To surrender a bird, please fill out our surrender application located in the Surrender section of the website.

We ALWAYS need more fosters. Please fill out the contact form, letting us know your interested, and someone will be in touch shortly. You'll have to complete a home visit, background check and vet visit for other family pets.

We do not have a brick and mortar location. In order to see birds we ask that you attend one of our Meet the Birds events, which are listed our or events page. If you fill out an adoption application and are approved, you may set up a time to meet a bird privately as well.

Glad you asked! We're always looking for volunteers! We also need donations such as toys, cages and treats. You can also sign up to foster birds as well!

The adoption process can take several weeks. Often, the biggest hold up is vet info for other family pets. The faster we can get ahold of your vet and confirm your other pets are current on vaccines, the faster we can perform the home visit and get you approved!

Yes! Once your application is approved for adoption, our Adoption Coordinator will work with you to find the perfect bird to welcome into your home.

Our policy states we can complete adoptions within a 100 mile radius of St. Louis due to our home visit requirement. If the bird has qualified interested parties in the region, we generally won’t adopt outside this radius. In cases of birds that have been a little more challenging to home, we have, on special occasions, increased the radius in hopes of finding the right family. In order to do this, we would need to get approval from our adoption coordinator AND find a volunteer who is willing and able to make the trip. Please note, we will also require that you come to St. Louis to visit the bird to make sure there is a connection. In some cases, we would require multiple visits. If you are willing to make the trip(s) and are still interested in adoption, please contact adopt@staravian.org.

Home visits are conducted to ensure that the environment our birds are potentially being placed in is safe, clean, and properly set up to welcome a new feathered family member. Reviewing the living situation provides our team with much needed information to determine what bird would be a good fit, what further education needs to be provided, and if the environment would be safe for our adoptable friends.

Products that are labeled as non-stick contain a polymer called polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), along with a binding agent that is used to adhere the nonstick coating to the product, called perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). When burned or even heated to a certain degree, products containing these chemicals are extremely toxic to birds and should never be used in the same household as them. These products should instead be replaced with a safe alternative (such as glass, cast iron, or stainless steel). Learn more about Teflon Toxicity here.

Adoption fees vary by the species and breed of the bird. Adoption fees are listed on our website within the biography of the adoptable bird. You can view our adoptable birds at https://www.staravian.org/adopt/

Adoption fees help cover the veterinary costs for the birds in our care. Some birds are healthy and require just one visit to an avian vet, but there are birds in the rescue who have medical bills that are much higher than any possible adoption fee. And, there are some birds whose adoption fees do not even cover the cost of a single trip to the vet.

Some species of bird have a waiting list of pre-approved applicants. We utilize the waiting list when an applicant wishes to adopt a particular species of bird, but we do not have any available at that time. Sometimes it’s a perfect match and the bird is adopted out very quickly. If you are interested in adopting a specific species, please fill out an adoption application here: https://www.staravian.org/adoption-application/ Please note that being placed on the waiting list is not a guarantee that an applicant will be approved to adopt the first available bird of the inquired species. STAR prides itself on ensuring that every bird is placed into a home that suits his/her personality and specific needs. If the bird and potential adopter are not a good match, we will move on to the next applicant in line.

Yes! Our Foster Coordinator and Education Team will make sure you are equipped with the knowledge and skills to care for your foster bird.

The base of a parrots diet should consist of a high quality pellet with fresh vegetables and fruit daily. We encourage all potential adopters to research the individual needs of the species they are interested in adopting and learning about their nutritional requirements.

We are run entirely by volunteers, so there are many ways you can help. We need individuals to help with an abundance of daily tasks required to operate the rescue. Whatever your skill set or interests are, we can help find a place for you to help. Please visit our volunteer page to learn more.

If you are unable to keep the bird with you, we are happy to help. We will place the bird with a foster family while we try to locate the owner. If, after 30 days, no one comes forward to claim the bird, the bird will be placed in our program for adoption to a new family. If you decide to turn the bird over to STAR, we ask that you please fill out a surrender form on our website https://www.staravian.org/surrender-form/. We need the form for record keeping purposes. Since this is a found bird, you will be able to skip through much of the form. If you feel confident taking care of the bird until the family is found, we are happy to answer any bird care questions you might have. We can even loan you a cage if you are in need. Unfortunately people are not always honest, and we must warn you about a few things you may come across while searching for the rightful owner. Please be cautious of people offering to “take the bird”. Parrots are very sensitive and smart animals. Anyone who owns a parrot knows how special the bond between a parrot and their human is. This bird is most likely part of someone's family and we hope that due diligence to search for the rightful owner is taken. Parrots can be very expensive pets and for this reason are often the target of theft. We urge you to keep some identifiable information about the bird private and use that as a means to identify the correct owner. It could be a funny phrase the bird says, a song they whistle, a leg band number or an interesting marking on the bird.