Feathered Forum readers and Facebook followers voted for American's Next Top Parrot and (drum roll please) Connor, our very sweet Blue-Crown Conure was voted the winner! Angel the Cockatoo and Robbie the Eclectus were actually tied for second place.

Connor is featured as Bird of the Month on www.companionparrots.org. Watch her celebration videos Connor wins! and America's Next Top Parrot. And Watch more videos of Connor.

Connor really hopes that you will help her find a new home. She's a happy girl that likes to talk (her favorite phrase "whatcha' doing?" is just adorable). Connor will become a wonderful part of someone's family and flock.

Congratulations to all the birds and thanks to everybody who participated.

If you want to nominate your favorite Bird of CPR for the next America's Top Parrot contest, please visit us on Facebook or send us an email. 

2012 Calendar cover

The 2012 calendar features some of CPR's rescued and re-homed parrots. This year's theme is 'Birds at the Beach' and we're sure you'll enjoy Debbie Foster's striking and colorful photographs every month of the year. The calendar pages also include Parrot University class schedules and helpful tips.

Please help support the birds. All proceeds go toward medical care for the birds of CPR. You will enjoy this calendar all year long, plus they make wonderful holiday gifts!

Calendars are $15 each (add $3 each for shipping if ordering). Calendars can be purchased at Parrot University, or to order, please call 704-889-2325 or email info@companionparrots.org.  

Wiggles

Wiggles

Species: African Grey

Age: 20

This girl is a cutie who's very laid-back for an African Grey. Wiggles came to CPR after her Dad passed away and her sister realized she couldn't provide the best environment for a bird. Wiggles is well-socialized and friendly (she especially likes men) and has a sweet voice. She loves to redecorate her cage (actually, shred the paper in the bottom) but what she would really love is to be a part of a family again. Watch video

Mya

Mya

Species: Scarlet Macaw

Age: 11

Mya is breathtakingly beautiful with incredible coloring, and he likes to talk. His owner recently made the difficult decision to give him up due to her declining health. Mya is a sweet bird who has been treasured and who deserves a new owner who will treat him the same way. When interacting with him it's easy to see the blush that macaws are famous for. He's a great bird! Watch video and watch this one too.

Click to meet more wonderful birds that are available for adoption. You can read the birds' stories and watch the videos.

Thanks to donations and volunteer support from people like you, these birds are now in a safe, caring place, waiting to meet their new families.  Please consider a tax deductible donation in any amount, to help support The Birds of CPR.

Click to Donate 

Mr January

by Debbie Foster

Want to know what goes on behind the scenes in putting the annual CPR calendar together?

Each year we try to come up with a unique, innovative approach to our CPR calendar. We follow some basic rules -- all birds must be rescues, each month must have a different species and all birds will be treated patiently and gently during the photography sessions. 

We start contacting people in May to see if they want to sponsor their bird.  Each parent makes a minimum $50 donation to CPR, which pays for printing costs, allowing the proceeds from calendar sales to directly support the birds. I have laughingly called this "pimping my parrot". Sponsors are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis -- this year our first sponsor responded within about three minutes. For 2012 we also offered the opportunity to sponsor one CPR bird awaiting adoption and so Yoshi was sponsored.

Photos are shot at Parrot U in our "photography studio" (aka the grooming room), a tiny room in the back which is barely large enough to fit me, the bird and a prop. I have to fold myself into yoga positions to get shots and keep my camera out of the range of a beak.

I shoot a minimum of 100 shots per bird and shot a total of 2,000 pictures this year. Sometimes people are worried that their birds will be scared or upset. As in my training classes, I use positive reinforcement. I talk to them, give them treats and praise them lavishly during the session. Amazingly, most of these birds will start to pose within a couple of minutes -- I think they are all exhibitionists at heart. If you look at the body language in the pictures, you see comfortable, inquisitive parrots who are having a great time. I always work carefully with props to make sure I don't get a fear response from the birds -- I knew I was okay when the first bird ended up sitting on an alligator! 

This year, as always, we had a number of stories come out of the sessions.  One little darling, who was boarding with us at the time of his photo shoot, would leap down and waddle back down the hall to his boarding room -- over and over. We finally got him into the back area, but he wasn't comfortable going into our "studio" so he perched on a rolling cart and kept me company. Over the next hour I pushed the cart inches closer and finally got him into the room. I didn't think he would leave the cart and get onto the table, but he proved me wrong and hopped up quite readily to investigate the props and the treats.

Another bird really wanted to sit on my shoulder and whisper sweet nothings into my ear. Since he was flighted, he basically had control of this situation. I finally figured out that if I held the camera with one hand, downloaded the bird to the table with the other and worked at the speed of light that I could get a decent shot every once in a while.
 

And then there are the birds that have been trained to do a trick (sometimes by yours truly). Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a shot of a bird that is constantly in motion, waving, dancing or doing the turn-around? Some of these shots are hilarious, but certainly not calendar-quality. 

After we finish the photo session, the downloading and editing begin. plus the long process of creating a short list and making the final selections. While I'm working on the photos, Lynda Rettew is busy creating the monthly pages, adding holidays, class schedules and monthly tips. We spend a lot of time matching the bird to the month, editing the photos and creating the format of the back cover to showcase as many CPR birds as we can.

For me, creating the calendar is truly a labor of love. I thoroughly enjoy visiting with birds who have been adopted and seeing how they're thriving in their new homes. And what do I really hope?  That we sell out and have to re-order these calendars!