Macawnutz
Seriously Nutz!
Super Administrator
Vendor
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
1. How did you acquire your bird? In December, our vet asked us if we had any interest in a bird. A long-time client of hers was going into hospice and needed someone to take her macaw. We agreed to try it and spoke with her husband, who mentioned that they wanted to keep him until his wife passed because he was comforting to her, then have us take him. Unfortunately, that didn't work out. Buddy was upset and starting being aggressive with the hospice workers, so we ended up picking him up on pretty short notice shortly before Christmas. Unfortunately, we found out when we got there that he wasn't coming with his cage since it was in his person's room and taking it down would disturb her. As a result, we ended up going home with a macaw in a dog crate, driving into Jersey to the one open bird store that we knew had large enough enclosures (they had an assembled one and we had to take it apart it to get it into our vehicle), then reassembling it in a hurry so he had somewhere to sleep. We also got very little info on him given the situation, so we were flying pretty blind with regard to his preferences other than what we heard from our vet, who luckily had been seeing him off and on his whole life.
2. What is your bird's name, species, age and sex? His name is Buddy, and he's a male blue and gold macaw who is almost 35 years old.
3. Does your bird do any special tricks? He supposedly knew some tricks in his old house. We haven't really been working on anything but the basics - he knows how to target, but his step-up is inconsistent, so we're working on getting him to step up when we ask rather than just when he wants a ride somewhere. According to our vet, he also knows "swaddle" for doing his claws, but he's not comfortable enough for us to try that yet.
4. What are some of your bird's favorite foods? Banana, almonds in the shell, and mashed sweet potato.
5. What is the funniest thing your bird has done? This is both funny and terrible, but when we first got him, any time he got frustrated and screamed a lot, he'd say, "what?" and then scream again. Clearly he was used to having someone ask him that when he screamed, so it was funny even if the screaming wasn't great. If he screams and I tell him I'm not hanging out with him if he's going to destroy my hearing, he immediately switches to his cute noises - hellos, kitty cat sounds, etc.
6. How has your bird enriched your life? It's crazy how smart he is. He has his issues, but he can be reasoned with in a way our other birds (other than Olive) can't. We had some trepidation about trying a large parrot because our flock is entirely smaller species, but I'm cautiously optimistic. He's been adjusting well to a huge amount of change, and as he gets more comfortable, his sweet nature is really coming out more and more. I was gone overnight for a work trip this week, and he was SO excited when I got back. He spent like an hour just sitting on my lap asking for head scratches when I got home.
7. What would you tell people who are considering this species? It's been very different from having a smaller bird. The food and mess are not that dissimilar, but the cage size (his is about 5 feet x 5 feet and goes to the ceiling, and I don't feel like it would be adequate if he were more active) is huge and I think he's more needy than our other birds. However, he's also our only lone bird (the others have a same-species companion) and has spent his life so far without other birds, so that may be part of it. He's also a pretty big guy, even for a B&G, so we're a little more cautious about his beak. Luckily, he's not very aggressive, especially with me, so things like getting him into his carrier to go to the vet haven't been difficult, and we've only had a couple of real arguments. The hardest part is adjusting to the noise; our smaller birds can be loud, but I don't worry that I'm going to get hearing damage when they scream.
8. What is the activity and noise level of your bird? Unfortunately, he can't fly, and we don't know if he'll ever be able to. He isn't in the best shape - he was quite weak when we got him as he'd pretty much spent his time sitting on his person and not playing with toys or doing bird things. He's gotten stronger (starting to go after his pine toys rather than just paper and cardboard, hanging upside down more), but he's still not as active as our birds. We're also not sure if he has arthritis in his wings; he messed with the feathers a lot when he first came to us and didn't move them at all, but as he's been more active and seeing our birds, he's been moving and stretching them more normally. He's pretty content to sit on a tree stand and play with toys and look out the window most of the time, unless he sees something scary and starts yelling. He is LOUD when he screams, but he doesn't scream a lot. Usually only if something startles him or we are leaving the house.
9. What are some of your bird's quirks? For such a big guy, he's kind of a baby. He is more upset than our other birds when we leave the house (or room), he's kind of a scaredy cat, he doesn't like baths yet, and he's kind of picky about food - unlike our other South American birds, he seems to prefer finely ground chop to chunks he can pick up, and he'd prefer if I fed him with a spoon like a baby. He also strongly prefers me; it took my husband a long time and a lot of work and treats to get him to be on good terms. I don't know if it's a gender preference generally, the fact that his person was a woman, or him spending a lot more time with me.
10. If your bird talks, what is the most surprising word or sentence it has said? Nothing too surprising - mostly he just says hello a lot. He also says "step up" (even though it doesn't seem to be exactly when he wants to step up) and makes dog, cat, and other noises. He has recently started imitating my laugh, which is pretty funny.
11. What is your bird’s favorite treat? Cashews, by a mile. Pistachios and plain popcorn are a distant second.
Pictures:
The day we got him, waiting on cage assembly:
Playing with toys:
Having a snack:
Head scratches:
Post bath (but is molting like crazy - i can't wait to see how he looks after consistent baths and a couple of molts):
More head scratches:
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Great interview!!