keep it in the dark.

It's surprisingly very active! It has calmed down a lot.

It's eating seed and drinks out of a water bubbler (the thingy that goes on a cage...) and let me pat her head and shut her eyes while I was doing that. Maybe it was someone's escaped pet?

It must be an escaped pet otherwise you wouldn't be able to touch it, and it would probably not be eating so soon.
It's very common for a pet bird to escape and then end up either starved or killed because it's not equipped to survive in the wild.

We've rescued a few wild birds (bluejay, killdeer, dove) and we've also caught a few escaped tame birds (cockatoo and a couple of cockatiels), the tame and wild ones act completely different when caged.
We still have both of the cockatiels.

Anyway, like johnjsr said, keep it in the dark.
Give it a towel to lay on, and try not to startle it too much in the morning.
Hope it's not seriously hurt... birds and vets can be an expensive combination. ;)

Good luck.

Update:

Thanks for the responses. Really appreciate the help!

You were right....it's definite a lost pet (or set free pet) and not a wild Quaker parrot.

I found a local parrot rescue group who directed me to their avian vet (board certified, etc). Initial assessment is it's legs are palalyzed. They are doing x-rays, etc. to determine more and course of treatment - or euthanize. :(

If it's determined the internal organs are fine, the rescue group has a rehabber who specializes in paralyzed birds.

Hoping for the best - she's a very sweet parrot.

Hey St. Pete,

Working in a Spinal Cord Injury unit I suspected that was going to the case. Odd though since that's a relatively low spinal cord injury. If the bird had flown into something you'd have to suspect a relatively high injury, which could have resulted in paralysis above the phrenic nerve, and the bird would have stopped breathing, remember Dale Earnhardt? Other possibilities, viral infection, kids hitting it on the back with a stick since it was a pet and probably not afraid of humans, someone shooting it with a BB gun or pellet gun with damage to the lower spine...who knows....

Tom

thanks for taking the time and effort to help a wounded animal.

Hi, SPF! I'm so sorry I missed your post. Have not been on the computer much lately. You got very good advice, though, and by taking the parrot to a vet who is knowledgeable about parrots and other birds (many are NOT), you did the right thing.

Most birds will calm down very quickly when they are put in a quiet dark place. With small wild birds, you can even put them in a paper grocery bag and roll the top down a few times. Then sit them in a quiet room. That will usually work wonders until you can get them help, if needed.

Often when birds fly into windows, they are stunned, and if left in a dark, quiet place for a few hours, will be up and ready to fly off like it never happened. Unless, of course, they are more seriously injured by the impact. But as a rule of thumb, dark & quiet should be the first step, if the bird isn't bleeding profusely.

Professional help is the next step, if they are in obvious distress.

So give yourself an A. You did all the right things to give this bird the best chance possible.

Let us know what the final outcome is. And thanks for caring!

Marcia

Hi everyone....thanks again for the responses.

I'm sad to say that the Quaker parrot did not survive. It died on it's own at the avian clinic this evening after incubation care and other vet stuff.
I'm really bummed. :(

Apparently, it had major internal injuries and some of the swelling put pressure on the spine which caused the paralysis. They think it flew into the side of a building or something - but not recently...several days ago.

The vet also confirmed it was actually a wild parrot and NOT a pet/tamed parrot. The extent of its injuries is what made it seem so docile and tame. The eyes and feet indicate tame or wild (...you probably already know this Manature) - dark eyes/feet are wild parrot indicators.

I know I tried and so did the others to help (the Florida West Coast Avian Society rescue group tried and the vet clinic).

It just sucks sometimes that you can't save them all no matter what you do. :(

Anyway, this is the name of the group that will do parrot rescue and have a bird focus. I have to admire anyone who dedicates their lives in trying to rescue something so eager to bite you!

The Florida West Coast Avian Society

http://www.fwcas.org/

Sad, but you did what you could and I commend you for that.

Flying into the side of a building doesn't sound natural unless there was something like an underlying viral or bacterial infection. Seems more likely that the bird was hit by a car windshield while flying, although either could happen if it was being chased by something like a hawk, but in that case why wouldn't the hawk have taken it's prey, unless the cat came along just at that point in time...guess we'll never know.