Dixie The Chattering Lory Cycles The
Pacific Coast
Lorraine Escher
Ottawa, Canada
I’ve seen people take
their dogs for a bike ride. So, why not a parrot? To allow my bird some time
outside, my handlebar bag seemed to me to be an excellent starting point for a
carrier that I could perch the bird, close at hand, out of harm’s reach. Soon,
a summer of sewing and prototypes took hold, and my husband and I decided to
take our bird with us on a trip. Our trip took us from Abbotsford, BC to San
Francisco – it involved cycling 1700kms, camping all the way, just the two of
us, with our parrot Dixie.
Here
are some of the questions we were asked along the way.
Yes. Sometimes, somewhat unpredictably Dixie will
give a nasty peck. Sometimes it will be hard enough to break the skin, or leave
a blood blister. Yet, more often than not, he is friendly; he will tilt his head
to invite you to rub his head and neck, and he likes to play wrestle, sometimes
by lying on his back, and ‘defending’ himself with his legs.
What
type of bird is Dixie? – Question asked by a self-disclosed bird-watcher, on
ferry to Port Townsend, Oregon
Dixie is a chattering Lory (Lorius garrulus).
He belongs to the Psittacine family, and is recognized as an endangered species.
He is about 20 centimeters long, and has a bright red body, with green wings and
green legs.
How
much did he cost?– Question asked by a boy at the Cresent City KOA
Dixie
cost about $2000 Canadian or $1500 US.
Yes.
Dixie has a vocabulary of about 50 words. But, he is generally shy around
strangers. When Dixie is not talking, he imitates sounds like the microwave
beeping, a note of surprise, or just generally babbling and chattering as he
learns new sounds. He also screams and sqwaks. This can be absolutely
ear-splitting.
Fortunately,
Dixie seems to keep the same hours as we do. He doesn’t make a sound at night.
But, the minute we make a sound in the morning, he starts to chatter. Sometimes
he greets us with “good morning”, and often he yells for attention.
In
the past, we have left Dixie with a bird sitter. The bird sitter is excellent.
Despite the care he would enjoy in Ottawa, we decided to take Dixie on our
cycling trip for a number of reasons:
At the start of our trip, this was a bit of an
unknown. But, fortunately, Dixie seemed to take the traveling in stride. During
our trip, Dixie traveled by plane, ferry boat, automobile and bicycle. Other
than a period of sleepiness, where I suspect he was recovering from jetlag,
Dixie showed no signs of stress. He groomed himself as per usual. He talked a
little less but made lots of bird sounds, and his loud distinctive sound
competed with others in the forest.
Carry-on. The cost of transport varies depending on the
airline carrier. Dixie spent the duration of the flights under the seat in front
of me. Occasionally, he would mimic a sneeze or the beeping sounds in the plane,
but other than that, he was an excellent (and quiet) passenger.
I
was told that the bird had to remain in the carrier at all times, and an
attendant told me that an oxygen mask was available for use by the bird in case
of an emergency. No matter that the mask was big enough to practically cover his
entire body. Fortunately, we didn’t have to test out the masks.
Yes. Yes we worried about everything – from illness and disease to every-day care activities such as proper feeding. Fortunately, much of our learning occurred before our trip, so we didn’t have too many surprises. Not including the advance planning, which was literally days of researching, phone calling and sewing, we estimate that it required about an hour of effort each day to care for the bird. Bearing in mind that we camped the entire way, and cycled 85 miles per day on average, at times it was difficult but in the end very rewarding.
Dixie was with us virtually 24 hours a day. When we
needed to shop, one of us would go into a store, while the other stood guard
with the bikes. This would have been the routine, regardless if the bird had not
been with us, because we would want to keep an eye on our bikes and belongings.
Trips to stores were fairly quick, as we usually stopped
to shop for food only. Anything we bought would have had to have been carried by
us on our bikes – a powerful deterrent against loading up on tourist
knick-knacks.
