I feel I need to start my introduction all over again because of how descriptive everyone elses were so, here we go. My name is Levi Fuentes. For as long as I can remember, I always loved birds. I didnt start seriously looking into birds until the passing of my grandmother of July 2004. After her death, I felt a need to attempt to fill the gap that she left behind by finding a companion. Ive kept fish but sold them because they kept dying off and I didnt need anything else dying on me. I looked into dogs, cats, and even keeping snakes but I didnt want to deal with replacing a pet for multiple years and go through the heartache and mourning associated with losing a loved one. Thats when I started deeply researching birds. As much as I wanted a larger parrot, my sisters friends dad was a bird geneticist and he kept a myriad of birds, some being budgies and cockatiels. He was so gracious enough to have given me a female Whiteface Heavy Pied hen named Matilda and I believe a Normal Grey that I named Richard. After getting them, Ive had several other cockatiels, was a foster parront for Mickaboo Bird Rescue and fostered a Mitred conure, then I got out of cockatiels for a while because of my health. In 2013, I had long missed the happy chirps and expressive face of a cockatiel; it was around that same time that I seriously wanted to undertake raising my own birds, so I thought, What better bird to start with than the bird that got me into bird-keeping - cockatiels! I also started asking myself, Are their such thing as bird shows? and, lo and behold, I found NCS. I looked on the breeders contacts and something led me to talk to Troy Scroggs. After talking to him, I found the National Cockatiel Society Facebook page and join. Michelle Ferrier welcomed me in and became my second mentor after Troy. After talking with Troy, he urged me to get the best birds I can from some of the best breeders around to build a solid foundation. It wasnt until Troy left the hobby that Michelle and I started talking and really doing some birdie business. Michelle encouraged me to attend a bird show and, sure enough, there was one taken place in Manteca. There, I met Shanna Dollarhide, Jonathan Haider, and Wendy J Lomas. After the show, I met with Robert Finalet and got two gorgeous birds from him after the show. My flock started to grow and now I have four hens (working on getting a fifth) and two boys (IM IN NEED OF BOYS!). My babies have came from Michelle, Robert, and from Julie Allen. Last year, I moved out of my friends apartment and moved back in with my parents to save money, go to school, and raise birds. It wasnt until the autumn of last year that my mothers landlord decided that I can no longer have my birds anymore. Thanks to Michelle (words and gratitude cant begin to describe how much of a relief it was), most of my flock is with her temporarily until I get move out and into a place where Im allowed to have my flock. As unfortunate as it was, I did get to meet Leslie Higbie Huegerich at the most recent show :) This year, not only do I aim to move out and find a place but also have my birds back and further expand my flock. As some of you already know, I want to focus my breeding on Whiteface. The reason for that is 1. its my favorite mutation but more so 2. it was the mutation of my first birdie love. I would love to recreate a Matilda in my flock. I also want to raise Dominant Silvers and, when my foundation has solidified, I want to raise Creamface and Pastelface (since they need Whiteface to manifest). My other birdie goals is to get a two pairs of Normal Fischers lovebirds, two pairs of Green-cheek conures (I want to work with getting large Normals, Turquoise, and Turquoise Yellow-sided), a pair of Indian ringnecks (an albino cock and a cobalt or violet hen), a pair of Hahns macaws, and a flock of macaws (two pairs of Blue-throateds, two pairs of Red-fronteds, and six pairs of Great green (Buffons) macaws). As you figure - I dream BIG! LOL Thats me :)
Posted on: Thu, 01 Jan 2015 20:00:04 +0000
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