Ruffled Feathers Parrot Sanctuary Inc.
Where Hope Takes Flight
The two most popular songs March 5, 2026
March 5th Over the Years
March 5th Over the Years: From Iron Curtains to Cockatoo Rain
Let me tell you something about March 5th over the years. This date has been hosting absolute chaos since before the United States was even a country, and somehow every single year it rolls back around and finds a way to remind us that the world keeps spinning no matter what we’re doing in it. Kings have died on this day. Iron curtains have descended. Country music legends have crashed out of the sky. And here at Ruffled Feathers, we’ve been doing our part to match that energy year after year, one bird, one raccoon, and one dripping ceiling at a time. March 5th Over the Years has shown us again and again that history doesn’t just happen in textbooks. Sometimes it happens in world-changing speeches, and sometimes it happens in a sanctuary with a parrot chewing on a ruler.
Pull up a chair. This one’s going to cover some ground.
1770: The Boston Massacre, and Other Bad Mornings
On March 5th, 1770, British troops opened fire on a crowd of colonists outside the Boston Customs House and killed five people, including a man named Crispus Attucks who became the first person to die in what would eventually become the American Revolution. That moment helped light the fuse on an entire war for independence. Samuel Adams turned it into a rallying cry. Paul Revere turned it into a famous engraving. History turned it into a turning point.
On March 5th, 2023, I was sitting at my computer trying to do taxes. I was sick. Then I noticed water dripping from the ceiling on my way upstairs.
I’m not saying these two events are equal. I’m just saying that on this date, through the centuries, this day has a habit of interrupting whatever you had planned.
Also in 2023, even while under the weather, I got out to grab some supplies and took one of our greys along for the ride. Because that’s what we do. Sick, flooded ceiling, tax deadline looming, and there’s a grey in the passenger seat watching the world go by like he’s the one who should be worried about itemized deductions. You just keep moving.
1946: The Iron Curtain Descends. The Game Warden Calls.
On March 5th, 1946, Winston Churchill stood at a podium in Fulton, Missouri, and delivered one of the most famous speeches of the twentieth century. He told the world that an Iron Curtain had descended across Europe, separating the Soviet bloc from the free West. It was one of the opening declarations of the Cold War and it made the entire planet hold its breath.
On March 5th, 2020, I got a call from the game warden.
Now, I need you to understand something. When you are somebody like me and the game warden calls your phone, your first thought is never “Oh, they probably just want to say hello.” No. Your first thought is, “Oh no, what did I do now?” It doesn’t matter that I have been doing this for years. It doesn’t matter that I have a spotless record. There is something about the words “game warden” appearing on your caller ID that makes every single innocent thing you’ve ever done in your life temporarily disappear from your memory.
Turns out it was nothing bad. But that three-second window between seeing the number and hearing the first word? That’s my own personal Iron Curtain. It descends every single time.
That same evening in 2020, I also had Misty out running errands with me. Misty was eyeing a display of wooden rulers at the store with that particular intensity that only parrots and very focused toddlers understand. She had decided, without any input from me, that those rulers would be better as a pile of little wooden toothpicks. Churchill shaped the geopolitical order of the post-war world with words. Misty does it with her beak.
March 5 Historical Events: A Crash in Tennessee and a Long Night in Louisville
This one gets a little quieter for a moment.
On March 5th, 1963, a small plane went down outside of Camden, Tennessee, and took with it Patsy Cline, Cowboy Copas, and Hawkshaw Hawkins. Three country music legends were gone before the week was out. It was one of the darkest days in the history of American music, and people who were alive then say they never forgot where they were when they heard the news.
On March 5th, 2019, our precious Barbara bird had been having seizures all night. It was a long, horrible night. The kind of night that tests everything you have. It takes a certain kind of person to sit with an animal through that, and we did what we always do, which is show up and stay until the morning comes. We didn’t lose Barbara that night. But we understood in our bones what it means to hold vigil for something you love.
Tara had also posted that morning about BB and Tickles eating their breakfast and getting ready to stir up trouble. That’s the thing about this life. The hard nights and the funny mornings exist in the same twenty-four hours. You’re up all night with Barbara and by sunrise Tickles is already plotting his next move. The birds don’t know how to do anything halfway.
March 5th Over the Years: When the Impossible Happens
In 1616, the Catholic Church officially banned the work of Nicolaus Copernicus, who had dared to suggest that the Earth revolves around the Sun rather than the other way around. The experts of the day had decided the matter was settled. Copernicus was wrong, the Church was right, and that was final.
Exactly four hundred years later, on March 5th, 2016, we posted a video of Kiki.
Kiki is a bird who was told by a veterinarian that he would probably never fly again. He had been kept in a small cage, in the dark, for so long that his wings had wasted away. When he first came to us he was barely the bird he used to be. But something in him kept going. We worked on the harness. We let him stretch. We gave him space and time and the kind of patience this work requires.
