Phoenix Landing launched a membership program! Now, in addition to volunteering as a foster parront, shopping at the PL store, and contributing items to their charity auctions, you can also show your support by becoming a member. Membership benefits include a nice bit of schwag.

The membership program debuted today at the Peruvian Parrot Party event. I joined at the Conure Level; $100 bucks a year allows me to support Phoenix Landing, and got me a 2009 parrots of Phoenix Landing calendar, subscription to the newsletter, a pin, a PL member T-Shirt, a small discount on toy purchases, and a couple other things.

Membership starts at $25 and goes up to $1000, with member benefits increasing proportionately. Very soon, you should be able to join on the web, but for now you can do it in person at any upcoming lecture. Update: You can now become a member via the Phoenix Landing website.

Phoenix Landing T-shirt (member logo)

In addition to my membership swag, I also bought a bunch of new toys, including another Barrel of Fun foraging toy, an acrylic treat maze, and some pine and wicker chew toys.

The event itself was also fascinating. Dr. Brightsmith, of the Tambopata Macaw Project, gave two lectures based on his research: one covering the reintroduction of captive bred macaws into the wild, and another about the diet of wild parrots compared to pet birds.

Like always, several foster birds were on hand for people to interact with. Today there were two vocal amazons, an affectionate sulfur crested cockatoo, several adorable cockatiels, a feisty green cheek conure, one noisy little sun conure, and a gorgeous but slightly cranky blue and gold macaw.

If you’re interested in learning more about parrots — whether it be adoption, fostering, diets and nutrition, socialization, training, species personalities, etc — and you live on the East Coast, I highly encourage to attend a Phoenix Landing event and consider becoming a member.

For more info and background on Phoenix Landing, a parrot adoption group based in North Carolina and Virginia, check out my interview with Founder Ann Brooks.

p.s. a BIG thanks to the volunteers who organized the “pot luck” (more like “feast”). I’ve never eaten so well or so varied at a lecture.