I'm glad the cat wasn't actually abandoned! I heard a story about a lady who found an Amazon parrot in its cage abandoned at the dump. That still makes me want to cry.
It's bad enough when people stick their unwanted parrots in the basement or a closet permanently so they don't have to listen to the noise.
I think the bird was a female finch. It had a very finchy-looking beak, thick and wedge-shaped. It was just a drab brown-grey but appeared full-grown so was probably female. The rain's been scary and trees are down all over. The maintenance guys even knocked on my door to warn me I should move my car so its not under the big tree.