http://www.iowaparrotrescue.org/

Iowa Parrot Rescue, 2479 Golden Avenue, Letts, IA (2026)

05/31/2026

*This is a courtesy post. NOTE-this bird is NOT in our building. If you are interested, contact information for the owner is at the bottom. Do not contact us in regards to this bird please. As always, there is no charge for adopting them or anything they come with.*

Linda & Gayle need a long-term budgie-sitter!

Linda and Gayle are 3 year old budgies — pretty sure they’re male, because they both have purplish ceres, but we named them when they were too young to tell and the names stuck :)

I have to go overseas for work for just under a year (aka a “school year”), to teach, and my whole family is coming — I’d love to place Linda & Gayle with someone who has budgie experience and would enjoy their company — and then return them when my family gets back to the US next year.

Currently they don’t get handled because we have two cats in the house, and we aren’t fond of taking risks with our feathered friends! So they play in their roomy cage and we talk to them. Linda (blue&white) LOVES toys, and is a bird-basketball star, Gayle (yellow) is indifferent to toys but likes to nibble rope and fabrics and make them fray. They like each other, fruit-scented millet sprays, and bagged parakeet seed. I have offered them fresh fruits and veggies but they haven't gone for it yet.

I would want someone to start caring for them in about 2 months, in mid-to-late-July (right before all the scary moving stuff starts), and then I would be back for them in June ’27. They would of course be able to bring their 53"x30"x22" cage and all their stuff with them to their foster home.
If I can’t find someone who would watch them just for the year, I would have to look into parting with them forever, which I would rather not do, but so long as they can go to a good home, I will do whatever is best for them.

If you know you’d be a good temp host for these two for one year, please contact me directly, Amy Letter, [email protected] (I’m a Drake professor) — Thank you!!

05/29/2026

We got word Socrates is up and moving (and feisty!) around after an urgent surgery this morning to fix her broken wing. We are so grateful to Whitehaven vet for taking her scans during her CVI appointment of Wednesday so we could get her into surgery so quickly. We are also incredibly grateful for our vet Dr Jen at Quad City Pet Care who operated quickly and effectively.

Unfortunately Socrates did end up losing her right wing completely- the bones just couldn't fuse even with proper manipulation due to her contracted elbow. She will still go on to live a happy spunky life! The previous owner's family has been worried and checking up on her diligently to ensure she got the care she desperately needed. It's times like these that remind me how incredibly lucky we are to have the team we do, Even knowing how busy all of our schedules are we were able to get her here and taken care of in just a matter of days. We've had several donations for her medical care as well, which is VERY needed and appreciated! Thank you all for supporting our mission and this sweet cockatoo.

And again, without Doris Day Animal Foundation (DDAF) (I know we say it a lot but it's a big deal!) we wouldn't have been able to help Socrates this way. ♥️ Happy healing little bird... Only sunshine and coin tricks from here on out!

05/27/2026

We've added the scans to this post, the break is clear from these photos. Clean through the humerus.

Socrates is a 25 year old Goffins born on Valentine's Day who I swept up yesterday on my way to the vet. Her owner's family reached out seeking immediate help because they knew she was injured and not getting the care she needed. I was sent this adorable photo, which allowed me to see we were looking at something pretty bad... But it wasn't until I got hands on her this morning (we got back late last night) that I was able to assess how bad it is. We have an appointment for her on Friday so she will be properly evaluated with plenty of X-rays, but it looks like a displaced humerus fracture. I can see her bone and she's "lucky" it hasn't punctured through the skin. This was absolutely not a case of intentional neglect, this sweet little bird has a very clean cage, fresh food and water everyday, and a safe environment, but something caused her to fall and break her wing and her owner couldn't understand how urgent that was.

I'm hoping it's still soon enough that she can get care for this and in the meantime, she's got pain meds on board. These are the kind of situations that we just have to be on board for whether we have space at the rescue or not. I'm going to Sioux City next week to pick up five birds for yet another urgent situation, and we've just had to make room. It's busier than ever here right now.

