The Parrot Garden Staff has an expression they use. When a potential adopter comes in to see the Best Friends Birds, more often than not, the bird tends to choose the person. They call this “The Lightning Bolt.”
And very often, the bird they end up with is not necessarily the species they had in mind when they came to the Parrot Garden. Wendy Hatchel describes this phenomenon in this video I shot:
Patricia Sund
Parrot Nation 
September 29, 2012 at 12:10 pm
Excellent attitude and theory! Love it!!!!
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October 2, 2012 at 7:09 pm
That’s how Charlee amazon ended up coming home with me…she is my only “purchased” bird. I went to the bird store for supplies and met her…several months and many lunch time visits later…she found her “forever” home. I had a cockatoo at the time and wasn’t looking for an amazon. But… she loved me and it is very flattering to be “chosen” by a bird. She had been purchased previously and returned several weeks later…I have never met the “mean bird” her previous purchasers said she was. She is all amazon tho’ and thanks to Joni Doss and her books on “How to Speak Parrot” dealing with body language, she has remained the sweet and loving companion I brought home seventeen years ago.
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January 3, 2013 at 3:52 pm
I have a different story. When I was looking for a Macaw I looked a lot at venues such as Craig s List and Bird Rescues. I found a B&G on Craig s List only 100 miles from me. I live in a small town in the Midwest. 100 miles from everywhere. :o) .
I went to see the bird and believe me I know about the lightning bolt. I have been chosen before. I told my niece who drove me in her truck (the cage was too big for my car) that if I didn’t feel the connection I would not take the bird. Jesse the Blue and Gold Macaw was in perfect feather in a huge cage but had been passed over a couple of times because he would lunge and bite at the prospective adopters.. I spent two hours watching him. There was no lightning bolt. The owners were telling me how he had been very tame but due to illness he had not been out of his cage for a year or more. Being the cynic I am I discounted much of the sales talk. But in the end the price and the condition of the bird did the trick and Jess came with us. I had to admit to my niece that I didn’t get the “call” on this bird and neither did he it seemed. This was a Monday. Tuesday was my avian vets day in clinic so off we went to get a beak and nail trim. Jess was great about stepping up onto a dowel. At the vets neither I nor the tech were good about getting him out of the travel cage. At last we located a broom to use and out he came. We both noticed how calm he seemed and there was no flashing. Hummm! I reached out and stroked down his back and he actually leaned into it. He then put up his foot to step up and the deal was sealed. He was mine. The vet said he was the best bird she has ever worked with. It has been 3 years and Jess and I are great friends. He goes with me a lot and I am now a member of STAR Avian Rescue in St Louis. I am fostering a Moluccan two Amazons and an Alexandrine but Jess is my boy. The love of my life.
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