Melie and Deku, 3 (Original)(Harford County, Maryland, USA) (2023) Pintura por Elodie M. Richard

« This poor bird was hit by a car, if not two, and lost the ability to use both of his legs as a baby. Not even a year old, he was paralyzed, but showed such interest in himself in the mirror, he steadily gained strength and movement enough to fly and scoot around on his own. With the assistance of Yasmin, transportation was set up and Deku quickly found himself en route to our little apartment to meet our flock.
The moment this little bird came into our space, Ben scooped him up to give him love. The terror was evident in his face, but he accepted scratches around the neck happily. It was quite obvious he couldn't reach to scratch for himself, so it had to feel amazing. When Blink, Cooper, Icarus and Punchy met Deku, it was a calm and civil flock gathering. Ben and I named him Deku, since the personality we noticed was a bubbly little guy that reminded us a bit of the My Hero Academia character we'd watch on TV. Despite having plenty of time around one another, Icky and Deku never showed more interest in each other than simply a friendship. Their disabilities were also opposite of one another - Icky can run across the room quickly, but has limited use of one wing due to hitting a windshield, while Deku can fly but cannot walk in any true manner.
A couple of months went by and as a family, we all moved into another apartment in an attempt to save money. Once the move was complete, we were contacted by our rescue friend, Chava, with Great Lakes Pigeon Rescue, regarding a female that they had who was desperately seeking a mate. "This could be optimal for Deku," although I wasn't so sure with her being completely healthy and lacking any disability. Trusting Chava's instincts, Ben & I met up with Mali for the first time and picked up Oscaal, another young pigeon who was a former racer that narrowly escaped euthanisa simply because of where she was taken in.

Oscaal was gorgeous; light gray blue bar pigeon that eventually developed darker spots on the gray feathers. We renamed her Melie Oscaal and I was always caught singing her name in arpeggios. When we brought her home, she met Deku on top of the TV entertainment center, he goo-gooed to her and within fifteen minutes, she was preening him. Success! We couldn't have been happier for them.

Deku's little heart would beam with pride around Melie; no one could keep them apart and if they tried, Deku would chase them away with every fiber of his being. Melie was a super wife, too. All of those fears we had? She pushed them away. She came right in and preened, fed and loved on Deku so much that he no longer wanted a single thing to do with us. Like any other successful couple, eggs were laid and Deku made it his mission to bring her nesting material. Our big fear had now become that if we failed to swap to fake eggs that Deku would probably kill himself in the attempt to take care of the babies, he's such a good gentlemanly husbird. At one point, Icky and her husbird Ozzie did have a baby bird next door to them and Auntie Melie and Uncle Deku were showing off their parenting skills! Auntie Melie started regurgitating food when she heard the baby chirping, and Deku would pop his head in through their entrance to check on the baby. When Icky was overwhelmed and the baby (Little One) was sick (that's a whole separate long story... he didn't make it =( ), Melie would feed and Deku would watch him. It was so incredibly endearing. They truly enjoyed their out of cage time when the baby was around.

While I was working to gather photos of Deku to send in and thinking about his story, last week we experienced what can only be described as full blown, unexpected heartbreak. Our precious Melie Oscaal Midoriya laid two eggs successfully and Deku fumbled along until he was laying on them as usual, but I found her having difficulty breathing and limping. "Egg paralysis similar to Icky's issues lately," was what I thought, while I picked her up and she panicked a bit, scared since she isn't handled often. She rested in my hand without much fight; so warm and soft, for maybe five minutes. I petted her sweetly and told her I loved her, that it would be ok before I placed her back on the nest beside her Deku. Since the two of them have always been very private birds, Ben and I opted to leave them in their home space while she wasn't feeling well, hoping she'd bounce back [The only time Melie was truly handled was when Deku needed cleaning, and we'd all spend the time in the bathroom together; her presence would keep Deku calm]. Well, Sunday October 8th, Melie passed away beside her Deku and her nest. She was only two years old. Deku was preening and trying to feed her; he's still in the grieving stage today. It's been six days without our perfect Mimi girl and Deku is just now beginning to venture out of his cage willingly, but spends the majority of his time sitting in the same spot beside his nest where his beloved Melie used to be.
We have been in touch with Chava and the plan is to find Deku a new mate when the time is right. No one will ever replace Melie. Deku's happiness is our primary goal. »

Deku and Melie lived together with their human parents Angela and Ben, in Harford County, Maryland (USA).

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