Oasis Sanctuary Visit (long)

[bgmacaw]

Yesterday Lori and I had the opportunity to attend a fund raiser at the Oasis Sanctuary in Cascabel, Arizona. I had talked to them at bird shows/pet fairs. I guess the real selling point was the fact that Mark Bittner was going to be there. (Tara, Mark said to tell you hello so, HELLO.) We drove 3 hrs each way for a 10a - 6p event. The last 5 miles are on a dirt road. It made for a real long day but very much worth the trip. I will post some pictures in a bit.
Details of the Oasis: It sits on 73 acres, which was a pecan orchard, with approximately 425 residents. There are 7 regular caretakers which live some where on the property or nearby community. They are presently only utilizing 3 acres. One building houses the big birds and kitchen facilities w/walkin cooler. Most of the building have macaw cages and a gym the birds are free to roam cages or play, we could only look thru the windows. Next was a single wide trailer set up as the infirmary. You'll love the pics of the mural on the side. There are 4 rows of individual cages, kind of like rabbit cages with 2 or more birds in each depending on type. Their newest structure is a huge flight that presently houses most of their Grays. I forget the size details but it would be safe to guess it would make a nice small house if built that way. It was built around 4 of the pecan trees, really nice. Their goal is to build one of these for each species. I believe they said it was around $10,000. They had 3 smaller ones for smaller birds (Cockatiels, Lories and Ringnecks).

[bgmacaw]

Feeding time is a big chore. It takes 4 crew members 4 hrs to feed all. Each cage has a numbered food bowl. They clean and sanitize them each day. Sybil, the founder, cooks two 40 pound pots of food each night. This consists of beans, rice, split peas, etc. They purchase fresh fruit and veggies each week. They are beginning to plant a variety of fruit trees on the site.
The event:
As I said, Mark Bittner was there and talked about the film and book as well as parrot behavior in general. He also read some of his journal entries that related to Mingus, as he was the focus of the talk. he said this was his last public speaking engagement. He is planning to write another book, but not about parrots, he doesn't want to be stuck as the parrot man. He is contemplating a follow-up type book to Wild Parrots. By the way he estimates that flock is now over 200 birds.
Jan and Gary from Busy Beaks, gave a toy building talk. A big THANK YOU! needs to go out to them for their support of the charities. They had a trailer set up for toy sales and made the offer to match any purchase of toys bought and donated to the Oasis. I know the Oasis made out quite well. The cool part is that what ever the final total of donated toys, the Oasis staff was going to get to make their choices for a matching amount. Those birds are going to be very entertained for a while.
There was also a talk on bird behaviors by Rebecca Fox, an avian consultant from UC Davis. She actually got her intro to birds several years back, cleaning cages at the Oasis.
Of course donations are big on their list. Cash, various items or time. They have a program for folks to do a working vacation on the site.
www.the-oasis.org
I have probably ramble on long enough. There is so much to that place that is incredible. As many birds as they have, they could tell you their story when asked.

[bgmacaw]

Picture time.
1. Mark and some guy
2. Mark signing a copy of his book
3. Busy Beaks trailer
4. Mingus (L) and Andi
5. Yosemite

[bgmacaw]

1. This shows the ramp they built in the cages to accomodate Yosemite's disability. Mingus and Andi have a similar setup
2. The infirmary
3. The infirmary
4. The Rainbow Bridge - Residents that have passed are buried here. Any that had necropsies done and were creamated have their ash boxes in the office building.
5. A look down one of the rows of cages. The Gray house is slightly visible in the very back.

[bgmacaw]

Last ones, I promise.
1. The big bird house mural.

The murals on the buildings were done by Michelle Morse.
www.mmorse.com

[Winged_Victory]

Wish I could have been there!

Gary

[Xavier]

Does that mean you met Mingus?! Aree is his #1 fan! Everytime he comes onto screen she starts wolf whistling and making her cooy clicking noises. Its rather entertaining!

Can you still get his autograph!? Oh, and Mark's too please.

[bgmacaw]

We just watched a video on the Oasis that they gave us and was thinking I wish I could post it here also. We also went back to the Wild Parrots DVD and under 'extras' is a piece called Mingus at the Oasis. It actually has some good video of the place, along with Mark's reunion with him. If you don't have the Wild Parrots DVD it can be purchased on the Oasis website as well as others.

[The Outlaw]

Thanks, Jeff. Looks very interesting. How do the manage with so much dry and hot weather? Isn't this in or near the desert?

[Tiki]

Wow, I love the pics, that art work is sooooo cool! I'm glad you got to met Mark, he's a really cool bloke! I loved the clip on the DVD, Mingus so is so cute when he dances!