And on this day in 2016, with witnesses present, Kiki flew the entire length of the building. He hovered at the back door, out of breath, panting like he had just crossed an ocean. He had no idea what to do next. Neither did we, because we were all watching with our mouths open.
The Church eventually had to acknowledge Copernicus was right. The vet eventually had to hear about Kiki. I am not saying our bird is in the same category as a scientific revolution. I am saying that experts have been wrong before, and when they are, sometimes it looks like a parrot hovering at the back door catching his breath after a flight nobody thought he had in him.
2020: When the Waterfront Park Terrorist Made the News
Looking back at March 5th Over the Years, it’s remarkable how often this date shows up in moments that shape history. Also on this day in 2020, there was apparently a situation at Waterfront Park significant enough to have the police out in force. I described this individual at the time as a “terrorist.” I used words like “officers in pursuit.” The scene was dramatic. The stakes were high.
It was a raccoon.
Look, I stand by the characterization. This particular raccoon had been causing problems, and the city takes wildlife incidents seriously, and so do we. What I will also tell you is that on the same date, I posted a video with a warning that it was not a pleasant watch, showing a very sick raccoon we had transported for euthanasia. Because I don’t think anything deserves to suffer. Not even a raccoon. Not even the Waterfront Park terrorist.
People ask sometimes why we bother with a sick raccoon. “It’s just a raccoon,” they say. “Let nature take its course.” And I get it, I really do. But I cannot sleep knowing something is out there scared and in pain. So we help. One at a time. One bad day at a time. One dripping ceiling, ringing game warden, ruler-destroying parrot day at a time.
What March 5th Sounds Like in 2026
Here at Ruffled Feathers, March 5th Over the Years has brought its own share of strange, funny, and sometimes heartbreaking moments.Right now, today, the number one song in the country is “Opalite” by Taylor Swift, with “Choosin’ Texas” by Ella Langley sitting right behind it at number two. Country music is sitting on top of the charts on the same date it lost Patsy Cline sixty-three years ago. That’s the kind of thing that makes you believe in something. The music keeps going. It always does.
Here at the sanctuary, over the years on this day, we have posted Birds of Africa, Birds of South America, Birds of Southern Asia, and Birds of North America. We have introduced you to Lanner Falcons, Razorbills, Rufous Ovenbirds, and Francolins. We have shared Shazam giving kisses, Tara writing about Cookie and Raptor bombing the other birds, Brad getting rained on by cockatoos, and a Corella with a Martin Luther King Jr. quote.
In 2012, the mayor called my phone because he couldn’t reach someone else, and for about thirty seconds I felt very important.
In 2022, an ornithologist called about a sandhill crane out at Popelick, which is not something we typically handle, and I thought about how this life keeps handing you new things to figure out.
In 2017, I said that my favorite kind of rainy day is the kind that rains cockatoos. I stand by that completely.
In 2018, we were getting the back aviaries ready for spring. Just needed a few more screws and a brother to help. That’s how this place got built, one weekend, one project, one “I need some help out here” at a time.
There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” – Ernest Hemingway
March 5th has been a day for iron curtains and iron wills. For long vigils and impossible flights. For game wardens and grocery store parrots and sick raccoons and a girl named Barbara who made it to morning. The world keeps writing history on this date whether we pay attention to it or not.
We’ve been paying attention. We’ll keep doing that.
See you tomorrow.
Brad and Tara Ruffled Feathers Parrot Sanctuary
Some of our related content and beyond:
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***Warning not a pleasant video*** people often ask me why I even bother with a sick raccoon. It’s just a raccoon let nature take its course they say. Well I don’t think anything deserves to suffer. Even if it is just a raccoon. He could lay there for days still in pain. In its remaining time there it is highly contagious to pets that haven’t had their shots and other animals the whole time. I don’t like it but I wouldn’t be able to sleep knowing it was out on the ground scared and in pain. So we help. One at a time. Hopefully to slow the spread and help protect other raccoons, pets, and wildlife around the city. I could not do it without having good friends out at Broadbent who care about our states wildlife. They really do the hard work. 😢
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Hey baby, for those of you that don’t know this is Shazam. He is our most social and friendly bird. He loves to talk and give kisses. He charms every girl he meets. Show me your babies! -Tara
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Double trouble here. Cookie isn’t so bad but when he and Raptor are together the skies aren’t safe. They like to dive bomb other birds. They are so funny. Have a good day! -Tara
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Birds are angels on this earth. Have a great Tuesday everyone. – Brad
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Good Morning everyone! Bb and Tickles are eating their breakfast as no doubt getting ready to stir up trouble. Lol. Take care! -Tara
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This is George. He’s such a good boy. Have a good night! -Tara
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Where Hope Takes Flight
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