Bird Breeders in San Jose, Costa Rica

Sadly, cockatiels are indisputably non-native species. It may (may) be legal to keep and breed them but it's a bad idea if you care about the environment and native species.

Talk to an animal/bird rescue here about helping out a bird in need of care.  Loras (green parrots) are regularly orphaned or injured here and become life-long pets.  There are three in my village that various families look after... all are free to fly but tend to hang with the families that saved them.  Somewhat noisy, but comical. 

rainagain, what you describe above is known as a soft release in which the bird is free to fly but benefits from continued feeding by the caregiver. Some birds never learn to forage for themselves.

The difficulty that arises is that psittacine birds (parrots, macaws and others) quickly become comfortable with humans and are, therefore, easy for poachers to capture and divert into the pet trade where their futures are not bright.

And, while I'm on the subject, the Macaw Recovery Network here can always benefit from cash donations and may have a place for you among their volunteers. MRN raises scarlet and great green macaws intended for ultimate release into the wild. They are also involved in reforestation of large tracts of land that were previously home to the great greens but which have been cleared for agricultural purposes.

For more information, goto macawrecoverynetwork.org

Dave, good to know about the Macaw network.  The 'folks' in my village are simple and kind, they do not mean harm by helping an injured bird.  Yes, they are interfering with nature, but not all aspects of co-existence are a bad thing; inevitable actually.  The few 'wild' birds in my village seem quite happy and my neighbor said that the Lora that frequents their home since it was a lil one... sometimes flies off for weeks on end.  So my guess is that it's just one of those birds that enjoys some human time now and then. 

No poachers around here... our village is on a dead-end road and anybody that looks suspicious is immediately questioned as to why they are here...usually by the snoopy women folk... but gotta love that they are on the lookout for any threat to our little heaven.   Hopefully poaching isn't common in CR.  I saw so many wild creatures 'for sale' in Manaus, Brazil... I couldn't believe it.  It was hard for me not to go ballistic on those people.

I personally have a weakness for abandoned kittens and puppies.  They are all the result of irresponsible human beings.  I have, more than once, found a 'bag' of kittens that has been tossed out of a car.  And I've found starving puppies up in the mountains where there are no people, houses, etc.   People (if they can be called that) tend to go up there to get 'rid' of pets once they are no longer cute and they are no longer interested in providing basic care to them.   They think that the pups will become prey to wild animals.  it's awful.

I don't feed any wild creatures of any kind.  I'm baffled that people here put out seeds to attract the birds...  like, I see so many wild birds, almost hourly, there really is no need to beckon them hither.  And I work hard to keep mis bananos y platinos covered so that the birds can't get to them... I leave a few on the plants so they can have them in the most natural way possible.  My cats do a good job of policing the property.  All my pets are 'fixed' and I've donated to the mass 'castrato' events that occur 3-4 times a year in my area.  Literally, over a 100 people show up to those events.  The whole 'dog' thing in Latin America still has me in a permanent state of 'why?'.  But that's another thread.

There's a sloth recovery place near me in Javillos, (strange creatures). I have been there and donated to their cause; as well as the Rain Forest of Eternal Youth... they are super dedicated and I'm happy to support their untouched part of the rainforest (south of Volcan Arenal).

Mucha Paz