Male-female interaction

[claudio25]

i have 3 1/2 year old female greenwing macaw. shes been fine being the only bird until this summer. now she seems lonely during the days in her big aviary all by herself (babbling to herself and screaming for atttention). i'd like to get another macaw, i've been searching local papers (i'd like to get an adult, a parrot that needs a home instead of a baby). would i have problems if i got a male - - i dont want my sweet macaw to turn against me because she has a 'mate...' Just wondering if this matters. thank you!!!

[crazeemama]

whether the added 'Big Mac' is the same sex or not they can still bond. If that happens then your Gw might decide she likes the company of another Mac better than yours. I have also seen Bonded&mated pairs that are really people oriented EXCEPT during breeding season. Or you might buy another GW and they two birds hate each other!
If you are pretty close to your mac then she might enjoy the other mac when you are not around but still prefer your company when you are available.
Also if you are looking for companionship for your mac, it doesn't really have to be another mac for the two to bond. I have a nnormal grey male "Petey' that serenades Conner a sun conure every night! their cages are side by side....... If one gets out time he goes sits on the others cage until i let them both out. Strange but true.
Well i don't think i helped, but maybe you have some more things to consider. Good luck - let us know what happens

[teri]

why don't you spend more time with your parrot, why is she out there babbling by herself? she only wants to hang out with you, in the wild they are in flocks, when you bring them into your home they consider you and your family the flock, by leaving her out there while you are inside is basically abandonment, also when a parrot is away from the flock it represents danger, they know they are someone else's dinner. you should be interacting with your bird the way you interact with your family, or child, plus your bird is probably bored. also in the wild 90% of their time is spent foraging for food and when you put them in a cage with food in a dish, you are taking away one of their natural skills, the reason i keep saying "in the wild" is because that is what you have, an animal that is not domesticated. one good idea is to take away the readily available food dish and get some small tupperware containers, 1 with a pop off lid, 1 with a twist off lid, 1 with opening covered with paper so their beaky must break the paper to get to it, and use those as food dishes instead, they can be hanging or what ever, but it is stimulating her little brain that has the intelligence of a 5 year old child. plus, socialization is very important, socialize her with other people, in the wild they socialize all day and to take her away from that natural instinct, and skill and put her in a cage away from that makes her feel lonely. getting another bird is not the answer, understanding why your bird is behaving the way she is and trying to help her is the answer. if you understand their behavior in the wild and meet those needs in capitivity, you will have a happy bird. it is the same with a human baby, it is crying cause it is hungry, it crys cause it needs to be held, it cries cause it's diaper needs changed, we seek out why the baby is crying and we try to meet it's needs as to help it and make it stop crying and make it happy. the same way should be for any animal, what need is to be met?

[claudio25]

good god, child, i have a JOB. i cant spend 9-5 with the macaw. i am looking for advice on what sex of a companion to get her, thank you.

[teri]

sorry, but a parrot, especially a big one as a greenwinged macaw needs alot of attention, maybe you sould have gotten a cocktiel, a parrot is not like a dog or a cat where you can leave them alone for long periods of time, did you research before you got her? it sounds like you got her for "show purposes", did she match your furniture?

[teri]

soryy again, don't mean to be sarcastic. but when you get up in the morning do you bring her in from the avairy and play with her or interact with her while you are gitting ready for work? when you come home from work do you right away go and say hello? and take her out to play? is she kept inside too? or just outside?

[claudio25]

i hate the feeling of having to defend myself. I have had birds all my life. My parents took in neglected parrots and found homes for them in central Wisconsin. Maria is not an ornament. She does not match any of my furniture. In fact, i refuse to have nice furniture so its not a big deal if she takes a bite out of something. She has both an outdoor aviary and an inside cage. She has her own bedroom, she has her own stereo, VCR (with endless Veggie Tales movies) and television for the winter days when its too cold for the aviary. She has an endless amount of toys that i make for her. She puts up a screaming fit if she hears the shower running and shes not in it with you. She has her own place at the dinner table, and she gets her own plate every night, but she is welcome to steal food off of other plates.

So please do not make assumptions about my parrot, or about anyones parrot, just because they ask a simple question. I dont usually jump in and post questions to websites, and the negative response has made me weary to do so in the future.

thanks caseguru and crazeemama for your responses :) i am just a little frightened to get a bird that is not another large macaw. Maria loves to rough house (she will run into your lap and flip herself upside down) and i'm afraid her rough housing could get out of control with a smaller bird!
I think going to wait until an unwanted macaw becomes available in my area anyway, which could be awhile. hopefully i'll have lots of helpful advice by then! thanks! claudio

