What's it like living with a flying macaw?

[faislaq]

@Shezbug's Celebirdy interview about living with a "flying power tool" got me wondering. What's it like for all of you who have flying macaws? Buzzard has only flown very short distances less than a handful of times, so I don't feel like I've gotten the full macaw experience. Our goffins Luv Bug is an ace flyer, but I assume it's different with bigger wings and a bigger beak!

 

[Gigibirds]

Oh, I have no idea but it must be amazing to have a fully-flighted large parrot! I'll bet it's amazing, but maybe a little scary if they still bite super hard!

 

[faislaq]

maybe a little scary if they still bite super hard!

Buzzy beaks my hands and fingers very gently but I'm not a doorjamb or cabinet either! I'm wondering what kind of challenges come with a large flighted bird.

Luv Bug has a few favorite spots she likes to land and more or less entertains herself without too much destruction to the house (thank goodness!) but occasionally lands on a cabinet door or chair and I'm able to stop her before she gets very far in her whittling because her beak is so small. I once wheeled Buzz's playstand a little too far into the dining room and one nibble later there was an 8" x 1/2" long splinter of wood missing along the top back of one of our chairs!

 

[MiniMacaw]

Bowser flies around hallway corners like a pro and always tried to land on shoulders. This has led to many times when he was younger landing poorly and sliding down my back sooo slowly...using his beak for grip . But that was years ago lol. He’s learned since to land near our feet vs our shoulders so he doesn’t fall.
When my husband comes home Bowser flies all the way from the other side of the house to the front door. It never fails to surprise my husband because he seems to come out of nowhere, he’s so fast. Then he lifts a little foot and wants to be carried back to wherever he was .
It is kind of surreal, seeing this large parrot just flying through the kitchen lol, but it’s also beautiful. Plus he has so much fun doing it.

 

[faislaq]

When my husband comes home Bowser flies all the way from the other side of the house to the front door.

hopw do you prevent him from flying out? I know Luv Bug got out in her last home and it took them two days to find her. Thankfully she was uninjured. She hasn't tried it at this house but we've been trying to come up with a solution just in case, especially after 'Stachi was taken by that hawk.

Bowser flies around hallway corners like a pro ... It is kind of surreal, seeing this large parrot just flying through the kitchen lol, but it’s also beautiful. Plus he has so much fun doing it.

That sounds so amazing!!

 

[MiniMacaw]

hopw do you prevent him from flying out? I know Luv Bug got out in her last home and it took them two days to find her. Thankfully she was uninjured. She hasn't tried it at this house but we've been trying to come up with a solution just in case, especially after 'Stachi was taken by that hawk.


That sounds so amazing!! View attachment 381432

We have an extra security door. The second the main house door is opened we close the security door. That way even while our inside door is open when one of us is walking in, we have a steel and glass one that’s closed already.

 

[flyzipper]

My experience with mine is:

• they don't fly recreationally, they do it because they want something, it always seems to serve a specific purpose.
  (that can be anything from wanting to be closer to me, wanting a drink of water, getting from a lower perch to a higher one, etc.)
• they are more apt to fly when they have fewer obstacles and greater room, not only for the flight itself, but for the landing.
• they haven't gotten into things they shouldn't, as long as their designated spots are kept interesting (touch wood).
• they fly more as their skills increase.
• I wouldn't have it any other way.

Bonus video of Jericho (who's a middleweight at about 460g)...

 

[Greylady1966]

@flyzipper that's beautiful.

 

[Toy]

JaJaBinks never flew much, even tho she could. She preferred to walk. When she did fly it was very graceful & she could turn corners on a dime. She'd lift her wing, give a gentle flap & she was airborne. JaKhu, new B&G, has yet to fly. She's just gotten her flights in & hasn't learned to really fly yet.

 

[Shezbug]

@Toy was JaKhu clipped when you got her?

 

[redindiaink]

Rosie was known for dive bombing attacking people at WPR and now that she's home with us she's decided she doesn't like my partner. One day I heard a key in the door so I lept up to warn him she was out of the cage, she followed behind beating me there. It was frikken awesome. It's a bit of a toss up with her some days she'd rather run on the floor and some days she'll fly to where she wants to be.

 

[Toy]

@Toy was JaKhu clipped when you got her?

Yes. They had done a heavy clip taking off all her flights...8 on each side. They told me they had flown her 3 times before they clipped her. My other 2 parrots had also been clipped at a young age.

I do often clip for summer, but let flights grown in & fly them in the house over winter months. Well except for Jasmine my U2. She has never flown because she is a big chewer. I prefer to clip just a few flights below the secondary feathers, so the ends are covered & don't poke them. Our aviary is a good 30 feet from our back steps. I would get JaJaBinks out & toss her in the air & she'd fly half way to the house & walk the rest of the way, climb the steps & wait for me. Jengo CAG would do the same, except climb the steps, as she is not much of a climber. Jasmine gets carried & we hold her up high & tell her to fly so she flaps her wings. Last year we used crates to carry them out to the aviary & back in, so they didn't get clipped.

 

[Sparkles!]

You’re on your toes constantly!
A very sweet Blue and Gold of mine *hated* the vacuum cleaner. Hated with passion! She had cancer, and often goaded you into feeling sorry for her...but she could zip through a room like a demon if she wanted to. Restraint for medical procedures meant you had to be on your game or she’d “kindly” remind you she wasn’t dead yet. Anywho- the phone rang. Back when they were landlines and you had to go to the wall to answer them. I was vacuuming at the time, so I shut the machine off and blabbed at the Schwann’s man for maybe 5 mins? Okay might have been 10, but not long. I came back to a pile of plastic toothpicks and a vacuum reduced to a heap on the floor. How she silently flew down a flight of stairs, through the main level, and then silently destroyed a vacuum in mere minutes I’ll never know! But I swear she grinned at me when I came into the room and she was standing on top of her accomplishment.

 

[faislaq]

I came back to a pile of plastic toothpicks and a vacuum reduced to a heap on the floor.

Oh, man.

 

[Destiny]

I don't have a macaw, but I have always imagined that living with one would be a lot like living with a 5 year old who is constantly equipped with a pair of wire-cutters, a mega-phone, a jet-pack, and a devil-may-care attitude.

 

[Macawnutz]

I don't have a macaw, but I have always imagined that living with one would be a lot like living with a 5 year old who is constantly equipped with a pair of wire-cutters, a mega-phone, a jet-pack, and a devil-may-care attitude.

Oh, you been been to my house?

 

[MR. Mango]

I can only imagine what life in your house must be Ms. Sarah (because of the way I was raised it just feels weird calling you by ur first name since you are older than me , lmk if you mind)

 

[faislaq]

it just feels weird calling you by ur first name since you are older than me

 

[MR. Mango]

I'm sorry did I say something offensive, I wasn't trying to be

Yikes now I'm all nervous . . .

 

[Sodapop&Co.]

Are we ready for a new banner, Mr Mango...?