Parrot Festival in Houston Jan.25-27

[Dot]

http://www.parrotfestival.org/

Is anyone here going?

[bonnie]

I thought about driving down for the market on Saturday. It's about 4 or 5 hours from here. I could only stay one day... maybe Friday night then come home Saturday Night.

[Dot]

I thought about driving down for the market on Saturday. It's about 4 or 5 hours from here. I could only stay one day... maybe Friday night then come home Saturday Night.

It's a four or five hour drive from here. Wouldn't it be weird if we were in the same town. Actually, I think it is four hours from here. I am in northwest Louisiana.

[bonnie]

I'm in Southwest Ok... LOL
Are you going to make the trip? I'd LOVE to spend the day with you!

[Dot]

I'm in Southwest Ok... LOL
Are you going to make the trip? I'd LOVE to spend the day with you!

Yes, I am riding over with an Amazon breeder here in town. He has to leave after work, so I have no idea when we'll get there.

I would love to meet some of the folks.

We can stay in touch and set something up. I am hopeless at remembering anything, so I'll have to have a last minute reminder.

[Uncle]

Dot,

I know you told me that you have thick skin because of the years you were a school teacher, so I am going to take you at your word. My intent is certainly not to scold but to inform of the dangers of posting links to commercial websites.

I am leaving your post up and leaving this post here as well so we can all learn. And I would like to hear from others as to what they think.

Your link points to - National Parrot Rescue & Preservation Foundation

We would like to help every bird in the world and every person/people who help birds. And at the same time we must protect our HB family at all costs.

By reading their website - it looks like these people are wonderful. But---
Their name suggests "National" when in fact they are local to Houston.

Their site says:
The Birds! Parrots For Adoption
We ONLY adopt out in the local Houston area and you must be over 21 years old.

There mission - which is very worthwhile - we cannot be asking or even
presenting to our family members places that they can or "should" donate
money to.

Mission:
Present the annual Parrot Festival for the purpose of education and
fundraising.
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr

Also - they advertise products that we have no way of knowing if they are good or even safe for our birds.
http://www.parrotfestival.org/birdelicious.html
http://forum.bird-elicious.com/

Additionally, they have a links page to several other "commercial" endeavors as well as bird forums (competitors of ours).
http://www.parrotfestival.org/links.html

And finally - we have no control over their website as to the links or other
commercial enterprises they might get involved with in the future.

When we get our free links pages going, we will "know" each and every person personally that we put a link to, such as our Don at www.donsbirds.com (http://www.donsbirds.com) and our Bill at www.birdscomefirst.com (http://www.birdscomefirst.com)

And we most likley will have paid advertisers - but they will be scrutinised
from top to bottom before they "earn" the privelidge of having presence on HB.

What does everyone think about this???

[bonnie]

When I was looking at this site when I first heard about it the first thing I noticed was the fact that they present the 'donate here' icon before ever persenting any informantion. On most sites it's further down and less 'out there'. The fact that they are charging so much to see the speakers. Yes, speakers cost a lot, but if there are enough people interested in going, the price could be a bit less. I don't know, maybe it's just me.

I do think that it's a good idea for potential advertisers on HB to have products that are birdy safe and 'HB approved'. Also, they should be checked often to make sure their new products are birdy safe in order to be able to continue advertising.

[Dot]

You are so right. I do not know anything about these people. I am so sorry you had to read all of that because I was not careful.

I have never been to any kind of conference on birds, so I am excited to get to go. I do recognize the names of some of the speakers.

I did not even look at their links because I would simply never look at something like that. I am not going to the Festival to support their rescue, but to meet the people.

And yet, my skin is tough. Again, though, I am sorry that you had to read all that to correct us.

Gee, if I get there and it is all rescue stuff, I will not be a happy camper.

[bonnie]

You are so right. I do not know anything about these people. I am so sorry you had to read all of that because I was not careful.

I have never been to any kind of conference on birds, so I am excited to get to go. I do recognize the names of some of the speakers.

I did not even look at their links because I would simply never look at something like that. I am not going to the Festival to support their rescue, but to meet the people.

And yet, my skin is tough. Again, though, I am sorry that you had to read all that to correct us.

Gee, if I get there and it is all rescue stuff, I will not be a happy camper.
I think it will be fun. Are you going to the conferences? I won't have the money too... I'm about to start a new semester and that means buying those books that cost an arm and your left pinky toe... So if I get to go for the weekend I will be a lucky ducky

[Dot]

I think it will be fun. Are you going to the conferences? I won't have the money too... I'm about to start a new semester and that means buying those books that cost an arm and your left pinky toe... So if I get to go for the weekend I will be a lucky ducky

Yes, I am going to the conferences. I am retired now and have the time. I have never been to anything like this and am really excited. I hope it is fun.

[EasySpirit]

Parrot festival is an anual event. In Houston, parrots brought to the humane society or ASPCA go to the National rescue here in houton. Birds go into a foster home situation vs aviary. The festival is one of their fund raisers.

The festival has quality speakers and is worth attending. they also have a large array of vendors with many type of products from clothing, to hand bags to high end quality stainless steal playstands and those people even make custom ones. You have food vendors of various types. Birds just want to have fun usually exhibits their educational and foraging toys. Barbara Heidenreich has been a vendor and you can talk to her personally, buy her books or tapes or back issues of magazine. Of course there are cage and toy vendors. We have recently been aware of issues with some toy vendors and cage vendors so just be smart about your choices.

You will meet people from all over the country. Friday night is meet the speaker night. this is one symposium where the speakers must remain for the entire time and be available to speak with people. Not all seminars do this. What a wonderful experience sitting and listening to Sally Blanchard, a program organizer, Nancy speed and a couple of others just shooting the breeze and talking about birds. I had happened to bring one of my birds at the requests of some of my friends that were in town. You are not suppose to bring birds but the hosts invited me in to the vendor area to meet people. Gads, everyone needed a bird fix. LSC timor tooz are one of Sally's favorite birds....yikes and it was a too.

Saturday night is the big dinner and a silent auction. Yes folks it is a fund raiser to help pay for the speakers and on going care for birds that are taken in. I remember one year they caught a couple of large macaws flying around wild. the group placed the birds in a foster home and had a couple of people come in who were experienced in handling large macaws.

I feel it is worthwild to attend.

Lips is another seminar that is great to attend. It is put on by the Long Island Parrot Society. Again great speakers and vendors.

Texas A&M with San Antonio bird club has a seminar each year at Texas A&M. This one gives continueing education hours for vets and vet techs. Besides the excellent speakers, a few vet students give a short presentation on a research project that they had completed. This is also a fund raiser for teh club and money is also given for avian research. Zupreem is one of the main vendors.

Other seminars etc are put on by some of the avian organizations. There will be a big one In February in Phoenix Arizona. I think this one is put on by ASA (avian society of america)

Easy

[Larry, Baby and Me]

Thanks Easy,

First-hand knowledge like your's is so valuable.

Do you have any information on what seems to be a contradiction...?

Their name suggests they are National - while they explicitly state that they only adopt birds out to the local Houston area.