The mitred I had for a little over a year, he was a wonderful bird who had been extremely neglected his whole life. I received a call while I was still working at the bird store from this guy who asked if we "took birds" cause he had one he wanted to get rid of. He was sick of the bird, and he said that he'd rather get rid of him humanely if possible. Nice guy, huh? So normally we were fairly picky about the birds we took in for adoption, we really weren't set up to have birds sit in the store for a while waiting and waiting, but I told the owner that if he was not an adoptable enough bird for us to have at the store, that I would take him and find him a home myself. So I left and the guy dropped him off that aft. and I went to pick him up. His nails were horribly long, he only had feathers on his head, and a few wing feathers, not even a tail. In all my years of working with birds -- I have never seen a bird that plucked it's tail.
He arrived in a filthy cage that wouldn't have been adequate for a parakeet, let alone a large conure! He had a cement perch that was too small for him, a metal mirror, and food and water! So needless to say, he came home with me! The next day I moved him into a 26x20 cage, got him varied perches and a few toys. It took about 9 months before he touched a toy! I let him keep his mirror (after a wash), because he loved it to pieces. He was not tame, and very shy (sqwak and run away when approached). The one great thing he had going for him was that he loved all different kinds of good foods! Veggies, fruit, pasta, rices, breads, etc. Never got him to touch pellets, but he did get a fairly good varied diet! We estimated him to be 15 yrs or more. He was not banded. Our happiest moment, was when I finally got him to play with me one night when I was cleaning the bird room.
I had the music cranked and I was talking to him and dancing and he danced with me!! It was such a huge breakthrough! I never did adopt him out. He lived with me for 15 months before he passed. He was a wonderful character, and I really enjoyed our time together. At least his last year was good! I will post pics of him when I get on my laptop, he may have had very few feathers, but he was a beautiful bird! His name was Gus, and I called him Gustopher! Thanks for asking!