Some Goffin’s Cockatoos check out the festive new benches outside.
These benches are along the path leading up to the Refuge. They were recently repaired (as needed) and painted a beautiful bright red by Glenn and Angela M. These are the volunteers that built the cockatiel flight and the small parrot flight.
Many thanks, Glenn and Angela!
Here are some of the informational and educational posters around the Refuge.
Many of these have information about what birds eat and how to keep them happy in a home, like ideas like foraging and play. There are also species-specific informational posters throughout WPR to teach people about the various types of birds living at the Refuge, as well as from where they originate. There’s the self-guided-tour board and a number of warning signs throughout to keep both humans and parrots safe. Rosie the Macaw did a stand-up job making sure I read the posters in the informational display. Thank you, Rosie!
Horst was busy outside putting up some more of the educational banners along the walkway up to the entrance. There will be about a dozen or so when he’s finished.
Wendy told me that there will be two new outdoor flights being built, as soon as the weather is amenable. The posts and fencing was already there, now all that’s needed is a few days of sun to get them up!
22 photos – 2 pages
Other photos from the day:
The construction equipment moved in yesterday morning to begin the new addition. Thanks to some very generous donors we will soon have a real laundry room, a walk-in refrigerator and a food preparation/kitchen area. This is fantastic. It will help our work tremendously. Stay tuned for more photos as the project continues.
Click here to read the whole story behind this photo.
About 3 months ago, Gloria Fantin from Calgary came to visit the sanctuary. She was amazed by what she saw and felt here, and offered her services to become the volunteer membership director. Whilst here, she could not help but notice that our laundry equipment is caged in for protection from enquiring beaks. She also noticed that it was taking all day to keep up with the endless towels and sheets. On returning to Calgary, she showed her photographs to Enid, a lady who has virtually adopted Ethan, the Blue-Fronted Amazon. Enid was happy to see Ethan looking so well, and enjoyed the stories about the sanctuary. She also decided that she could help in a way that no-one else could. She decided to donate a commercial laundry set. Wow – was all we could say! Wow – and – Can you imagine it? The thought of having new equipment that will cut down on the time spent doing laundry by hours is a dream come true. Gloria got to work and contacted the distributors to send out a representative to see what we needed – and now we know. This equipment is very specialized and uses high power. It also requires a different form of drainage. We decided to build the laundry equipment its very own house just outside the side door.
Then Craig and Fay Hofmaster came to visit their macaw, Bella. Craig saw that we had little to no refrigeration since the parrots have destroyed so many pieces of equipment. He asked what plans we had. I told him that in our dreams we see a walk-in cooler. We want to buy the walnuts directly from California, and save thousands of dollars, but we really need a large cool storage room for such an investment. Craig smiled and said he would look into it for us. Two days later, Craig and Fay came back with a name and phone number for us. I called Tom Richardson in Nanaimo, and he invited me over to see a walk-in cooler. It is absolutely perfect for our requirements. Tom listened to our plans and was very impressed with the work we do saving the lives of so many parrots. He wants to be part of our work – and he donated an enormous 13 x 20 x 10 foot-high walk-in cooler! Can you imagine it?
So, happily, our plans had to change a little. We now have to build the outside laundry room somewhat larger to accommodate the cooler as well.
As if that wasn’t enough, Craig said that he would look into finding a commercial dishwasher for us to cut down on the enormous amount of hours spent washing hundreds of dishes.
So the plans had to change a little more… and the new building has to be built a bit larger…
Well, the more we looked at this, we figured that we may as well do a complete addition to the side of the building, to incorporate the food preparation kitchen and the lovely stainless steel sink that Larry and Ann Neil had donated. Although it will prove difficult to prepare food without the assistance of 200 beaks, there is the possibility that it could speed things up! Lucy, the Hyacinth Macaw – just to name one – loves to fly in and use 50 freshly prepared dishes of fruits and veggies as her landing strip. She has even learned to laugh when they crash to the floor.
Doug Jones is now looking for new cupboards and shelves for the new addition. Imagine having cupboards with door knobs and shelves. Imagine having clean laundry stay folded until we need it – food stored safely inside a cooler – dishes sterilized and neatly stacked – WOW!
We already have some huge windows we can incorporate into the design. Horst Neumann has the steel and the equipment to make the steel siding. We need electrical boxes, faucets, copper pipe for plumbing and plastic pipe too. We need 2 x 4s for the construction, rebar for the concrete floor – and concrete too – let’s hope we can get a great deal on that commodity. The new addition will be about 35 feet long by 18 feet wide.
If you or anyone you know can help with this project – we would love to have you on our volunteer team! Please phone Wendy Huntbatch at 250 951 1166.
And to think it all began as the Laundry Project!
Thanks to the combined efforts of many volunteers the small birds now have outdoor flight cages!
From Stephanie: Getting a new water filter is a big deal for everyone. There are no dull moments on this job!
You look like you need a hand!
Birds and their power tools!
Ever feel like you're in a remake of 'The Birds'?
Larry Neil worked all last week repairing the broken outside cockatoo flight. Bill Martin, Stephanie’s husband, helped too. Last weekend, Doug Jones joined them and they all worked together in the incredible heat to finish it for the birds.
These wonderful volunteers did a tremendous job, and the birds are so grateful. They are having a blast outside in the sunshine. A huge thank you to these incredible people for the precious gift of their time.
The macaws begin their migration down the hall to their new home:
Danny Mauro was recording the action for a pitch he’s preparing for the Discovery HD channel. If this project goes ahead it could be a great boost to the WPR.