Parrots unperched from Fort McMurray find refuge in Sherwood Park

Pet parrots un-perched from their homes in Fort McMurrayare finding a safe place to roost in Sherwood Park.

Meika's Birdhouse, a pet store and bird rescue operation, is providing free "bird-sitting" services to wildfire evacuees.

More than 25 parrots and exotic birds havetaken refuge at their birdsafehousesince 94,000 people were ordered out of Fort McMurray.

"The owners are stressed and the birds really pick up on that, so they're not going to feel relaxed until their owners feel relaxed," said owner Ian Sprague.

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Some of the birds from Fort McMurray have been with the same family for more than 20 years. There have been a lot of tearfulfarewellsand ruffled feathersinside the shop in the last week, Sprague said.

Some of the birds have been pacing on their perches, and nervously plucking their feathers from the stress of separation.

"The owners are obviously traumatized. The birds are obviously traumatized," said Sprague."We try our best to keep them occupied so they're doing okay, but they're still fairly wound up."

Sprague says exotic birds are a handful at the best of times. Headmits that caring for dozens of them all at once has been a challenge.

"Simply because they're loud, they're destructive and intelligent.As a whole, it's like having a feathered person in your house. Everyday's an adventure."

Dozens of volunteers have been coming into help care for the creatures, providing plenty of food, treats and new toys.

As the saying goes, birds of a feather flock togetherbut that's not always the case in the parrot community.

"They're eccentric, I guess you would say. They're quirky, they're a very passionate group (and)tend to bicker," Sprague said.

"But when a crisis like this happens, all that gets put aside," Sprauge said. "Everybody is full of support, and then as soon as it's done, we'll go back to bickering back and forth."

The shop will be caring for the birdsfree of charge, as long as it takes, something that would not have been possible without generous donations of time and supplies from the parrot owner community.

"It's very rewarding. It's too bad we can't be this nice all the time," said Sprague.