OUR MAGNIFICENT MACAWS EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM

Parrots are as smart as a human child age 4 to 7

Your teamwork is needed

Have fun with our parrots, they are brilliant learners. Engage them with the respect they deserve, greet them by name in a normal tone of voice say “Hello” when approaching, say “Bye Bye” when departing, make eye contact. Smile, they see your facial expressions. Sing, recite poetry, read aloud (books provided just ask), show them a music video on your cell phone, perform live music, wave, sway, bounce, dance, tilt your head, make silly animal sounds, whistle, ring a bell, laugh.

Severe Macaw (Ara severa)

Chestnut-fronted Macaw largest of the mini-macaws. Size, 19 inches in length. Only mini-macaw to have feathers on the bare patches on its face like the larger types of the macaws. Lifespan is 30-80 years. Origin: Northern South America from Panama south into Brazil.

HELLO! My name is “Tweddle”. I am a girl formerly known as Coquette.

I SAY: “Hello” in a deep baritone voice! I kiss by making a series of kissing sounds.

I NEED: A large variety of raw veggies & fruit, Tops Organic Pellets (cold pressed) Nutriberries & all varieties of in-the-shell tree nuts, including pistachios, pine nuts.

MY STORY: I am a re-homed parrot with at least three prior homes. My early life is a mystery. I have a sweet disposition. It is obvious that I was hand raised to be a companion parrot. I’ve been mishandled (abused). My trust of humans has diminished. My prior five years were chaotic. Stress caused me to pluck my feathers and gain weight. For four of the five years, my home was by a bar in a hectic restaurant on Duval St. When the restaurant closed my last year was spent in an atmosphere of isolation in a backyard devoid of any human activity. I went from one extreme to another. At the restaurant my cage was positioned next to the bar just a few feet from noisy Duval Street. My basic needs for a healthy diet, shelter, hygiene, peace, quiet and dark time for sleeping were not met. I was teased by rowdy young drunks and worse than that I was mismatched with another Severe. This relationship turned out to be destructive for both of us. We are now separated. Our last owners stated they knew nothing about parrots or their care. They did not know what kind of parrots we are and misrepresented us as an in-love pair of military macaws. They were wrong on both accounts.

FAVORITE FOODS: Most food, pistachios, apples. I tend to overeat.

FAVORITE TOYS: Searching for food and toys in foraging baskets.

LIKES: Nancy, volunteer Sean, bathing outdoors with the flock, supervised outdoors out of cage time, Summer only when the migrating hawks are gone.

DISLIKES: Bananas, broccoli, chicken bones.

Bailey — Green-winged Macaw (Ara chloroptera) — Female

Tango — Blue and Gold Macaw (Ara ararauna) — Male

HOUSING TWO PARROTS TOGETHER IS COMPLICATED

OUR STORY:

“Why are we caged together while others here are caged singly?”

Parrots are socially complex individuals, who choose their friends & mates whether human or avian. We met while being displayed separately by now deceased “Big John” former owner of NY Pasta Garden. It took three years for us to create a bond of trust.

In the wild macaws pair for life & live in family flocks of about a dozen. When squabbles happen the vast outdoors offers a lot of room. Two males will likely end up fighting over territory. Females may also fight. The best option is to house a male & female in the same cage because they are less likely to fight. Opposite sexed parrots may fight. It depends entirely on the individual bird. The match may result in breeding which leads to other problems.

If matched correctly two happy parrots may occur. If pairing is done incorrectly it can result in food hoarding, stress, feather plucking, serious mental & physical injury & death. Caregivers must constantly monitor their behavior because relationships can change over time. It important to deliver equal amounts of food, treats, eye contact & physical & verbal attention. Favoritism can lead to jealousy & aggression.

This duo is loosely bonded. They are friends not lovers. Tango is more dependent on Bailey than she is on him. During short separations he calls for her. Sometimes he guards her by striking the cage bars aggressively with his beak. Striking happens when he thinks visitors are too close and need to back up a few inches.

This duo provides each other with a few social needs like preening, regurgitation (feeding one another although no food is exchanged) & sleeping on the same perch at night. Occasionally there is a squabble for access to resources, food, drink, toys and training.

Catalina Macaw (Ara Ararauna x Macao)

Second most common hybrid macaw. First generation hybrid between two species (Blue & Gold X Scarlet Macaw). Catalinas are gorgeous parrots. My dominant genes are from a male like “Lucy” and my recessive genes are from a female like “Ara”.

