My love for birds began twelve years ago when my roommate wanted a parrot. "Yuck!", was my initial reaction. Needless to say, twelve years and fifty birds later, my opinion of birds has changed drastically. One day, two of my birds had decided to breed. Not very long after that, the first egg hatched. The parents, unbeknownst to me, had been refusing to feed the newborn baby. It died within twenty-four hours and I was completely devastated.

Two days later another egg hatched and the parents refused to feed this baby too. I had two choices -- either let it die or try to feed and care for it around the clock as it's feathered parents would do. I had never raised a baby bird from day one before and was unprepared and overwhelmed.

The avian veterinarian friends came over and gently told me that the odds were that she would not make it. I knew for sure she would die if I left her with her parents. I had no choice but to take care of her myself. For the fist two weeks I fed her every two hours. After that I had slowly reduced it to every three and a half to four hours. My heart would race everytime I'd go into her room, fearing the worst. Little by little she gained weight, got stronger and actually opened her eyes on my birthday!

She is now 1300 grams (she was 22 grams at birth) and a happy healthy green wing macaw. She is my baby "Miracle."