COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- A bird owner returned home to find a pried-off back door and clumps of feathers and seeds strewn around his house after thieves made off with 14 of his exotic and expensive pets.

David Ball said the birds stolen Tuesday included a blue-and-gold macaw, three blue-throated Amazons, an African Gray parrot and a Senegal parrot. He estimated the birds would sell for more than $9,000 at a typical retail shop but said money isn't the issue.

"This is like stealing the children," Ball said.

The thieves ignored less expensive birds, a bird that was in poor health and another that Ball said could be linked to him -- a 5-year-old blue-eyed cockatoo named Skeeter whose pictures he's posted "all over the Internet."

"The police said it was probably someone I know or who knows of me," Ball said.

He used to breed and sell cockatiels and suspects the thief may have been someone who visited to examine the birds.

Ball has contacted pet stores and posted alerts on bird enthusiasts' Web sites. He has also alerted the air cargo manager at the Colorado Springs airport.

News of the thefts rattled customers Wednesday who stopped by the store where Ball has bought birdseed for several years.

"The very first customer who walked through my door this morning and heard about this wants to offer a $1,000 reward for the return of these birds," store owner Ron Perry said.

Ball is worried that some of his rare pets could have been harmed during the raid.

"It was a mess. They definitely struggled trying to get the birds out of their cages," Ball told the Colorado Springs Gazette.

Nothing else was taken, except a couple towels and two boxes likely used to transport the birds, a job he believes would require at least two people, the newspaper said.

Anyone with information about the birds can contact Colorado Springs police at 719-444-7000.