[birds call]
- Angela Fitzgerald: Enter the Featherd Friends Sanctuary
and you are greeted with this: [birds whistle and call]
A cacophony of exotic calls.
- Hillary Kevilus: The mission is
to provide the best life that we can
for the birds entrusted in our care.
I have loved birds since birth, probably.
- Angela: Hillary Kevilus manages this sanctuary
for surrendered, abandoned, and abused exotic birds.
- Hillary: We have anything from the budgies to the macaws.
We also have a variety of cockatoos as well.
African greys, Amazons,
a little bit of probably just about everything. [chuckles]
- Angela: On this day,
there are more than 50 birds under Hillary's care.
- Hillary: I make their food fresh in the morning.
They get a mix of quinoa, barley, buckwheat,
legumes, sprouts, different herbs.
Lots of fruits, and today,
they got a lot of big chunks of melon.
Are you ready?
I would love to have every single one of them
at home, personally.
This is my way of trying to help as many of them as I can,
and to show them as much love as I can.
You already have it, Fred.
This is Jessie's.
- Angela: The sanctuary takes in
25 to 30 feathered friends a year.
- Hillary: Good bird!
Parrots are one of the most rehomed pet.
Because they're beautiful, they speak, you know,
there's TikTok videos of them.
So people will get them, thinking they're gonna be
the most amazing, talkative little best buddy ever.
And the reality is, they're screamy, loud, destructive.
So that's things that people can't handle.
So they surrender.
Hi. [parrot squawks]
They come from everywhere.
Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota.
If they're willing to drive here,
if they need us to take it, we'll take their bird.
We'll work on training some of them,
trying to get them, you know, more adoptable
if they're not already.
Good job, Benji!
There's your pretty wings!
Pretty wings!
- Angela: All of these parrots come with a story.
- Come on, thank you.
Savannah came from a very wonderful couple
that absolutely adored her.
Oh, you're so sweet. [kisses]
They chose to bring her here and make me fall in love with her
and just adore that bird.
[parrot squawks] Showing off for you, Savannah.
- Angela: The cockatoos are housed in the next room.
- Hillary: Hi!
- Angela: And one of Hillary's favorites
is this little guy.
- Hi, Charlie!
It was a very, very hard surrender.
Come on!
He's a special bird.
Oh, he is the sweetest little thing.
Just wants to cuddle, just wants all of your attention.
And he's gonna need somebody that has, like,
all day to devote to Charlie
because he just wants to be cuddled and loved
like the little prince that he is.
They're all amazing.
I could tell you a million stories
about every one of them. [laughs]
- Angela: Hillary's personal journey to the sanctuary
started on a wing and a prayer. [parrot squawks]
- Hillary: Back home in Marshfield,
I was a caregiver, and I got burned out on that,
and I literally screamed at the universe one day,
"I'm so tired of humans!
Just let me hang out with birds all day!"
And less than a week later,
I found a job posting for this place,
and I was just like, "Well, that's what I asked for."
And so, here I am.
- Angela: The universe granted Hillary her dream job
at a place that has a passion for parrots.
[parrot squawks] - Hillary: Ooh-ahh!
Being able to be here every day, they call this a job?
I haven't worked a single day since I've been here.
It's the birds.
The birds are the best. [chuckles]
[parrot talks] Uh-huh.
[parrot talks] And then what happened?
[parrot talks]
I get to hang out with the birds every day.
I get exactly what I wanted.
This is the first time he's ever let me scritch him,
so I'm sorry.
I'm just gonna eat this up.
Such a good bird.
I love what I do.
Are you gonna dance?
Are you dancing?
Still can't even believe that this is real.
[parrot squawks] You're a dancing machine!
[parrots squawk] [Hillary laughs]
Are we friends now?
[playful music]