HELLO! I am a girl named “Chatsworth”

I SAY: “Hello”, “Bye Bye”, “Ara”, “Hammer”, “Koko”. I sneeze, laugh “Ha Ha”, stretch my neck, push out my upper beak, bob up & down. I say my nickname. “Choo Choo”.

I NEED: Roudybush Daily Maintainence (size medium), Tree nuts, Harrison’s Power Treats, Fruit, Veggies, Yearly medical exam.

MY STORY: Hatch Year 1991. I’m a commodity bred for money by the owners of The Parrot Jungle in Miami. I’m sweet, trusting, even tempered, & quiet. Like most people my former owners guessed at my gender. At age 15, I surprised them by laying an egg. I was caged on the patio at the former Eaton Lodge (B&B) with two other parrots & a dog. We got attention from the guests at breakfast. I was rehomed here because I like the outdoors, other parrots & visitors. I love fresh juice & I request it with a clear display of body language. I have the odd habit of regurgitating to feed my own right foot.

I underwent an emergency operation ($1,600) which saved my life. Dr. Doug Mader (Owner of Marathon Veterinary Hospital) performed a delicate operation to remove my egg sac which contained three stuck eggs. These eggs could not pass because they were obstructed by old mummified eggs that have previously perforated my egg sac & calcified in my abdomen. I am lucky to be alive. I still have ovaries & exhibit nesting behavior. Neutering parrots is not an option because of complex & intricate blood vessels.

FAVORITE FOODS: Hazelnuts in the shell, apples, grapes, warm sweet potatoes, breakfast cereals, oatmeal with coconut milk, bacon, eggs, ham, grits, whole wheat bread with peanut butter, marrow in chicken bones.

FAVORITE TOYS: Stainless steel chain, colorful toys, plastic links, foraging.

LIKES: “Hammerhead”, “Bike rides with Jerry Kemler”, looking at the sea (oceanside, end of Duval St.), bathing with the flock, saying “Hello” to all.

DISLIKES: Loud noises, quick movements, being touched on feet or tail.

Buffons Macaw, (Ara ambiguous)

Central & South American Parrot Found in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Columbia & Ecuador. Second largest of the 8 large macaws.

CRITICALLY ENDANGERED: Buffons are facing extinction in the wild and in captivity.

HELLO! I am a girl named “Ratchet”.

I SAY: “Hi”, “Hello”, “How Are You”. “Bye”, “Bye Bye”, “Thank You” & I grumble.

NEEDS: 80% Raw fruits & veggies, 20% Dried mix of Tops Organic Pellets (cold pressed) with a variety of seeds, hard nuts, freeze dried meal-worms and crickets! A swing to push and shaggy rope toys.

MY STORY: I am a rare macaw. People tend to overlook me because I am green & not as colorful as red & blue macaws. I am often confused with the smaller olive green Military macaw (see “Skylar”). Buffons & Military macaws look similar to the untrained eye because we are mostly green, have bright red frontal patches on our foreheads & our white faces flush red when we are excited. Buffons are much larger than Militaries & wear more shades of green. We range in size from 30 to 35 inches long & are the second largest macaws with massive heads & beaks.

The day-glow-neon intensity of my yellow green feathers in the sunlight is an unforgettable sight. Notice the powder blue, turquoise & other subtly colored feathers on my back & rump. My long tail feathers are partly russet or Indian red.

I am very smart. I am headstrong. I love attention & like to spend time with volunteers I trust. Michele, Sean and Devin. I accept having my toes clamped when I am carried by hand. My loud vocal sounds of protest sometimes scare people. When my blustering and posturing is over, I am docile & sweet. It took a year for me to learn to stop biting, sit quietly, build trust & go bike riding with Jerry Kemler. My favorite place to go with Jerry is The Green Parrot on Sunday afternoons for open mike horn music.

FAVORITE FOODS: All nuts, corn, carrots, squash, bananas, apple, grapes

FAVORITE TOYS: PVC toys, plastic links, metal bells, a swing to push!

LIKES: Steve, Nancy, Jerry, Sean, Devin, Michelle, attention from visitors, bathing, daily training, cars, bikes, live music at Funday Sunday at Salute

DISLIKES: Lack of attention, green veggies, broccoli

Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao)

One of eight species of the large macaws. Scarlets are considered to be one of the ten most beautiful birds on earth. Lucy is a magnificent Central American Scarlet with a 3 inch wide cadmium yellow band with blue dotting on each wing. His red tail feathers are nearly 3 ft 6 inches long.

HELLO! I am boy named “Lucy”.
I am thirty five years old.