We usually cooked our own meals. But, when we stopped for dinner, or coffee we almost always dined outside. When this wasn’t possible, we propped our bikes against a window, and asked to be seated at the window.
Did
he attract a lot of attention?
Yes. Every day we would meet people who would ask
questions and want to take Dixie’s photo. Some of the questions showed genuine
interest, and concern for his well-being. And, some of the questions seemed to
imply that I was one step removed from a village idiot.
I think I was polite in all situations, even when
approached by one (indulge me) well-heeled but haughty stranger in Sausalito. As
I stood guarding the bikes, answering questions in what seemed to be a scrum of
tourists, a woman implored above the crowd, “Surely, you’re not just doing
this for the bird,” as though I lived to clean bird cages, and could not be
without the task, even while on vacation. Sigh. Some people just don’t get it.
On the whole though, bringing Dixie allowed us to meet
lots of interesting people, many of who were also bird owners. We also met a
couple from Philadelphia on their way to a wedding, other cyclists, a family who
allowed us to share their camping spot. We also met a woman who also claimed to
take her bird for bike rides. Apparently, he sat on her shoulder without the
carrier. Well trained bird, but messy, I’d hazard to guess.
No. Dixie has had his wings clipped. This means that he can land gracefully, but his flight feathers have been trimmed. Although the flight feathers do grow back, we trim Dixie’s feathers to ensure that he doesn’t meet a nasty end by flying into windows, landing on stovetops or falling into a toilet.
Absolutely, which is why Dixie was rarely out of his
travel carriers without the Feather Tether. The Feather Tether is a bird-harness
and leash that we bought at a pet store. About halfway through our trip we put
him in the leash less often, opting instead to put him somewhere where it would
be difficult to escape. Despite our best efforts, Dixie never seemed to like the
Feather Tether; he screamed blue murder while we were putting it on, and he
spent most of his time chewing on it. When Dixie wasn’t on his leash, we kept
a very close eye on him.
My favorite question – Yes. Dixie spent mornings
and evenings outside. But, we rarely took him out of the bicycle bird carrier
during the day, because it was too much of a risk to lose him, and he seemed to
enjoy the ride. Sometimes, at the end of the day, it was difficult to get him
out of the bicycle bird carrier. It was as though we were disturbing his nest.
How
can you tell if the bird is getting enough to eat?
We measured Dixie’s food into a Thermos and monitored his intake throughout the day. As a Lory, Dixie eats primarily nectar and sometimes a bit of fruit. Dixie had access to his food during the day. But, to ensure that he was getting enough to eat, we spoon-fed him, in the morning and at night.
We took a lot of precautions to ensure that Dixie
would be comfortable, as he traveled by bike along the coast. This included
researching climate (natural habitat versus the climate along the Pacific
Coast), purchasing a mini-thermometer, and sewing wind-wear, fleece-wear and
rainwear for Dixie’s bicycle bird carrier. As an added precaution, I purchased
some hand warmers, which proved to be invaluable.
Only one person asked me this question. The short answer
is no – we were traveling along the coast, which is known to be cooler than
the inland climate. And, Dixie is a chattering Lory – a breed from Indonesia.
Having researched the climate in this area, and comparing it with the maximum
expected temperatures along the Pacific Coast, I felt confident that heat would
not be a problem. However, I learned early in the trip the importance of shade.
In Washington, I put Dixie in a sunny spot. Within minutes he had ducked to the
bottom of his bird carrier. It was his instinct to seek shade and cool.
Dixie slept in the middle of the tent, between our down sleeping bags in an airline approved soft-case carrier. Before the trip, I made Dixie a fleece nest. He slept inside the nest, at the back of the carrier on top of a sock (clean), which contained a single handwarmer. Although the temperature dropped to 50 degrees, he seemed quite content in his nighttime nest. When we put him to bed, he could be heard chirping and cooing like a pigeon.
In
an area with bears and mountain lions, this was of real concern to me. And, the
web is full of frightening stories, and warnings about the possibility that an
innocent household fluffy might lure predators, and be quickly snatched from
campsites.
