A cockatiel with yellow head feathers and orange cheek patches indoors near a window, surrounded by green leaves. 3:08
GeoBeats Animals channel icon GeoBeats AnimalsOriginal creator 550K views Save

Ginger the cockatiel has never met a stranger

Let a total stranger walk in, and Ginger will go straight to them and sit on them. The partially blind cockatiel trusts everyone. more

That trust is a small wonder, given her start. Ginger was surrendered to Donna's good friend Kelly, and her first owner said they had never taken her out of her cage for a couple of years. Donna finds it hard to imagine that Ginger never grew close to that family. Even with Kelly, she was super sweet.

A hand gently holds a small yellow cockatiel with an orange cheek patch and a red eye. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
Shut in her cage for a couple of years before, Ginger now gets to be out with people.

Kelly kept her for a couple of years, trying to find a foster home, but no one was the right fit. So she asked Donna's family to think about adopting her. Ginger melded right in, with the humans and with the other birds.

Donna lives in Hawaii, and her family has rescued a lot of different kinds of birds. For every one of them it is a forever home, and none will be released. The family built a room just for the birds, so they can be free in it.

A cockatiel with yellow head feathers and orange cheek patches indoors near a window, surrounded by green leaves. The headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
Let a total stranger walk in, and Ginger will go straight to them and sit on them.

How much Ginger can see is still a bit of a guess. Every day is a learning experience, Donna says. She thinks Ginger can make out shapes as you get closer, then knows you by your voice and the sounds you make, and maybe by touch.

Ginger does need a few allowances. If she takes off, she can't land on a perch. Her beak is weak, too, so she can't break open the nuts that other cockatiels can.

She also has her opinions. Try to hold her and she won't like it. Give her scratches, though, and she will.

A yellow cockatiel with orange cheek patches nuzzles a person's finger near its beak. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
Ginger won't be held, but a finger offering scratches is another story.

Her friends aren't all birds. Besides the other rescues, there is the family dog, Samson, and a butterfly named Dot, one of the butterflies Donna rescues. Ginger would always go to Dot's box. "It's almost like she knew she was there," Donna says, and the two would just kind of stare at each other.

A cockatiel with a yellow head and an orange cheek patch watches water drip from a faucet. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
Ginger gives a dripping faucet a long, close look.

Her biggest bond is with Donna's husband, who's not really a bird person. Ginger knows when he comes home. She loves her papa. When he went away on a trip, she was so sad that none of them could console her.

Ginger has brought the family so much joy, Donna says. As she finishes the story, she speaks to Ginger. "Yeah, I know," she says. "We're talking about you."

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