knew it, there were seven. Now we actually have eight personal birds, total,” Art Davis said.
When they moved to Hoover from Florida, the Davises found the only parrot rescue in the area was closing. The couple made the jump nearly four years ago to open their own rescue. Now the main rooms of their home are filled with cages and feathered occupants, along with two aviaries in their backyard.
“When we first moved in, we had my dining room table [that] sat eight people, and I had everything lined up and pristine,” Stephanie Davis said.
“We had a house. Now we have rows of cages everywhere,” Art Davis added.
Because most pet birds stay in their owners’ homes, Art Davis said there are a lot more parrots in Birmingham than people might expect. Alabama Parrot Rescue receives surrendered birds from a variety of situations, including abuse, neglect or good owners who are no longer able to provide the time and care a parrot needs.
Art Davis said many people buy a bird because it’s beautiful and exotic, but they don’t realize they’ve just bought an intelligent, high maintenance pet with a lifespan of 50 years or more. When they receive a bird, Art and Stephanie Davis are committed to finding a home that can care for that bird the rest of its life.
“We take the mindset that every one of our birds came from a home that no longer wanted them, and we’re not going to put them in that situation again,” Art Davis said.
Every potential adopter has to meet their bird at least twice before taking it home, as well as going through a “Birdy Boot Camp” course to make sure they’re ready for the commitment. Art Davis said they work to match each person with a bird that meets their skill level. More importantly, the parrots have the final say in whether they like the person who wants to bring them home.
“Let the bird pick you as its favorite person. If that doesn’t happen, maybe it’s not the right
bird for you,” Art Davis said.
A parrot can’t be forced to like someone, Art Davis said. If they introduce a bird to its adopter and the bird repeatedly tries to get away, the Davises know it’s not a good match. That can be difficult for adopters with their hearts set on a specific parrot, but Art Davis said both bird and human end up happier when it’s a good match.
Some birds stay at Alabama Parrot Rescue for a couple of months, while others can stay for a year or two while waiting for a home. The Davises work with each parrot to improve its social skills, and for birds that come from inexperienced or neglectful owners, that can mean months of work to get them used to being outside a cage and handled by humans. Volunteers also help with socialization and the daily cleaning and other work of keeping a parrot rescue running.
A lot of parrots equals a lot of noise, but Stephanie Davis said they’re always careful to make sure their feathered guests aren’t bothering the neighbors. So far, the families that live around them have been supportive.
“Our neighbors have said there’s more barking dogs in the neighborhood than they ever hear our parrots,” Stephanie Davis said.
Art and Stephanie Davis see themselves not only as a parrot rescue, but also as an ambassador to educate Birmingham on both the wonderful and difficult parts of owning a parrot. They started Parrots in the Park, a regular social gathering of parrot owners, and take rescue birds to a variety of festivals to meet the public. They also have an “open-door policy” for neighborhood children to come and meet their birds.
“We always have children here in the driveway [in summer]. Some nights, there’s 15 kids here in our driveway, and the birds are laughing and playing; the kids are giggling, and at the end of the night, you know your neighbors aren’t upset at the fact you have a parrot rescue here because we go out of our way to make sure that we’re good stewards,” Art Davis said.
Learn more about adopting a bird or volunteering with the Alabama Parrot Rescue at alabamaparrotrescue.org.