Wisconsin rescuer believes recovering birds do best in residential environment

MOST PEOPLE who undertake the difficult job of rescuing homeless parrots dream of someday moving operations out of a back bedroom and into a state-of-the-art aviary that can house hundreds of birds. Not Tracy Bockenhauer.

Bockenhauer, founder of LaCrosse Avian Rescue, Rehab & Adoption in Wisconsin, is content to fill her home with rescued birds so she can give them the close attention she believes speed their recovery.

LARRA founder Tracy Bockenhauer with Kubla Khan, a rescued blue-and-gold macaw she will keep.

"I feel the home is crucial to setting up an environment that is comfortable and secure, both emotionally and physically," says Bockenhauer, who began rescuing parrots five years ago when she bought a restaurant customer's ill African Grey (see this issue's feature story, "The plight of the discarded bird"). "A separate building is ideal for scheduling help, but the home environment is where most of these birds begin to trust again."

Wall-to-wall birds
Tracy and her husband, Ted, currently house 21 parrots ranging in size from cockatiels to macaws. About half of the birds are a "family flock" of pets acquired over the last 10 years. Most of the others are rehabilitated birds the Bockenhauers have decided to keep.

Seventeen other birds taken in by LARRA reside with six foster families in the LaCrosse area while they wait for permanent placement, which may--or may not--turn out to be with the foster family. Bockenhauer believes fostering is a good way to test a family's commitment and socialize the parrots, which sometimes go out for "sleepovers" and return to Bockenhauer's house the next day.

Birds come to LARRA through word of mouth and the organization's Web site, www.larra.org. All new birds spend 30 days quarantined at a foster home or in an isolation room at one of two avian vets that donate their services to LARRA.

Parrots of all sizes are scattered throughout the Bockenhauers' three-story home. Until recently, two blue-fronted Amazons slept in the couple's bedroom. A cockatiel recovering from a bout of giardia stays in 10-year-old daughter Breanne's bedroom.

However, most of the birds live in a large room in the basement furnished just for them. Bird toys and swings hang from the ceiling and there's a refrigerator, microwave and air purifiers. A TV and couch allow the Bockenhauers to spend time among the birds relaxing, and indoor/outdoor carpeting and plastic runners make cleaning easier.

During a recent phone interview, the sounds of chattering and screaming parrots often drowned out Bockenhauer's voice. "Ted just pulled into the driveway," she said, laughing. Both she and her husband were "hit in the head with the same club" when it comes to animals, especially parrots, Bockenhauer says. "He can't even get his coat off and the birds are climbing on him. They love him."

By chance, the Bockenhauers live in the perfect house for keeping a flock of parrots with strong lungs. It's located on an extra-large lot, surrounded by nature-loving neighbors who keep their bird-feeders stocked. More importantly, the house is sound proof.

"The architect who designed it 100 years ago was so afraid of fire he used cork insulation and poured cement between each floor," relates Bockenhauer. The family hears no traffic from the four-lane boulevard in front of the house--and neighbors don't hear squawks.

Country music fans
Bockenhauer begins her day when the Amazons, Simon and Snoopy, wake her with cheerful "good mornings" from their play stands in the computer room. Bockenhauer serves all the birds a breakfast of toast, fruit and pellets and changes cage papers. She moves through the house switching on TV sets and CD players, and placing birds on a collection of 14 T-stands and ring-stands to create a "flock environment."

Country music videos of Shania Twain whip the parrots into a happy frenzy of squawking and wing-flapping, she says. "They think she's 'it'! They lean off their perches and hang upside down." To soothe the birds, Bockenhauer plays CDs of waterfalls, chirping birds and other environmental sounds.

Later in the day, Bockenhauer serves cooked vegetables and "birdie bread" made of Jiffy Corn Muffin mix and vegetables. Every few hours--or more often if she spies misbehavior occurring on any of the three baby monitors placed strategically around the house--she rotates the birds to other stands to keep them from becoming bored or territorial.

Cleaning is a constant round of vacuuming, wiping food off the walls, and power spraying cages in the basement shower, all while interacting with the parrots. "I usually wear a few birds while I am vaccuuming or cutting veggies. All day, every day, with parrots. I have the life of Riley."

Bockenhauer mists each bird daily and treats half a dozen to a full shower on a special perch. In the evening, a CD playing the sound of chirping crickets lulls the birds to sleep. Unless a bird has been naughty, escaping to the floor or biting another resident, Bockenhauer allows it to remain uncaged around the clock, playing and sleeping on a cage or stand.

When Bockenhauer is away speaking to school children about LARRA or collecting a surrendered parrot, she relies on her daughter or a trusted volunteer from a team of 12 she would be "totally sunk without," to care for the birds.

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