12/27/2025
We have been receiving applications for adoption and requests to surrender birds – we do see them and will be getting in touch with everyone over the next week or so. Our team of dedicated volunteers and fosters have been busy with not only the birds but family and friends during this holiday season, and we do appreciate all of your patience.
In addition, as 2025 draws to a close, we have some very difficult news to share. Angel, the blue and yellow macaw in our program, passed away unexpectedly last week.
This is going to be a long post, and we are going to walk through the timeline of events. But for those who might be triggered or are in the “TLDR” club, that is the gist of the story.
If you have been following her story, you probably remember her struggles with hormones. Initially, when we first took her in, her hormonal pathways had been so triggered for so many years, leading to a near constant state of obsession. After consulting with behaviorists, improving her diet to a high quality pellet and diverse range of raw vegetables, grains, and cooked legumes (and never providing any warm or overly mushy food), ensuring she had at least 12 hours of quiet dark each night (and experimenting with how to best implement this), only touching her head and feet when handling, providing toys and enrichment while removing access to anything that might be used for nest building, and visiting with our experienced avian vets, we made the decision to have them place a hormone implant . This was done in June, and she responded very well. Her foster was able to work with her daily, training her to “target”, step up nicely, and even “spin”. They were able to develop a relationship built on trust, which is very important when working with parrots.
Then about 6-8 weeks ago, Angel began to display some hormonal behaviors again. We shared a few videos here with you, noting what we were seeing and how others might identify this type of behavior in their own birds. The behaviors we were seeing, however, were much less intense than before, and normally, within just a minute or two, her foster was able to return Angel to “training mode” and interrupt the hormonal cues. While hormonal behaviors are always a cause for concern, we felt that this was perhaps the way Angel would return to life without an implant eventually: still going through these fairly normal time periods but not becoming stuck again in an obsessive loop.
On a Sunday night, after a very normal day, Angel’s foster put her to bed without incident. On Monday morning, however, they were met with a very different bird. Previously, Angel would want to leave her cage and “help” put together breakfast with her foster. Even if she was feeling a little out of sorts and not willing to step up, she would still climb out of her cage to her playstand and observe the food prep. On this Monday, she did not. She hardly looked at her foster, and the foster noticed that she was holding one foot in the air. She was able to touch Angel’s foot without causing any pain, and there did not appear to be any swelling, cuts, or redness to it. Angel was still eating and drinking, and so rather than take her to the vet to be seen in between other appointments, it was decided that the foster would monitor her closely at home, providing additional warmth and support as needed, until her appointment on Tuesday. We suspected that she possibly had an egg, but for a first-timer like Angel, we wanted to have some guidance.
At her appointment, the vet was able to feel an egg in Angel’s abdomen, and an X-ray confirmed that one egg was present, calcified and well formed. It appeared to be of normal size and should have been easy to pass in just a couple of days.
Unfortunately, by Friday, there was still no sign of an egg. Aside from being kind of quiet, Angel continued eating and drinking, and we did give her access to a dark, warm, “nesty” space in the hopes that it would help. Her foster stayed nearby, ready to offer support if needed. We were able to get Angel back in to see the vet.
The plan was for the vet to give Angel some light sedation, so she could go through the vent, pierce the egg, remove the contents and collapse the shell, relieving Angel of the pressure that the egg was placing in her belly. This was unsuccessful, and the vet speculated that the egg might be caught outside the reproductive tract altogether. She then went through the skin(a slightly riskier procedure) and was successful at collapsing the egg and removing the contents. We made another appointment for a more involved surgery the following Tuesday, and went home with antibiotics and pain relievers to help Angel in the meantime.
On Tuesday, the plan was to remove the pieces of egg left behind in the body, and that she could go home after a couple hours of monitoring. When the vet called our foster, he said the surgery had been successful, and he was able to remove all the leftover shell. The egg was ectopic, and could not have been passed on its own, and surgery was the required treatment.
Sadly, when the team went to wake Angel up from the anesthesia, her heart stopped. They were able to revive her, and her heart restarted and she was breathing on her own. Unfortunately, her heart stopped a second time, and this time, they could not get her back. Our foster was able to speak with the surgeon in depth about what might have caused all of this to begin with (from the formation of the egg all the way to the very end), if there was anything we missed or should have done differently, and we will continue to share what we learned with all of you, in the hopes that we can help other birds avoid this fate.
The loss of Angel has been difficult for so many people, especially her foster and her avian vets. The resident birds at the foster home feel the loss as well, and have been grieving in their own ways. When we are entrusted with a beloved parrot, HARP is dedicated to doing everything possible to improve that bird’s life and set it up for success in an adoptive home. We did reach out to Angel’s previous family first, to share this story with them, and they were sad but more than gracious in their response to us.
If you would like to make a donation in Angel’s honor, we would be so very grateful. Even when an animal passes, there are medical bills to settle, and as a rescue, we continue to set aside money for future unexpected veterinary expenses like this one.
Fly high, sweet Angel.
