Lessons I learnt as a tame bird owner during a natural disaster:
Back in 2022, we had devastating floods in our area. Fortunately our floor level was just above the flood water level, but my business and many of our family members homes were impacted. It was devastating for our community, along the East Coast of Australia for several hundred kilometers.
Image source: regleis.com.au
Vonnegut and Schiele our two tame birds were fine, our house was fine, unlike many others. But I did have 11 paintings in the floods (in fact, they were just to the left of this photo of our local arts precinct). A whole year’s worth of work.
But here’s the important things I learnt with regards to being a tame bird owner during a crisis (though I imagine much of this information would be the same for birds that are untamed):
Bird owners should always, always leave a key with a friend.
Early in the morning, we drove about 4 hours north to Tiaro, a little rural town where my grandmother had lived (we were sadly there to attend her funeral). We had planned to stay the night so I had left Vonnegut and Schiele in their cages and left a key with my friend Ruth so she could give them some fresh food in the morning before we arrived home.
But of course, we didn’t arrive home. Shortly after we arrived in Tiaro the highway flooded behind us at Gympie. Then a few hours later the roads flooded north of us at Maryborough. We were effectively stuck.
To cut a long story short (and to spare you the details about having to put our beloved dog down while grieving our grandmother and living out of a truck stop), we were stuck there for 6 days before the highway reopened. In that time, our birds would have starved in their cages with no food or fresh water had we not have given a key to Ruth (who was amazing and continued to drive to our house and feed Vonnegut and Schiele every day for a week) even though she wasn’t familiar with birds.
So the lesson: always, always leave a key with a family member or friend in case you unexpectedly get trapped like we did.
Bird owners should keep an emergency store of seed, peas and berries in the freezer and in your go bags.
Not long after we finally arrived home, the storms followed us south and hit Brisbane and then would you believe it, our area on the Gold Coast started flooding! Fortunately our house was just above the flood level, but about 20 minutes south (where I work) was completely flooded. And it kept raining. The flood waters stayed, everything turned putrid, electricity was out, ATMs were out, roads were flooded or washed away. People spent days on their roofs, waiting for help and most people couldn’t access their money or phone networks. No food trucks could get in our out. Fresh fruit and veggies were scarce. But because I always keep frozen peas, berries and seeds in the freezer our birds were fine.
So the lesson: always keep an emergency ration of bird food at home/in your go bags.
Bird owners should own a travel cage.
During the flood threats, and while we were on evacuation alert, I was so thankful I had 2 travel cages for Vonnegut and Schiele. These are small cages that are easy to cary but they’re too small to keep Vonnegut and Schiele in on a daily basis. I keep these cages for whenever we need to travel to the vets (even though Vonnegut and Schiele are bonded, Schiele insists on her own space and will get aggressive if confined with Vonnegut, that’s why we have 2 cages).
Eventually the storms moved further south (unfortunately devastating more towns all the way down to Sydney, about 1100km away, or 12 hours drive) and the floodwaters passed. Communities formed “mud armies” and started picking up the pieces. There’s still people living out of sheds and temporary community shelters. I still get panicked when heavy rain sets in and we weren’t badly affected in our home. I can’t imagine what it is like for others who have had their homes flooded or destroyed.
Nevertheless, the travel cages were invaluable. They actually came in handy again a few months later when our local creek flooded and our roads were blocked, but we had to get Vonnegut and Schiele to the avian vet. We were able to walk across a footbridge, cages in hand and pass them to a friend on the other side of the creek, who then drove them to the vets for us.
So moral of the story, always have travel cages/crates available in case of emergency.
I’m happy to say that everything here at home is now back to normal and I’m back in the studio painting again:
Knowing the Vonnegut and Schiele were safe, dry and fed was a big relief during that very stressful time. And while I never thought we would ever experience anything like that in our area, I was so thankful that we were prepared!
I hope my insight can help you keep your birds safe during any future disasters as well. And if you’d like more insights like this, direct from me to you, you’re welcome to join my free Facebeak Fanclub where I send education emails straight to your inbox (scroll down to join), sharing all the things I’ve learnt as a bird owner, such as how to tame parrot.
Anne, Vonnegut & Schiele xo