When Rita the Parrot first arrived at her new parent’s house, she could not fly. Since she was young, her previous parents had kept her in a cage, and during that time, her wings atrophied.
Nash, Rita’s new parent, was heartbroken seeing the parrot in this condition. Rita would even shake when she tried to balance. “She had no desire to move in any way,” Nash commented. “She was a statue.”
Luckily, her new parent knew how to give Rita the freedom she deserved. The first critical step would be improving Rita’s trust in her adoptive parent and herself. Nash wasted no time.
To help Rita build up muscle in her wings, Nash taught her to flap by letting Rita rest on their arm while Nash raised her up and down. But Rita’s training regimen did not stop there.
Nash helped Rita move through balance exercises that involved transferring between branches and climbing onto Nash’s hand from the floor. Nash even taught Rita to walk up the stairs.
The trickiest part of the process was encouraging Rita that she was strong enough to support herself. But one day, they had a breakthrough, and Rita carried herself from one perch to another.
Rita’s transformation took time, but for her new parents, all the effort was worth it. “She’s gone from basically a living statue to now understanding that… she’s got balance, she’s got wings now that she knows how to use.”
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