Our Facilities
Outdoor Aviaries
Wingspan Parrot Sanctuary is located in a 6000 sq. ft. renovated church which has large beautiful windows and 12' tall ceilings to allow for incredible flight opportunities in the 2100 sq. ft. upstairs bird room. This is not a metal outbuilding lined with rows of single birds in cages, rather a warm space that will help your bird to feel at home in our home. There are two very large outdoor aviaries for our flock. One is a 40' x 20' Stainless Steel flight housing our male cockatoos. Our second is a stainless steel 30' x 30' aviary that houses a mixture of parrots, macaws, and cockatoos. Outdoor enclosures are critical to the health and well being of a parrot. They love the sunshine, the rain, and the fresh air along with the opportunity to socialize with other birds, fly, and have freedom of choice!
Indoor Enclosures
The indoor housing for the birds are 9' to 15' long walk-in aviaries - full of toys, ropes, and natural branches!
Play gyms
There is also several large hanging play gym and multiple other indoor gyms through out to make them feel like they are part of the family. Our birds are given frequent out of cage play time and are given regular training and attention!
Personalized Attention
Its the little things
Like cool water with ice cubes on a hot summer day. The
radio playing dancing music. Riot gets a cardboard box every day - his favorite thing! Carat gets a square of wood every day. Swoop likes to stick his tongue out and hiss together. Styx couldn't survive without his daily almond! Pele needs his humidifier filled up every day so his skin doesn't get dry in the winter months when the furnace runs. Tiki has to have the Lion King on during breakfast. These are the little things that make their lives extra special. The focus here is on the few, not the many.
Toys
Everyone knows that birds need toys! But toys can be hard to keep up with because the really fun ones are easy to destroy and they are expensive! The toy budget here is in the thousands of dollars. Every year. And that is in addition to the hand made toys that I build, the supplementation of natural soft pine, 2x4's, and boxes. There is also fresh grapevine added to the aviaries which they love to destroy! We plant the aviaries every year with new herbs and fruit trees. The cockatoo boys murder everything in a matter of days or a few weeks!! But they love doing it! Perch replacement is constant here too. In addition to rope swings and dragon wood play cubes, boings, and so much more. Keeping their environments "fresh" is a labor intensive never ending activity.
Safety measures
carriers
Several years ago there was a tragic story about a woman who owned several dozen large birds out west. Her town was threatened by wild fires and she was forced to evacuate without much notice. Unprepared, she put as many birds into pillowcases as she could. The remaining dozens of animals were left in the house to survive the fire - or not. Each bird at the sanctuary has a fully assembled, appropriate, safe, carrier with food and water bowls, readily available within close proximity to their permanent housing. During an emergency here - no one will ever get left behind. We also have a vehicle large enough to accomodate all the carriers comfortably and safely. These are considerations when looking at where to leave your animals.
medical supplies
At Wingspan we have supportive care and medicines that we utilize to help our flock heal or stabilize prior to the vet visit. **Do not mistake having supportive care and emergency products on hand as a replacement for vet care. Both are equally important. But the former is never administered without the addition of care provided by a certified avian vet. One should have a relationship with several qualified avian vets and have current vet records for the flock.
Taking time to train in behaviors that are helpful for medical care is also very important. Such as desensitizing to towels, loading into carriers without restraint, and drinking from a syringe.
camera systems
There are camera systems through out the house so I am able to monitor the birds even when I'm not upstairs with them. The cameras have both day and night vision are are connected to a computer system that records the footage. This is very important and one of the best things I ever installed! It allows me to see how the birds interact without my presence and it gives me tons of valuable information. If someone is injured, I can rewind the tape and find out what or who was the culprit. If someone was able to get out, I can see who it was and how they were able to do it, etc I can also make sure everyone is exploring and playing in their cages. If they're just sitting in one spot, it's time for new toys, more variety, or possibly a vet visit. The video feedback makes me a better owner and keeps the environment safe.
ways to identify good placements
*Remember that what their birds have now is what your bird will have eventually - no matter what they promise you.
*Always visit in person prior to leaving your birds with anyone. Even "closed" facilities can be viewed with an appointment.
*Entrust your animal to others who have had birds for over 10 years. People can be extremely passionate and enthralled the first several years. Often the attraction wears off and rehoming occurs or life changes shift priorities within a decade. Play the long game.
