Macaws:
Red Shouldered (Hahn's) Macaw
Severe Macaw
Blue And Gold Macaw
Blue Throated Macaw
Military Macaw
Red Fronted Macaw
Scarlet Macaw
Green Winged Macaw
Hyacinth Macaw
I got myself a macaw today for Christmas. Actually this has been in the works for a year now but today was finally the day. As you may know I was supposed to be getting a baby Green-Winged Macaw from a breeder earlier this year but unfortunately the unnamed baby passed away at the breeder's before I ever got to meet it. That heart-breaking situation made me think twice about getting a baby and I began looking at rescue options.
Over the last few months, I got to know about Lazicki's Bird House & Rescue from several sources. I first heard of them at the Connecticut Club Birdie Bash when I inquired about rescue macaws. The organization was later mentioned to me by others and I heard about it in the news.
Originally I had my own ideas about what I wanted in my third, and most likely final, bird. It had to be huge! It had to be friendly, motivated, a ham on stage, and most importantly flighted. When you deal with rescue, you don't necessarily get complete say over what you want and it's important to see how the bird likes you just the same. Without even meeting the bird, the rescue had already picked out the one for me. They knew what I was looking for and they knew the birds best so they said that Santina would work best for me.
I flew out to the Rhode Island rescue a month back to meet the bird and learn about her. I waited until after my big circum-Caribbean trip (videos coming soon) to bring her home. So today was the big day to finally get the bird. Because of weather, I opted to drive to the rescue rather than fly. It took over 9 hours of driving there and back but the trip was well worth it; the cargo I brought back: priceless.
I will be sharing more about the adoption process, Santina, and the homecoming in days to come but in the mean time here are some pictures and Santina's first video.
Santina in her cage at the rescue
Going over paper work and photos at the rescue
Steve with Santina
Santina trying to bite me
Steve put Santina on my arm despite that she didn't want to so she bit me
Santina leaving the rescue to come home
Rescue Green-Winged Macaw coming out of the carrier at home
Santina steps up for me at home
Santina, a 14 year old female rescue Green-Winged Macaw
Naturally I did not want to leave Truman by himself so soon after his arrival but I didn't have a choice. I had this trip planned months before I even got him and I was really counting on the breeder shipping him to me by the start of June which would have left enough time for him to adjust. However, due to delays from the breeder, I got him with just over a week before I would have to leave.
I was quite worried because he was barely eating on his own while I was still home. He would eagerly climb to the top of his cage but then not know how to get back down in order to eat. He would just sit in a high perch and scream his lungs off to be fed. Eventually I would take him out and when I put him back in on the food perch, then he would eat. I had arranged for someone to come over while I go on my trip but this person would only change the food/water and would not be reaching inside the cage at any time. Bringing Truman along for the trip was definitely possible but I feared that the stress and neglect of travel would have been more stressful on him than my absence. I could have brought Kili along or left her home just the same, she is well adjusted to both situations. Since I was leaving Truman, Kili may as well have stayed as well.
For the July 4th three day weekend, I flew out to Dayton, Ohio. Dayton is the birthplace of manned flight because the Wright Brothers built and flew their first planes from there. The flight was just over 3 hours non-stop to Dayton and the same back. As a pilot this has been my furthest cross country flight to date.
The evening of my arrival in Dayton, I was quite worried about Truman. I had called the parrots' caretaker and he reported that Truman had not eaten any of the food I had left out for him in the morning. Furthermore he was screaming and begging for food the entire time. The next day (July 4th), I received much better news. Truman had been eating well on his own. I guess getting hungry enough and realizing that no one was going to feed him the pellets made him figure out his way down to eat. I returned late the following evening. I weighed Truman when I got home and was relieved that his weight was the same as when I had left which meant that he was eating well for 3 days. Today Truman has been eating on his own again and his weight has actually reached a record high of 319g which is higher than what the breeder reported his weight to be when he was shipped out to me. So overall everything worked out fine and in fact my absence forced Truman to stop begging for food and just eat on his own.
This morning I headed out to the airport two hours in advance with plenty of time to spare to pick up my parrot. I was nervous about getting stuck in New York City rush hour traffic on the way there but luckily I got there in just over an hour. However, the extra time did not go to waste as it took nearly 40 minutes to find the cargo terminal from which I was supposed to pick up my parrot delivery.
The flight departed on time and even arrived early. An hour after its arrival the parrot carrier was already handed to me. Not bad considering I've often waited even longer just to get my luggage. I was handed the carrier and took the first peek at my new lifetime companion. The little guy was standing right at the edge by the door and got excited to get some human attention albeit from a complete stranger.
I carried him back to the car and drove directly home. Upon bringing the carrier inside, I strategized how to get the parrot out of the carrier without scaring it. I cut the wire ties which kept the door locked shut. I opened the carrier door and waited to see if little Truman would come out on his own or if I'd have to reach in for him. Surely enough within 30 seconds he made his own way out of the carrier and made his way straight for my hand. He helped himself onto my hand and sat there happily opening and closing his beak.
I knew that he'd be really thirsty after the long flight so I decided to use this as the first opportunity to teach him to drink from his water bottle. I pressed the ball of the straw up against his beak and when he realized that water flows out the end, he made a determined effort to get some water out. I didn't make him drink from it for long but I was impressed how quickly he figured out how to work the steel ball with his tongue to get the water to flow.
Truman walked around on the floor but decided to try a flight. He took off and was up to the ceiling near instantly but didn't know where to go. He bumped into the walls and ceiling a few times before crash landing. I fetched him and he stayed on my hand the rest of the time. I hand fed some pellets to him and he happily munched on them. I was surprised, however, that he neither knew what to do with an almond nor had the strength to crunch it when I shelled it for him.
After some play with his toys and checking out his tree, I put Truman into his new home to take a break. Within a few minutes he went for his water and then ate some pellets on his own.
Trained Parrot is a blog about how to train tricks to all parrots and parakeets. Read about how I teach tricks to Truman the Brown Necked Cape Parrot including flight recall, shake, wave, nod, turn around, fetch, wings, and play dead. Learn how you can train tricks to your Parrot, Parrotlet, Parakeet, Lovebird, Cockatiel, Conure, African Grey, Amazon, Cockatoo or Macaw. This blog is better than books or DVDs because the information is real, live, and completely free of charge. If you want to know how to teach your parrot tricks then you will enjoy this free parrot training tutorial.
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