[teri]

claudio,

please forgive me for my negative advice, what is really funny is i just posted a couple of days ago telling someone to be positive and here i go making assumptions about how you care for your bird, what a hippocrate i am, again i am sorry, please do not feel weary about posting again, everyone else on here is really positive and supportive. altho i'm glad you did defend yourself because i really enjoyed hearing all your birdy Maria's antics and playful behavior, i'm glad you are spoiling her. i've taken some education classes here in CA and their advice is not to get another bird for yours as a mate, the place that gives these education classes is and adoption center and they won't let you adopt a bird to give your bird a companion. but in your case it maybe different and it maybe the best idea for you as it sounds like you are in tune with your birds needs. please, please, again forgive me. good luck in your venture in finding your birdy happiness, and keep coming back to post here on this website as alot of good advice IS given. not always by me (:

[crazeemama]

iFirst off i would like to ask everyone to 'put their hackles down' Oh, wrong forum for that! <grin>
As to what sex - i don't think it matters too much - i sam assuming it is not easy to breed large macaws, big nest box etc,
most birds won't breed without a nest box. If your intent is NOT to breed, you may be better off with two females. I would say if you opt for male/female - try to get one around the same age so everyone is sort of on the same plane as far as sexual maturity is concerned.
I do see your point regarding a smaller bird.
Also please do not judge us (the 'guys') by one post - give the group a chance. Obviously some are more direct than others, but this is one of the nicest groups of parrot people i have met.v So please stick around and i am sure you will find the same. Good luck - i envy you yyour greenwing ( they are one of my favorites).
I have 15 birds and all are rescues. Some are easier than others. If you can find one that has 'just' been neglected it is easier than one that has been abused. But i know there are good birds that need re-homed for one reason or another.
Good wishes to you =

[schavon2]

i think we oughta just stick with advice and suggest answers to questions and hold off on character judgements.

saw a similar vein the other day when someone was sitting a bird they felt was neglected by its owner. folks got into that 'folks with money just have a bird for show' kinda talk. how silly is that? and were offering suggestions as to how the sitter ought to get the bird for themselves.

this is a great forum with alot of valuable information to share. anybody who comes into this forum with a question is obviously one who cares about their pet i'd hate to see it turn all nasty.

as to claudio's original question, i don't know if it works the same with parrots, but i have a hand fed very tame and loving cockatiel. i got him a mate and now i have 2 very tame and loving birds. 'seems she learned about the good life from the male.

[claudio25]

thanks for the support guys, and thanks for the apology teri (my feathers are still a little ruffled of course but i'll be alright). i have been exposed to severaly neglected birds so i can understand it gets emotional.
we had sweet old maximillian pionus when i was a kid who was blind in both eyes due to abuse and neglet, so i have seen how bad it can get (he shared his cage - by their choice - with his best buddy, a peachfaced lovebird - who would feed him and snuggle up next to him when she slept)

i have only lived in rural wisconsin and rural new mexcio, so i have not been exposed to people who buy birds for status, but i imagine that could happen. many, many times people have asked me how much i paid for maria. before they ask me her name or anything else about her (sometimes that is their only question). it offends me and i really dont know how to reply to such a question.

i think i will stay in your community here :) there no other parrots in my rural community of 900. i pretty sure maria is the only large parrot in town.

thanks! claud

[Amanda]

I'm glad you decided to stay with us, claudio25. This is usually a very friendly board and most people here are nice and supportive of others. I know what you mean about some other boards that are mean and nasty. I hope this place doesn't turn into one of those.

I have a lovebird and a blue-headed pionus but can't see the two of them cuddling together as your birds did. It must've been so cute to see your two birds sitting next to each other and cuddling!

[claudio25]

the pionus eventually had to be euthanized after his disease/condition caused the eruption of his corneas. on the positive side his body was donated to the University of Wisconsin Veterinary School for research because they have little to no information about this condition in parrots. i will ask my parents if they have a picture of the birds together! They also for a short time had a blue-headed pionus. that is another tragic story, they acquired a pair, but the female had avian t.b, amazingly though the male did not (after repeated tests) and it was easy to find him a home. i'm pretty sure there are pictures of the lovebird with that pionus, also. I think there is a picture of them sharing a cool-ranch dorito. Eventually, the lovebird ended up with an old bald (from decades of plucking) Nanday Conure (dropped off anonymously at a local pet store after its owner died).

[Mrs.Birdy]

Claudio.....I found your stories about your previous birds very interesting. Especially the one about the blind Maxi Pionus....you see it tugged at my heart because I adopted the most wonderful Maxi Pionus 4 months ago. He had 3 homes before coming to ours which will be his last home for sure.

He is such a charming bird, very friendly, smart and quite talkative and he fit right in with our human family and flock which also consists of 1 tiel, and 4 budgies. He is the king of the roost.

