Tilly's Story

~Written by Anna~

We have several wonderful re-home stories in our family. I will tell you the one that is most memorable for me. An older gentleman was being moved into a nursing home. He had fallen and broken his hip. His family would not take Tilly, his peach faced love bird, so he placed an ad in the paper looking for a new home for her. When my Aunt and Uncle went to go and look at Tilly she was sitting on the gentleman's lap playing with him. He was tossing a little bead and she would fetch it back to him. He cried over Tilly and my Uncle and Aunt promised to provide a good home for Tilly. You could tell he really loved her.

When she first came home, Tilly flew around cheeping, as though she were looking for her former owner. Once the old man got settled, he would call sometimes and they would put him on speaker phone. Tilly would fly over and cheep at him and he spoke to her. After he started calling, she perked up.

It was an adjustment to come to a new home for Tilly because she had to be caged part of the time living with my Aunt and Uncle. They had to teach her to play with toys and entertain herself for a few hours each day.

During the four years which my aunt and uncle had Tilly, she was a very confident and sociable bird. She loved everyone and would fly to greet them. They installed a door between the entrance hall and the rest of the house so Tilly could be free flighted. This way even if she did get into the entrance hall, the outside door would always already be shut. She would often play fetch with anyone who would toss her a little colored bead.

There was , however, one thing that Tilly did not like: red hats! She would chew out any visitor who came over wearing a red hat. My family were 49er fans, so around football season everyone joked about checking their hats at the door so as not to upset Tilly. In some ways she was like living with another person, just one who spoke a different language than we did.

My Aunt got the address of the nursing home where the elderly gentleman went, and once a week she would go in with pictures of Tilly and tell him about her. Tilly's owner passed away about a year after they got Tilly. He said that knowing Tilly had such a good home made it easier for him to go. Tilly died about 5 years ago after developing a cancerous tumor.

Tilly was a friendly and loving lovebird because she had been taken care of by a great owner in her first home. My Aunt and Uncle not only got a fabulous pet, but they made a new friend as well. So many people want big birds because they can talk. Tilly was able to get across exactly what she wanted to say without ever speaking a word.