Fall passed seamlessly to Winter again. At The Oasis we moved our elderly and plucked birds into either the Bird Building or one of the empty Hospital rooms, put up tarps and roosting boxes for the birds remaining outdoors. Inside we turned from air conditioning to heat.

Three new employees have come and have settled in, bringing our daily on-site staff up to seven. Their loving efforts on behalf of the birds make life easier for all here at the Sanctuary.

The holidays moved past. We celebrated and felt thankful, blessed.

Days are beginning to get longer. Although the nights are still cold, we all sense Spring's approach. This Winter has been wet. The dreary damp days we have endured will bring a beautiful wildflower year.

The facility enters the fourth year in Cascabel. The Oasis has become part of this unusual and creative community. We learn the local environment, recognize the wildlife and, watching the birds circling overhead, become acutely aware of all that our beloved birds have lost.

The Oasis plans for the future. In addition to fundraising for the daily care of the birds, we garner financial support for the envisioned African Grey Aviary. We plan for the time that all the able-bodied will fly and be given back their birthright, even if only on a small scale, and live in flocks flying through their large enclosures. We dream and plan and continue the daily work...

We have come to realize that unless we at The Oasis and in Avian rescue also work with Conservation efforts around the world, our children and grandchildren will only know Parrots in captivity. The skies above the rainforests and remote jungles or plains will be bereft of the color and magnificence of loud rainbow hued beings crying their joy to the sun and sky. We understand that the remote lands such as this that we currently live on will also be gone ... and so too the wild birds and mountain lions and javalina and reptiles that call this land theirs.

At The Oasis we understand that we must care for not only the birds in our homes for which we have accepted responsibility but that we must all work together to save our Mother Earth and all her children, our little sisters and brothers, with whom we share this mote of dust moving through the heavens.