If you'd like to help support our birds, we have an Amazon wishlist on our webpage as well as a donation link. Please consider helping out with supplies in the meantime while we prepare for the new kids and care for the several injured and/or critically ill birds in our care right now. Without Doris Day Animal Foundation (DDAF) grant for our medical funds, we would not be able to provide this type of care and we are incredibly grateful!

https://www.iowaparrotrescue.org/donate
Click "get involved", "donate", and scroll down to find our wishlist. Thank you!

05/26/2026

*This is a courtesy post. NOTE-this bird is NOT in our building. If you are interested, contact information for the owner is at the bottom. Do not contact us in regards to this bird please. As always, there is no charge for adopting them or anything they come with.*

Hokey is a green cheek conure looking for a new home in Waukee as his family is permanently relocating across the country in June. He loves his female owner and is nippy with others. Hokey is NOT DNA sexed so he could be female, he does get hormonal at times.
Hokey hasn't been to a vet but appears physically healthy. He acts sweet then gets too excited and will bite.
He used to love the husband till he went on a business trip for 2 months we think he held a grudge :-)
Ultimately, Hokey will need an experienced home. He is totally used to the presence of dogs and cats (though they should NEVER be out together, even under direct supervision). Loves cartoons and music especially the song Sound of Silence.

We are located in Waukee Iowa and contact information for Jessie is [email protected].

05/24/2026

Beakly bird hasn't been feeling the best lately. Last week, he stopped talking very much and our normal beaky dancing time got real quiet. No more head bobs, no more squawks of joy. Just confused screeching and a blank expression.
We put him in ICU on Monday and scheduled him to be seen on Friday evening at the vet and I was nervous of course. Every morning driving in felt like waiting for the news that he didn't make it through the night. But he kept going and greeted us kindly! He steps up like he knows we are helping him. He forgives us when we give him yucky medication and feed him with a gavage tube into the crop. But again he wakes up each day ready to keep going.

At the vet on Friday, we got scans right away to see if there was anything obvious causing this change in behavior and weight loss. Lots of things on my mind as we waited to learn what was wrong... Beakly has lived a decent life, but some of those 30 years have been a little questionable when he lived with family of his previous owners.
We don't know exactly how, but Beakly has advanced heart disease and has limited time with us. We are going to try making him comfortable with appetite stimulants and vasodilators, but only time will tell. This is palliative care. Please have Beakly in your thoughts while we navigate the best decisions moving forward as it's not an easy time, seeing one of your beloved feathered kids decline quickly and be powerless to save them...
Just four months we've had him, barely even time to make friends, and his long term household friend Axel passed away three weeks ago from a chronic disease she's had for decades that nobody knew about until after she was gone. Avian medicine has advanced so much, yet there's still so little we can do to help sometimes. Some things can't be reversed but I CAN love on Beakly right now and make him comfortable. And when it comes time (hopefully much later 🤞), his death will be a peaceful one because I don't let birds suffer for even a minute. It's just not in my heart no matter how much it hurts.

05/19/2026

Welcome, Abby!
Abby is a 27 year old Congo Grey that arrived on Friday. We don't know for sure if Abby is a boy or girl- I think maybe boy, but we will find out eventually. Abby has lived in her home since she was just a little baby, met her papa at 4 weeks old. She was dearly loved, but has a difficult temperament at times. She was surrendered because she began biting quite hard, causing her owner to almost need surgery on a badly infected bite recently. She's tricky with many women and pretty good with men (loves her dad), but since she's been in the same home her whole life it'll be a while before we see how she settles in and behaves here with new people. The second day she was here I discovered just how quick she can react and bite, which may be the fastest little head snap I've seen! She DOES pin her eyes before a bite, but there's very little other warning. Abby certainly has some trust issues that need to be worked through and will not be a simple family oriented bird.
Like all our intakes, she will receive a full exam and comprehensive bloodwork (thanks to Doris Day Animal Foundation (DDAF) and their generous yearly grant that allows us to provide EXCELLENT medical care). We cannot wait to hear all the nice whistles and t***s from Abby, and learn more about her each day.
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For information on contributing to our mission and supporting the birds directly, please visit our donation page at iowaparrotrescue.org/donate

For information on adoption or surrendering, visit out main website page at iowaparrotrescue.org/

05/13/2026

ADOPTED!

