Caique Stolen at Omars

News: Man tries to make off with $1,300 bird | customers, sklar, bird, birds, shop - OCRegister.com

Video: Man tries to make off with $1,300 bird
Surveillance video shows a man putting a black headed Caique inside his jacket, and the bird crawling out before being chased down by customers and employees.

By SALVADOR HERNANDEZ
The Orange County Register
Comments 28 | Recommend 6

LINK TO VIDEO EVIDENCE!


LAKE FOREST Even with clipped wings, the costly bird refused to go with its alleged birdnapper.

A 35-year-old man tried to stuff a $1,300 bird into his jacket from Omar's Exotic Birds and then ran out of the pet shop Sunday afternoon, but the brightly colored bird wiggled out of the jacket, alerting customers and employees of the theft.

Customers ran out and held down James Leland Loper until deputies arrived and took him into custody on suspicion of grand theft, said Lt. Fred Furey of the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

Surveillance video shows the man playing with the birds, which roam freely on perches or sit inside glass enclosures that are open at the top, said Danielle Sklar, assistant manager of the pet shop.
An employee approached Loper and asked him if he needed help, but he said he was just looking, Sklar said. For about 30 minutes he interacted with the birds in the store like the rest of the customers.

Then, after looking around for people around him, the suspect shuffled the black headed Caique inside his jacket and walked out.

"Somebody just saw a bird coming out of his shirt," Sklar said. "It didn't want to stay put."

A group of customers and employees ran after him as he hurried across El Toro Road. One of the customers tackled him and held him until deputies arrived.

Customers are allowed to interact with the birds inside the pet shop, but several visible cameras hang on the ceiling to deter any possible shoplifters, Sklar said. Thefts in the shop are rare, but surveillance video catches those that try to make off with the merchandise.

The store will perches and displays as they are, with customers having free access to the animals, Sklar said. This helps the customers find a bird whose personality meets their own.

The black headed Caique, a parrot with green wings, yellow neck and a black head which is native to South America, was recovered and is back in the store, waiting for an owner willing to pay for it. The price tag is $1,300.

Update- caique mutation

I managed to track down the original person that first posted the picture of the supposed blue mutation caique. Unfortunately the person has been unwilling to talk, other then to say that they had recieved permission from the owner to post the picture, but further information regarding this bird is, in a word- taboo. Very unfortunate as we can not really confirm or deny this mutation at this point, not knowing where the bird originated from, who bred it, etc etc etc. Pity, as this could be extremely useful knowledge to have down the line in regards to caique genetics, mutations, etc etc etc.
People, if you have information, don't be frugal. Share it. Aviculture is in its infancy and growing every day, and if everyone hoarded all their bits of knowledge, our community would be shattered. Its not the people who suffer, its the birds.
John McMichael of thecaiquesite.com has commented on the possibility of the blue caique mutation, and believes that it is possible, and sites the 'orange tint' on the nape as being a result of different pigmentation on the bird.
As such, there is no further information yielded about this bird at this time. Such a waste- there is such potential for caiques and enthusiasts to learn more about this intricate species.

Its almost October....

already, can you believe it? This year has just flown by!
With the coming of October I am proud to announce that the new issue of Good Bird Magazine (www.goodbirdinc.com) is out, and in it, an article written by moi! It is titled Learning From Mercy. If anyone gets the magazine, I'd love your feedback. I just learned about the publishing of it today, so am eager to see my copy. I don't know how much or what part of the original I sent in, so I am anxious to see how it turned out!

Everyone enjoy your transition into October!

A new presidential runner

Its been on everyone's minds: politics. Who are you voting for this election? Did you read the latest scandal? Blah.. blah... blah. We were talking politics on the forum and things got a little heated, so I pulled a prank to lighten the mood.



Vote Caique for 2008- the only politician that won't let you down!

I jest, of course. But thinking about it... wouldn't the world be better off if caiques did rule? I can see it now...

Caiques rule the world: until they forget what they are doing or find something more interesting to do, halfway through the program.

Housing crisis? No problem! Everyone is let out of their cages to roam and survive. Locked up no longer!

Gas prices? Who needs gas when you've got wings?

Economy in a slump? The bird says as long as you can still get food, you are OK!

Maybe its better if caiques don't rule the world, after all....

Honey I'm home!

Well we have safely arrived to our new house, and gotten the fidlets somewhat situated. The car ride was long, but that is a story for another day! We pulled in somewhere around 10 pm, after getting hopelessly lost. Seeing as how the caiques like to put themselves to bed at around 7:30ish, they were not happy about having to be up 'after dark.'



Here you can see how the birds were situated in the car. 2 in the seat up front, 2 in the back. These are their traveling cages, which I love. They are collapsible so they store easy, but they are sturdy and great for traveling. Each of the birds had 2 perches and 2 side mount toys, as they would be in their travel cages for an extended period of time since we had to load the van, then drive, unpack the van, and unpack and clean the cages over a period of about 5 days. For the drive they had fresh fruit, seed, and a smidge of water.

Lesson learned during this trip? When birds are screaming in the car cause its past their bedtime, a chip from the quickee mart makes for a good bribe to be quiet.

Moving with Parrots

Well, its that time of the year again: moving time! I just love packing all my belongings up in cardboard boxes, hauling it into a truck, fitting all the animals into the car, and driving to my new place of residence. NOT!
The parrots are not happy. Not happy at all. I had to take apart their 'caique condo' (see post in 07 for picture of the condo) so that it could actually fit in the truch- I assembled it inside the bird room and found that for whatever reason my doorways are not 50 inches wide. So the condo is safely awaiting its departure in the garage, and the caiques are in temp. 18 by 18 cages. Poor babies have to get by with only a couple perches and toys each. And they are not happy about this situation, not happy at all. Can't say I blame them- but their upset is driving me bonkers! They are complaining all day about their new arrangements.
Anyhow, the plan is to put the caiques, amazon, and parrotlets into travel cages, hook them into the car, and make the 2 hour trip to our latest destination. The caiques like car rides, so hopefully that will be enough stimulation to shut them up while we have the daunting task of unloading the moving van and trying to get some semblance of order in the house again. Once the van is unloaded the people have rested, we can get the cages back together and in their proper places. Until then the poor babies are going to be stuck in their temporary travel cages. Poor neglected things.
Just kidding about them being neglected, of course.
This week shall be interesting. I will be taking various notes for all parties interested, and shall have some funny stories (I am most certain of this!) when I return.

Hidden Gems

I love stumbling across hidden gems on the internet! Take the following pictures, for example.

This is a picture of a pallid caique, found on www.parrots.org website. The pallid is a subspecies of the black headed caique, and one that is rarely photographed.



This picture was labeled as a yellow thigh caique, when in actuality it is a green thigh, another rarely photographed subspecies.



This photo was unearthed at www.caiquesite.com Its so refreshing to see the little talked about subspecies finally get some photo recognition!



We end with another small picture of some green thigh caiques. Until recently the only picture I had ever seen of a green thigh was the one that appears on P Patch Parrots website!

If anyone has any other pictures of green thighs, pallids, yellow tails, or any other caique subspecies that are not commonly photographed, please send them this way! I want to make a gallery of all the photos for later use.