- Social or Enrichment Time for Scarlet Macaw "Bilbo" and Nancy Forrester on Higgs Beach at restaurant
- "Salute on The Beach" in Key West.
- Interspecies Mutual Love and Respect
- "Bilbo" loved Nancy Forrester and Salute was one of her favorite places to go!
- Precious "Bilbo" died July 29. 2022. Nancy is mourning her loss!
Nancy Forrester
My Story.
I am an environment artist and sustainability activist. I am a lover of plants, animals and Earths biosystems.
I am a painter, photographer, performance artist, storyteller and creator of a site-specific art project named Nancy Forrester's Secret Garden and collaborative Artificial Image (AI) maker prompting Dall-E-2 and MidJourney. In the 1980's I stopped painting pictures of plants and animals on canvas in search of a medium that would bring me larger audience for my message of preservation. I physically planted thousands of plants (100s of trees) to create a "Rainforest" from which I could teach and performed. I taught rainforest ecology for 29 years, in an effort to save the last undeveloped wooded acre of land in old town Key West from development. I am also the founder and owner of a Key West parrot rescue. I was receiving unwanted parrots, taking care of them and rehoming them long before our local SPCA was allowed to take in. People often ask me "How did you get into parrots?" Oddly, I was fascinated with underwater sea life not aerial avian life, and I knew nothing about parrots and I never desired to have one. I do not believe in the parrot pet trade. I think all parrots should be wild and free flying in their countries of origin and their native habitats should be preserved. They are highly intelligent creatures with complex needs that humans cannot fulfill. Their lifespan is longer than ours. We do not live in a perfect world and parrots have been overbred by breeders greedy for the money. Thru that portal of green space "my rainforest" the first parrot came to me 30 years ago. A bird and its cage were snuck into my rainforest garden. I did not see who abandoned the bird.
When the visiting public saw I had a large green space and a parrot, a tsunami of parrots was offered. Some I agreed to take under my wing, others were shockingly left with no note on my property by people sight unseen. The morale of the story is, Birds Come To Gardens! When you become a caregiver to a parrot, one of two things happen. You either distance yourself from the bird and think I have to get "rid of it" (a term I hear too often) or you slowly open up to an addictive mind bending mostly ecstatic trip with a bird that never ends. To succeed as a parrot lover, you must be a keen observer of and listener to their complex body language and vocalizations and must communicate with them by imitating their gestures and speaking their language. I became a Parrot, fully parrotized. They own me! They live in my heart, (Click Parrot at Heart | DALL·E (openai.com) , they nest in my brain. (Click Parrot Brain | DALL·E (openai.com)
I am their student! I am hooked for life playing outrageous mind games of their never-ending clever making. They create the rules! Dominatrix one and all! They teach me how to think. what to eat, when to eat, when to breathe, what to sniff, what is scary, what is deadly, when to be calm, when to go nuts, when to scream, when to bite, when to kiss and cuddle, when to self-mutilate, tear my hair out and when to die!
A parrot may trust you but not particularly like you!
"Bilbo" was unusual in that she loved me from the start and learned to trust me later!
My Story.
I am an environment artist and sustainability activist. I am a lover of plants, animals and Earths biosystems.
I am a painter, photographer, performance artist, storyteller and creator of a site-specific art project named Nancy Forrester's Secret Garden and collaborative Artificial Image (AI) maker prompting Dall-E-2 and MidJourney. In the 1980's I stopped painting pictures of plants and animals on canvas in search of a medium that would bring me larger audience for my message of preservation. I physically planted thousands of plants (100s of trees) to create a "Rainforest" from which I could teach and performed. I taught rainforest ecology for 29 years, in an effort to save the last undeveloped wooded acre of land in old town Key West from development. I am also the founder and owner of a Key West parrot rescue. I was receiving unwanted parrots, taking care of them and rehoming them long before our local SPCA was allowed to take in. People often ask me "How did you get into parrots?" Oddly, I was fascinated with underwater sea life not aerial avian life, and I knew nothing about parrots and I never desired to have one. I do not believe in the parrot pet trade. I think all parrots should be wild and free flying in their countries of origin and their native habitats should be preserved. They are highly intelligent creatures with complex needs that humans cannot fulfill. Their lifespan is longer than ours. We do not live in a perfect world and parrots have been overbred by breeders greedy for the money. Thru that portal of green space "my rainforest" the first parrot came to me 30 years ago. A bird and its cage were snuck into my rainforest garden. I did not see who abandoned the bird.
When the visiting public saw I had a large green space and a parrot, a tsunami of parrots was offered. Some I agreed to take under my wing, others were shockingly left with no note on my property by people sight unseen. The morale of the story is, Birds Come To Gardens! When you become a caregiver to a parrot, one of two things happen. You either distance yourself from the bird and think I have to get "rid of it" (a term I hear too often) or you slowly open up to an addictive mind bending mostly ecstatic trip with a bird that never ends. To succeed as a parrot lover, you must be a keen observer of and listener to their complex body language and vocalizations and must communicate with them by imitating their gestures and speaking their language. I became a Parrot, fully parrotized. They own me! They live in my heart, (Click Parrot at Heart | DALL·E (openai.com) , they nest in my brain. (Click Parrot Brain | DALL·E (openai.com)
I am their student! I am hooked for life playing outrageous mind games of their never-ending clever making. They create the rules! Dominatrix one and all! They teach me how to think. what to eat, when to eat, when to breathe, what to sniff, what is scary, what is deadly, when to be calm, when to go nuts, when to scream, when to bite, when to kiss and cuddle, when to self-mutilate, tear my hair out and when to die!
A parrot may trust you but not particularly like you!
"Bilbo" was unusual in that she loved me from the start and learned to trust me later!