In our cyberworld it's difficult to know whether the words we write make a difference. I want to thank everyone who took the time to express sympathy over the loss of Zeke, my 25 yo African Grey, to cancer. I wanted to let you know that your words did make a difference and have helped me through a difficult time. Your kindness and thoughtfulness was deeply appreciated and will always be remembered.
It was obvious that the sharing of my loss struck a cord with many of you who have also lost beloved pets. I was touched by many of your own stories of loss. This experience has left me pondering the power of the internet to bring people, essentially total strangers, together in community around a common experience or passion.
The growing Avian Enrichment community has the power to do even more which is why I've renewed my efforts to build a forum where we can all learn, share, support and enjoy our love for birds with each other.
Developing the Avian Enrichment forum has been a massive undertaking and admittedly I'm still learning the ropes of how to manage the software and the forum process. My tendency is to always want something to be perfect before I roll it out. However, a forum's success is entirely dependent on the people who participate in it's evolution.
Have you ever prepared to throw a big party and also worried that no one will show up? Now that you know my secret fear, please don't make me talk to myself. I invite you all to check it out the beginnings of this new community here. If you like what you see and you believe in our mission please join and invite all of your bird friends to come along as well. I've seeded many of the threads with resource lists as well as a few starter questions to get the discussions rolling.
With the roll out of the new Avian Enrichment forum we are also announcing two new contests to entice participation. Be sure to check out the details in the Contests section of the forum.
I'm looking forward to getting to know you and your flock at the forum!
