Sam now benefits from daily showers and gets to interact with other birds.  Her feathers are beginning to look shiny, and the plucked patches are filling in a bit.  She's quite cuddly for an amazon, and will thrust her head into my open palm and chew gently on my fingers.  She is easily excited and will go into full display and become very vocal under the right circumstances.  It's a beautiful thing to play peek-a-boo with her around a corner, because she will go through every vocalization she knows and variations of all those vocals.  She'll also flash her tail, pin her eyes, and stretch her beautifully-colored wings. 

 

To see a bird go from very shy to very comfortable in a matter of weeks has been truly rewarding.  When we first adopted Sam, we were told that she had "the personality of a rock", but being able to play with us and interact with us on a daily basis has really brought her out of her shell, and she has become a very entertaining companion.

 

Birds tend to be impulse buys.  It is very easy to walk into a petstore and see a beautifully colored amazon parrot and decide to buy it on the spot.  Unfortunately, not all people are cut out to own birds, and many birds end up without homes.  Adoption programs like WAES's have found loving homes for hundreds of thousands of unwanted birds.  If you are considering adding an avian companion to your flock, please look into your local rescue.