I SAY: “Hi”, “Hello”, “Lucy”, “You Are Pretty”, “You Are Beautiful”, “Ring The Bell”, I roll my “Rs”. I sing & chatter to get attention. I bark “Woof woof” like a dog & “Meow” like a cat.

I NEED: Tops Organic pellets, size Large. Nutriberries, whole tree nuts, veggies, fruit, yearly veterinary visit to determine my health.

MY STORY: I arrived here on Valentine’s day. Most of my former life remains a mystery. How did an intelligent loyal parrot like me end up getting rehomed here without information about my past? What was my name? How old am I? Why was I unwanted? What was I fed? Favorite foods? Toys? People? Animals? Did I fly? Was my cage covered at night? Did I talk, dance, or ride on a bicycle or in a car? Was I aggressive or gentle? How did I bathe? How often? Etc etc etc!

I have communicated some of my past through verbal & physical clues. I call myself “Lucy”. If my previous owners named me “Lucy” for red-headed Lucille Ball they made a wrong assumption about my sex because I am a boy. I obviously lived with a dog & cat. I like to take warm water showers on the shoulder of my caregiver. I play peek-a-boo. My cow bell & I are inseparable. I ring it all the time. I say “ring the bell” & I ring it when asked to do so. I wave by curling my two front toes (like the peace sign) when I am asked to “Pick Up your Foot And Wave”. When I’m asked to do “Big Eagle” I extend my wings. I say “Rita”, “Roger”, “Blackie” and “Grand-mama”. These are words that figure in my past. Nancy thinks “Blackie” was the “woof-woof”! I am the best adjusted bird here. I taught Nancy everything she knows about macaws especially about Scarlet macaws.

FAVORITE FOODS: All food, any size, shape or color, veggies, fruit, nuts.

FAVORITE TOYS: Hard toys, metal bells, colorful Lucite, coconut shells.

LIKES: Steve, Devin & Sean, bike rides with Jerry, walk abouts, visitors.

DISLIKES: Being touched on tail feathers.

Blue-throated Macaw (Ara glaucogularis)

Previously Arainde & Wrangler’s macaw is endemic to a small area of North-Central Bolivia. They are easy to breed in captivity and the captive population is many times larger than the wild population. Captive breeding remains the largest hope for the future of this macaw.

Critically Endangered: extinction is imminent with only 50 to 100 birds in the wild

HELLO! I am a boy named “Idgit”.

I SAY: “Hi, Hello, Idgit, Skylar, What’s the matter?”

I NEED: Stimulating safe toys to play with & chew, large ladders made with colorful wooden blocks for parrots to dismantle, hard plastic puppy teething rings & bells to ring for attention.

MY STORY: Being one of the rarest birds in the world, I am a treat to behold. My species has been bred in aviculture only since the late 1970’s. I am friendly, docile, curious, playful & tend to be surprisingly calm & undemanding in social situations. I enjoy human & avian interaction. I can be extremely mellow & docile when keeping company with humans. I enjoy evening hours with Steve receiving one on one loving attention in his lap, arms and upside down on his chest. He is teaching me to give kisses on the cheek. Occasionally, I sit on his head. I rarely bite, choosing to flee rather than fight when I feel threatened.

I relate to the world by chewing on it & explore everything with my tongue & beak, including you. Left to my own devices, I will entertain myself for hours with spontaneous acrobatics, one-bird circuses & crazy antics. I am very quiet but can emit a squawk when surprised or as a greeting. I usually prefer to “chat” for hours in a quieter voice. I speak English & talk to myself if left alone.

I am an expert mechanic & can easily open just about anything. Few cages are designed well enough to keep me in & the only safe way of keeping me contained is with a padlock! Do not confuse me with a Blue & Gold macaw, the most common macaw, more true blue in color and with a very different personality. At first glance we look similar but my feathers are turquoise or teal blue with a metallic sheen. I have a blue (not black) throat & a blue (not green) forehead. I am smaller in size.

I have a bare blue streaked white face (not black-streaked) & a pale yellow iris. Sometimes I get jealous when other birds get more attention. I can be nippy when I do not get my way. I am timid about venturing more than a half block from home. I am not inclined to bite & I am not as excessively loud as other macaws. I am content to entertain myself if given plenty of chewing material. Chewing, performing acrobatic antics & exploring my surroundings with my tongue & beak are my favorite activities.

FAVORITE FOODS: corn, parrot biscuit, almonds, nuts, apples, grapes, French fries

FAVORITE TOYS: the biggest colorful wooden ladders, plastic bottles & caps

LIKES: Steve, most people, bathing, Seinfeld, female vocalists, Charlie the cat, Ara the parro

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