Sunday, December 19, 2010

Good-by Harry

It is with a great deal of sadness that we must let our readers know that Harry, our sweet little Blue-fronted Amazon Parrot passed away on December 8th.  

Results of a necropsy have confirmed that he had a cancer that had worked it’s way into his crop, and did not manifest symptoms until it was too late for treatment.


Harry came to us in 2006 as an endowed member of our collection from a private party who was no longer able to care for him.  Harry’s age was uncertain.  The person from whom we obtained him had had him for about ten years, and they had received him as a “rehome” from someone else. 

Harry was a very charming and talkative little character.  While on display in our nature center he captured the hearts of trainers, as well as guests, with his entertaining vocabulary and excellent whistling skills.  When he was not appearing in WBS educational bird programs at zoos, he traveled with our Education Staff locally to educate the public about the plight of the world’s parrots due to destruction of the rainforests.

We will sorely miss his cheery “Hello” and “Hi Harry!” when we enter the Nature Center every morning.

2 comments:

Jane said...

Did he say "I am a close relative of a dinosaur" ? I had a Blue-fronted for several years before having to find a new hone for him when we moved to a new city. We called him Tommy, but never knew his/her sex for sure. He spoke about 200 words. He would imitate me on the telephone, "uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh, ok, ok, fine. bye bye." He would hum along with Joni Mitchel and other female singing artists. I have always wondered what happened to him. I had him from 1980 through 1985.

Photog said...

I don't think our Harry was your "Tommy". Even though Harry had a wide vocabulary, to my knowledge no one ever heard him say the "dinosaur" phrase. That one would certainly be a good way to I.D. him.