LESTER'S STORY
LESTER
What an honor it is to talk about my special needs bird, Lester, an Indian Ringneck.
Lester's life started off as every other baby bird's, perfectly normal. He even had a forever home and his name was Jazz. Jazz was about 4 weeks old when he decided to take his first flight right into the front window of the store where I was working. He landed with a thud on the ground and had obviously hurt himself. My co-worker had the unpleasant job of telling his prospective owners that Jazz may not live through the night. Jazz was placed in a bucket with a towel and we all assumed he would not make it.
Was I ever surprised the next day to find this little guy still alive and obviously hungry. We placed millet into the bucket and the little man crawled over and started to eat. At this point, I surely was not going to give up on this incredible little guy. His previous owners went on to choose another bird from the store which left Jazz available. I took it upon myself to work with the little guy. He couldn't really walk, but got where he wanted to go. Then I got the best news anyone could wish for. The store offered to let me take Jazz home. I was speechless. I had a bird of my very own!
LESTER
Well, the first thing I did was talk to Jazz about his name. I wasn't at all "Jazzed" about the name Jazz. At some point in our talk, Lester came to my mind. I wasn't sure Lester was a great name either, so I read a baby name book. There was simply no other name in that whole book that fit him as well as Lester. With his new name chosen, I went on to see what my broken little man could do.
I brought him home and he literally crawled everywhere. He loved coming over to me to get treats, so I let him crawl to build up his strength. He eventually went from a crawl to a limp-walk and then to a walk. It took about a month for him to get strong enough to stand up. To this day, Lester can't fly and leans to one side. My funny husband said we should have named him Eileen. It may take him twice as long as any other bird, but Lester gets where he wants to go. He is my best talker and has tons of personality. I can't imagine my life without my boy. It brings tears to my eyes every time I think that we may have lost him. I am truly thankful every day for my special little man named "Lester".
Story and photographs contributed by Lester's Mom, Jan Peterson.
Copyright © 2008, Jan Peterson
