Close your eyes, and you’d swear you’ve stumbled into a tropical forest. Dozens of brilliantly colored birds fill the air with their raucous cawing and sweeter birdsong, punctuated with occasional outbursts in English.

Open them, though, and you’ll see the West Fargo home of the Center for Avian Adoption, Rescue and Education – an all-volunteer bird shelter that matches parrots of every size and color with new human roommates. CAARE celebrates its 15th birthday this year.

Casey Backhaus, CAARE’s vice president, says it began as a club for lovers of pet birds in 2001. By the next year, the group of avid bird fans – chaired then, as now, by Lois Novacek – began to take on a larger mission. Today, it not only seeks out good homes capable of caring for its social, active foster clients; it works to educate new owners on the complexities of caring for creatures destined to live out lives far from the jungles and rainforests of Central and South America, Australia and Africa.

“Importing wild-caught birds has been illegal since 1992, so all of these birds were hatched in captivity,” Casey explains, raising her voice above the ringing bird “conversations” that echo throughout the shelter. She introduces visitors to a rainbow of colorful, inquisitive members of the parrot family. The smallest are the green, yellow and blue parakeets, commonly known as budgies. Next up: The conures, considered the clowns of the parrot family. Pairs of cockatiels in white, cream and grey with rouge-like orange cheeks squawk and mutter in nearby cages. Mango, a macaw, preens his blue, green and yellow plumage. At the top of the parrot pecking order are the larger, longest-lived birds – African grey parrots, with their bright red tails, and the snowy umbrella cockatoo called Bella.

“Every bird has its own personality,” says Casey, who has three of her own at home. “Sometimes a bird will fall in love with you at first sight and form a lifelong bond. But I’ve also seen birds that seem to hate a particular person for no reason at all.” She herself once adopted a cockatiel from CAARE, but then returned him when they turned out to be incompatible. “He didn’t like me very much,” she laughs. He ultimately found another human whom he found more to his taste.

Her personal flock includes Sidney, a brilliant green Solomon Island eclectus; Keiko, a blue-crowned conure; and Starby, a green and purple Maximilian pionus. Like most passionate parrot people, she handles hers often out of their cages, sometimes taking them for show-and-tell at schools and events like the Center Mall’s recent Paws for Pets. All three are hand-trained and can talk: “What are you doing? Wanna play peekaboo? Tickle tickle tickle. Whaaat?” Handsome Sidney is the largest, the friendliest and has the most to say.

“All the members of the parrot family can speak, which doesn’t necessarily mean they will,” she points out. Some, not all, of the adoptable birds at CAARE have rudimentary language. Their vocabularies, though, can be a problem, depending on what potential adopters are looking for in a bird best friend. “We’ve had some birds who’d learned to swear,” she confesses. “That can complicate it.”

Adopting from CAARE is a careful and sometimes lengthy process. Would-be adopters first fill out a detailed application asking about their experience with birds and other pets, their homes and their commitment to caring for a bird whose lifespan can range from 15 years for the little guys to 80 and even older for larger birds. Board members make a home visit to assess the environment, check references for first-time bird owners, and finally vote on whether to approve.

“We want to make sure that all our birds go to good homes,” Casey says. That means they’re looking not only for committed owners who want them for companionship rather than show, but for hazards that threaten the birds. “Smoking is the worst, plus any kind of fumes. Even cleaning your oven or painting the room can cause distress. Their respiratory systems are very delicate.”

CAARE’s adoption fees range from $5 for budgies to as much as $600 for larger, more valuable birds. Those costs, she points out, are a fraction of what parrot lovers are charged in pet stores and by breeders. Adoption fees and sales from the Avian Warehouse, which occupies half of their space, support the considerable cost of rent, feed and veterinary care for their charges.

The warehouse is brimming with everything home birdkeepers can imagine: used and new cages from medium to extra-large, wholesome organic bird delicacies (nuts, dried fruits and seeds), endless amusing toys and accessories for optimum environments. Like adoption fees, she points out, prices are considerably lower than in retail establishments. The warehouse is open to the public on Wednesdays from 5 to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., with volunteers on hand to introduce adoptable birds, help select the right foods, and offer advice and guidance to perplexed parrot-loving newbies. They’re also open by appointment when a CAARE member is available. They also provide grooming and boarding services.

CAARE’s mission of rescuing and re-homing parrots has much in common with shelters that specialize in more common pets … but it has some distinct differences as well. “It’s not like finding homes for puppies and kittens that someone may have for 10 or 15 years,” she says. “Parrots can live much, much longer – easily outliving their first owners.” Sometimes, in fact, precious parrots may be bequeathed to heirs in their owners’ wills.

CAARE’s winged wards come to the shelter for other reasons, too. Casey notes that some must find new homes when their humans move to apartments or care facilities where noisy, active flying friends don’t fit into the program. Others are given up due to the cost of their demanding care in time as well as money. “Sometimes people ask us to take them just because the birds aren’t getting much attention, and they want them to have a better life,” she adds.

While not as common as fans of furry four-legged pets, Casey says parrot lovers are passionate people. About one in 25 American homes is said to have a resident bird or, often, more.

“Every parrot requires attention and good, faithful care, but they pay you back many times over,” she says. “They’re smart and curious about everything you’re doing, and they can bond with you for life.” Sometimes, in fact, those bonds can be problematic when a sociable bird considers its human to be its mate.

“Keiko, my conure, doesn’t like my fiancé,” Casey confides. “She sees him as her competition.”

For more information on adopting parrots from CARE, check its website, www.caare.net, or visit its shelter and store at 2202 Second Ave. E., West Fargo, during regular hours.