*This is a courtesy post. NOTE-this bird is NOT in our building. If you are interested, contact information for the owner is at the bottom. Do not contact us in regards to this bird please. As always, there is no charge for adopting them or anything they come with.*

My name is Oliver, I'm a male Yellow Headed Amazon parrot. I am 34 yearsold, my mom is getting old so I'm going to out live her since I can live up to 70 years. I listen well to instructions so I love to sit on my cage by a window. I use to talk and sit on Mom's hand, but then she got dogs inside which I was very jealous sharing Mom's attention. I won't sit on a hand or stick anymore (not tame) but I can still give lots of love.
Oliver likes both male and females. Outside dogs are better. He has the ability to talk and be hand trained again with the right person to train him. He used to talk a lot before we got dogs inside.

05/10/2026

This weekend Casey and I travelled to Grinnell College for our second year in a row to present about IPR to their Birding Club. According to their student representative, over 110 people attended and met with our birds! We spoke to many young, interested, fascinated, and intelligent students about the conservation of each species we brought (Military Macaw, Timneh Grey, Greenwing Macaw, Yellow-Nape Amazon). We also got a chance to answer some really fun questions like where do they live in the wild? What do you feed them? Why can't I touch them (this made me laugh)? We also had a generous student give us a donation, which really touched my heart.
While our birds are NOT available for the general public to touch during events, they loved the attention and photos! :-) Zazu, Bilbo, Olive, Molly, Casey and I all have to give a big thanks to Grinnell College for hosting us again and cannot wait for next year.

04/30/2026

Yesterday, our vet Dr Jen at Quad City Pet Care squeezed 21 year old Jojo in for an appointment after a few days of lethargy and general... Oldness. We have a clinic day scheduled in a couple weeks but I felt Jo needed to be seen sooner and thankfully Jen agreed!
The consensus is, for now, JoJo's liver isn't in good shape from a lifetime of seed mix diet so we'll be treating her with medication and attempting to continue weaning her onto a better balance (I will say, she's quite stubborn). In addition to that, her lungs have a concerning appearance on the scans and we'll be treating her for pneumonia- there's a chance she actually has cancer, but treating for pneumonia is something we can do without invasive tests and anesthesia, is pretty benign, and will give us a good idea as to what's causing the concerning appearance on the scans. If in a few weeks the scans haven't improved, we will be reevaluating and thinking about other possibilities of diagnosis.
I wanted to share this with everybody to mention a few important things that are happening here.