To alleviate my fears, we contacted park wardens
along the Pacific Coast in advance of our trip. Although no one had ever heard
of a parrot being taken on a camping trip, none of the park wardens that we
contacted thought that traveling with a parrot would be enough to bring sharp
teeth out of the wood. But, we were told to keep Dixie’s food secure from
animals.
At one point, while cycling through Washington, I
wondered whether I was carrying virtual bait on my handlebars. But, Dixie seemed
to enjoy the sights and sounds of the forest, and I couldn’t have asked for a
better bear bell. Loud. Shrill. Typically annoying. But, in a forest with large
teeth lurking, it was a sound heaven sent.
To my surprise, I found birds of prey to be my
biggest concern. Whereas I usually cycle with my ears and eyes open to the
traffic around me, cycling with a parrot strapped to the handlebars, brought
about a new dimension. Suddenly, I was watching for big-black-things circling in
the sky.
West Nile virus was a concern. To reduce the possibility of mosquito bites, I made a mesh cover for the bicycle bird carrier. Fortunately, the areas we traveled in were not very buggy, and we used the mesh cover only a few times
Exotic Newcastle Disease (END) was another concern, particularly as we were traveling to California, where known cases of END had been reported. At the time of our trip, we were told that Canada would refuse poultry from California, and I worried that this might impact Dixie’s return to Canada.
One
Canadian inspector, who was unfamiliar with the affected areas, simply advised
me to “leave the bird at home”. This was not the response that I was looking
for. But, was typical of the red tape that we experienced in arranging with
various agencies in Canada and the US. He also mentioned that, upon our return,
we might be required to prove that we had not entered the affected areas. Yet,
there seemed to be no easy solution to this. So, we decided to keep our receipts
as proof. Fortunately, the END was not an issue at the border crossing.
For
more information about END, see:
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/issues/enc/exoticnc.html
Before
our trip, we found a list of avian veterinarians who worked along the Pacific
Coast.
No. Dixie was brought into the US and Canada legally,
with more documents than either Rick or myself. Given the sheer volume of phone
calls and general run around, the fantasy did occur to me to allow the bird to
run, and cross the border on his own accord, whereupon we could grab him on the
other side. But, erring on the side of caution, we jumped the necessary hoops to
legally transport the bird from Canada to the US.
Here
are the steps we followed to enter the US in Washington:
1. Got CITES certificates - from both Canada and the US. These certificates identify that the bird was legally acquired. The forms can take 2-3 weeks to process.
TO
OBTAIN THE CITES certificate
In
Canada - Ottawa
Call
819-997-1840
In
the US - www.le.fsw.gov
Click
on Information for Imports and Exports
Permits and Licenses
Other service permits
Alphabetic listing..click on P for Pets.
Print form 3-200-46
Also...check out FAQs for bringing your pet bird back to Canada.
2. Enquired about Exotic Newcastle Disease, which may
have been an issue since we were going to California, and wanted to ensure that
we would were aware of the affected areas. Call 360-988-5715.
3. Called Inspector Williams at Blaine, Washington -
360-332-5388. The Inspector could arrange for a vet to meet us in Port Angeles
or Blaine, Washington. We didn’t have to wait to have the CITES certificates
to call him. It was suggested that I call him as soon as possible.
As
an FYI...there is a very helpful lady at 206-764-3463, of Fisheries and
Wildlife, US. Really nice lady.
This is a question we’ve asked ourselves, and I
guess it would really depend on the type of vacation. Traveling with a bird
requires a lot of advance planning and work. Bicycling the Pacific Coast also
requires mental stamina, and physical fitness. The trip had difficult moments,
but our fears were eased after a few days, and we started to develop a routine.
For the detail-oriented, here is a synopsis of our
daily routine:
Before riding (early AM)
While riding
After riding
For trip photos, see: http://escher.ca/pics/pacific-coast-aug-2003/
Lorraine Escher, Ottawa, Canada
E Mail Lorraine