Here is a pic of two of my birds, Snickers is the tiel and Marcel is the Maxi Pionus. I hope you enjoy the pics and I will be updating them soon.

http://www.birdies.mypicgallery.com/

P.S. Yes, there are very nice and well informed members here on this board, so glad you will be continuing to join us. Looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Roseanne

[claudio25]

beautiful birds. i actually had forgotten how colorful maximilliams were. both of they pionus we had were extremely sweet, calm, and shy, and never, ever bit.

[teri]

hey claudio, it's me that negative person again (: i love your stories about the rescue birdies, that is so cool that your parents had such great hearts in rescuing them. where in new mex do you live? i grew up in colorado right by the four corners and when i was younger we used to drive to farmington, new mex to party! i grew up in cortez and it is such a small town that is wasn't that exciting to go out to party. my friend in cortez actually has alot of parrots and she was breeding green winged macaws, when i was visiting last she had a baby named Gaby 3 months old and i took Gaby to see my mom and my mom about died, she couldn't believe that something so exotic was in our small town. so i believe you when you say that you are the only one around for miles with beautiful Maria.

[claudio25]

Hi teri -
I live in Magdalena. About 110 miles southwest of Albuquerque. so pretty much right in the middle of the state. 78 miles to the closest wal-mart. Pretty rural. Maria hasnt seen another macaw since i picked her up in Houston when she was three
months old :(

[teri]

ha! wal-mart moved in to cortez and poor k-mart had to close down. you ARE in a very rural area if you have to drive 78 miles to wal-mart! when i moved to calif there weren't any dairy queens around and finally one moved 15 minutes away and i was so happy. so how many stoplights are on your main street, when i left 13 years ago there were 4 in cortez. another reason we used to go to farmington was the mall, the founding fathers forbid a mall to move in to cortez because they were so afraid of growth. How did you come up with maria's name? all of my adopted parrots came with names but one of them i was able to change, his name is hootie ha, he is my lilac-crowned amazon, my monster blue and gold's name is cookie, i wanted to change her name to zazu from the lion king movie but as she was being taken around my apartment and showed her new house, she saw herself in the mirror and she leaned forward and said Cookie! so of course i couldn't change it, i wonder if she knew i had wanted to change it? i also adopted recently an african grey crackers (timneh) and in order for me to adopt him i had to take the cockatiel named kong, since he is so small i call him baby kong. i have always wanted a green winged macaw but the way it worked out i have a blue and gold, i sure love her the same tho.

[crazeemama]

Wow.... Well i technically live 'in town' but on two sides nothing but corn fields. We Don't have a stoplight but we have a yellow caution light that blinks at the major cross walk for the kids when school is out. Town is pop.1456 or close to that. Dad always said they counted most of the livestock in the county to come up with that number. But the piece de resistance is Wal-Mart is only 47miles away! It MUST BE the city! lol lol

[Jenny]

Hi Claudio25! I don't think I've introduced myself yet! I have two conures, three budgies, and a luvy. No macaws yet! (though I'd love a noble macaw!!!) :( Have you thought about possibly adopting a second macaw from the Gabriel Foundation in Colorado? I think as long as you still gave your 1st mac the same amount of attention you wouldn't ahve problems like others have said. Your macaw would probably love another companion to spend the day with while you're at work. You sound like a wonderful birdie mom and I'm glad you're staying here! Wow, I always thought I lived in the country but compared to some of you folks I must be a "city slicker" too! The closest wal*mart is only about 15 mins. away. You just can't get away from that place!!!

[claudio25]

Hi everyone! thanks for all the replys, teri, crazeemama and jenny.
Rural life is something else, isnt it. i LOVE visiting cities, but i can never figure out what people do there!
My friends helped me name Maria - when i was a kid a lot of the birds came with names or we just adjusted them slightly if they were rediculous. Usually they were just uncreative, like Max for the maximillian or Amy for an Amazon.
I wanted to give her a 'people-name' and my friends helped me decide either Maria or Danielle. So for maybe two months she was Maria or Danielle until i decided which name fit her.

Maria was a good choice, since shes good with 'm' words. You cant say 'say HI maria' to her anymore because she literally says 'HI maria.' she also tells herself to flip (a 360 around a perch) when she in the aviary. you hear her by herself saying 'flip, maria flip, flip maria.' if the neighbors come outside (the neighbor has a dozen grandchildren that love her) she will immediately tell herself to flip,and flip for them, so they pay attention to her. which they would do anyway, i'm sure.

teri, jenny, your birds sound neat, to you have web page with pics? i might actually make one. i found some pics last night - the blue-headed conure is actually sharing a dorito with a mealy amazon not the peachface, i was mistaken. i just need to find a scanner. what kind of conures do you have jenny?

thanks for the info on the gabriel foundation, i will look into it. is it on the internet? i'm not in a big hurry to get another macaw, i was just thinking maybe within a year, so that foundation may be the way to go.

talk to you all soon!

[claudio25]

I just printed out an application from the Gabriel Foundation. Thank you Jenny!