First, JoJo's dad is undergoing physical rehab and we are boarding another one of his birds, a Congo Grey, for free until he can recover and retrieve Dusty. He and Dusty have a bond like you would not believe, and we are all about keeping birds in homes where they truly belong (also, Dusty is originally one of ours, and we take care of ours as much as we can). If JoJo has cancer, I would've wanted her to go back there if she could... She was surrendered to us so their family could focus on Dusty, who requires more extensive care and they're really only able to care for one bird at this point. We are ensuring Dusty is safe until she can go back home where she belongs.
Second important thing to mention, several of the things helping to keep Jojo safe and stable right now are our Brinsea ICU and oxygen unit (Brinsea don't come with oxygen, so they require an additional unit), Harrison's Recovery Formula, and high potency pellets. These were ALL donated by The Parrot Posse who has supported us for many years. For those who don't know- this is a nonprofit organization run by a very small group of volunteers who just want to help ethically run parrot rescues do what we do best. We couldn't be more grateful.
Third important thing to mention, I just couldn't keep track of the wonderful donations coming through the past month... We had our Jungle Toys box come in, and the Amazon's are already destroying them to bits! Harrison's also donated 10 boxes of their HOPP formula, which we're using for Amazons and small cockatoos! I've also been able to share the wealth for new adopters. SouthWest Exotic Avian Rescue even sent us 2 big boxes of Nutriberries!! The Posse donated 60 pounds of the Harrison's Pepper Coarse, which is our primary diet for the macaws. A local branch of VetRXDirect donated over 300 POUNDS of nutriberries and avicakes, which needs it's own post... Our regular monthly donations just came in, pushing us through another month. Our sponsors have been coming through regularly, supporting individual birds like Holly, Trudee, Bilbo, Timot, Rocky, and more.
Sometimes things can get kinda dark here, when birds pass away due to age or lifelong neglect, it weighs more heavily than you can imagine and it can be hard to remember how good the world is. Every single one of you that shows up every day to support us, YOU are what keeps us shining, showing up, and ready to face the day with a new outlook! YOU are the people who help us rescue and rehabilitate birds every single day and give them better lives than they ever had. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

04/20/2026

The past week and a half have simply RAINED intakes- some planned, some not. Half of these birds are returns from over 16 years ago! It's been quite a busy time here and we're now pretty much out of space for a while.

First up, we have Polly and Paco. These guys are a bonded pair of assumed male Congo Greys, 25 years old. They're mischievous, tame, and curious, but need a watchful eye.

Jasper is a 25 year old male Goffin's Cockatoo surrendered for biting. He goes to most people for a pet or even to step up, but his owner was having a difficult time with his seemingly random bites and cage defensiveness. We're going to try and find the trigger for his bites and work on the cage defensiveness.

Captain is a familiar face here and returned after a short adoption that didn't go to plan. He was well loved, but communication between bird and owner fell short and ultimately he ended up having to come back. He can be destructive and on occasion a little hard to read, but he is a SWEETHEART that enjoys dancing, head pets on his terms, and throwing his toys on the ground. :)

Henry is a 19 year old Sun Conure (pied type?) that's a return from 2010. He is stepping up so far and will sit on a shoulder, but is still rather timid. Like all Suns, he can be LOUD.

Sammy Sunshine and Sisko are a bonded pair of Sun Conures that were originally surrendered for their noisiness and defensiveness of each other. These two are fiercely bonded and need plenty of space. When only one is out at a time, they can be cordial and even friendly, but together they're a little touchy. One of the volunteers had all 3 suns out today and they behaved quite well! They even went back in the cage on their own. The goal is to eventually have them free fly in the littles aviary, but it will depend on temperament.

Smoochy is an elderly Quaker... We don't know how old, as he was adopted before the rescue building existed! He's likely got pretty bad arthritis, but seems to fly around pretty well and has a nice temperament. His owner said he likes to steal things and stash them, also jail break the other birds from their cages! He is loving the head pets here and preening. She doesn't seem to like JoJo very much.

JoJo is a 21 year old Green Cheek Conure, wild type. She is a very sweet bird so far, but flighty and a little skittish even. We have to take things quite slow with her as her balance is also not good (missing toes). She's definitely a senior for her species, but a really lovely one at that. She was apparently adopted from Earl May Garden Center some years ago...

Kichi and Chili are a bonded pair of Lovebirds, Kichi being a turquoise? Peach-Faced and Chili being a Fischer's of some morph. Kichi is tamer than Chili, who is a little nervous, but they're very bonded and need to be together always. They'll sit on a shoulder together or Chili will hang out while Kichi gets snuggles from someone he really likes. They've been super loved and pretty well cared for, and have been in their home their whole lives. This is a big adjustment for them but I think they'll do quite well.

~FOR INFORMATION ON ADOPTION, SURRENDERING, OR GETTING INVOLVED VIA DONATIONS OR VOLUNTEERING, PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT iowaparrotrescue.org~

Iowa Parrot Rescue

05/31/2026

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