Freedom of Choice
Outdoor heaters
This is another of the many examples of freedom of choice for the birds. These outdoor heaters are radiant heaters. So they only heat the objects in front of them (or under them). The aviary is 20 feet long. So it is extremely easy to find a perch that does not get affected by the heat. But as you can see from the photo - the "hot seats" are popular places during cooler days! The heaters are kept at the lowest setting so they are not a burn risk. Additionally they are positioned very carefully to be out of reach and impossible to land on as the are up against the roof. The electrical is all conduit wrapped and immediately exists the enclosure from behind the unit through the roof. Safety is obviously a priority of all enrichment provided for the birds.
Misters - Shower Hour
Each aviary is fitted with a mister system that works on a timer. The timers are a very important part of wingspan. They assure that the birds receive consistent care regardless of my situation or life circumstances. Each enclosures timers' mist for an hour every day.
** An important thing to note here - The misters are positioned in such a way that the birds can choose to be in the water - or under the sheltered area and be completely dry. The birds having freedom of choice is extremely important to me! Every bird at the sanctuary can choose to get as wet as they want or stay as dry as they want, every single day. For the most part, I believe that I have raised a flock of ducks. They LOVE the shower hour and almost all the birds play in the water every day!
Special Accomodation
Often times I run across handicapped birds and the immediate solution is to put them into a small cage. Small may protect them to a degree. But it also takes the enrichment from their lives. We are very proud to create housing in a fun, healthy, safe way that gives our residents an exceptional quality of life. Pinny, the Alexandrine, had a stroke and cannot safely climb or perch. The elevated glass enclosure allows him to still feel like part of the family while being safe. The 6 foot long by 4 foot deep enclosure offers lots of opportunities for exercise and for additional toys to be added along with soft easily gripped perches.
heating pads
This is another form of accommodation and freedom of choice here that functions in similar ways to the platforms. We have several older residents who have a variety of developing health issues. Several breeders were left outside over winters during inclimate weather and have arthritis in their feet. Others have had strokes. In addition to glucosamine and multiple types of perching, including flat, soft platforms to give them the choice to rest their feet, several of the more senior birds have access to a heating pad. Which is a FAVORITE!!
As always it is important to note the emphasis on safety. These are heating pads specifically designed to be used by animals. These are *not* regular heating pads that you buy at the store. They are temperature controlled, have all the components protected, and all the electrical in non chew housing. In addition to this we position the heating pads in ways that make them safer yet. Safety is obviously paramount here.
Additionally there is topic here that I would like to discuss. *This is the thing that makes Wingspan so wonderful. It's the secret ingredient here! And that's personalized attention. Things like heating pads are not just thrown into cages. I know these birds - very well. I know which ones are prone to chew on what and which ones aren't. There was also a lot of time spent on this change. So the heating pad was introduced by me in his cage with him. I spent hours with him making sure that everything was safe and the initial exploration wasn't damaging to the unit. Additionally, for days afterwards, a lot of time was spent observing Pele using the heating pad and it was only on during observation times with the heating pad being checked each day. This slow supervision led to increased confidence and a safe transition to freedom of choice by this very cute umbrella boy.
Health care
UVB lights
All of our birds here have UVB lights above their enclosures. UVB plays a very important role as it allows them to synthesise Vitamin D3 in their skin. Parrots need Vitamin D3 to metabolise calcium which they use to produce eggs, build and maintain strong bones and maintain normal growth.
UVB lights need to be replaced every year in order to be effective. These that we use are 98.00 each. You can see on the hanging playgym we have 2 of them. Most of our larger enclosures and ones with multiple birds have multiple lights. There are 10 UVB lights currently in use here at wingspan. That's a $1000. yearly expense that continues to increase in price.
These are also set up on timers to ensure consistent light exposure. There are also many areas of each enclosure available where they can get away from the light if they so choose. We try to give them as much autonomy and freedom of choice as we possibly can.
Rabbit air filters
This will be a short paragraph as I'm sure everyone is familiar with how delicate and sensitive a bird's respiratory system is from the old canary in the coal mine. Air filters are wonderful but also require a fair amount of time and energy to maintain. The filters are in frequent need of vacuuming and / or washing, and then eventually replacing. A complete filter set replacement is over $100. Per unit.
Platforms
This is another form of accommodation here. We have several older residents who have a variety of developing health issues. Several breeders were left outside over winters and inclimate weather and have arthritis in their feet. Others have had strokes. We provide multiple types of perching, including flat, soft platforms to give them the choice to rest their feet. Even the birds with no apparent ailments regularly play and sit on the various platforms throughout the enclosures.
humidifiers
Keeping the humidify up during the dry winter months is essential for the birds comfort and to avoid itchy dry skin. The humidifiers are refilled daily and are taken apart and cleaned on a very regular basis. This is a time consuming addition to their environment, but it's worth it to see them thrive.