Tony decided that he wanted a large macaw, I tried to talk him out of it explaining how demanding, messy, loud and expensive they were but he was determined to take on a large macaw. He did his research and found a lovely young lady that had a macaw for sale in the next village to us. She thought that looking after a macaw would be as easy as looking after her budgie.
We went to visit Inca and she climbed down from her cage and decided that Tony would be her new carer. Apparently she had never done this before so we ended up going back the next day to pick her up. She has bonded to Tony and often puts me in my place in the house. Since then she has never been caged again as it is in the garage.
She had never been handled so we had to start to social her with new people. It took years of work before we could let anyone stroke her. It is always on her terms as she has a very powerful beak, which she often likes to remind me regularly.
We bought a Blue and Gold Macaw Zeus to keep her company. We didn't realise where we bought him from was a parrot farm and the dangers from buying from these breeders. He died from a massive stroke in February 2024. We had a post-mortems and he had Coronary heart Disease from birth which took him from us, he was only a baby. Zeus was such an amazing blue and gold so loving and caring to everyone. Since Zeus dying Inca has become more loving and now demands affection from Tony as she is no longer getting it from Zeus.
We used to free fly Inca and Zeus in the fields near our house. Zeus especially enjoyed this. After Zeus died Inca now refused to free fly so now we fly her in the residential homes for the residents so that she gets her exercise.
A lovely breeder that loves and cares for her birds, contacted us saying that they had a macaw that had damaged wing and was unable to fly. The parents had damaged the wing in the nest and would I be interested in giving her a forever home. She invited us to go and visit Aurora at her home. Aurora fell instantly in love with me, so we ended up bringing her home. She explained that all her blue throated macaws were going into a breeding program as they were critically enraged in the wild and Aurora would not be able to go due to her having a damaged wing.
We took Aurora to the vets for a full examination and the vet confirmed that she also had a heart condition, and this was probably why her parents damaged her wing in the nest. I would have loved to have her wing corrected but the vet said that it wouldn't be a good idea as it would put extra stress on her heart.
Aurora is bonded to me and will follow me everywhere around the house. she will scream the house down until she gets my attention. Aurora will not sit still and always looking for things to chew or play with. As she is very clever, I taught her some tricks to stimulate her mind. She will do most things if she thinks she is going to get a pine nut. Aurora is the star of the show in all the residential homes when she performs her tricks. She is also really forgiving to all the residents and will sit on anyone's knee for a photograph. She really does love the attention that they all give her.
We bought her a partner in crime called Mishka to keep her company as she hates to be on her own during the daytime. It was instant love luckily for us as now I get a little bit of rest bite.
We did our research and thought we found a reputable breeder when we bought Mishka. Aurora wasn't doing so well during the daytime being on her own, so we decided to invest in a friend for her. We had to make sure we got a female due to Aurora heart condition as she can’t breed, and we needed macaw that was larger than Aurora as she is a little bully. We contacted the breeder who advertised a Harlequin for sale, we made an appointment to go and collect and travelled hours when we got there the bird had been sold, “Strange”, we decided to buy Mishka a week later instead.
Mishka is a Catalina macaw that is a cross breed of a Blue and Gold Macaw and a Scarlet Macaw. They are breed for their colours, the Blue and Gold Macaw is used for their social temperament and the Scarlet Macaw for their colours. She has traits from both she adores people and company but also has the nippiness of the scarlets.
She instantly fell in love with and bonded to Aurora and hates to be separated from her. This means that she hasn’t bonded to either me or Tony. This is good as she doesn’t care who givers her the tickles and will go to everyone who will tickle her. She is extremely affectionate to the point that we can’t watch telly when she is out on a night.
Mishka loves to fly in the care homes and schools, she will sit on people and fly back to me or tony. You struggle to sit still for the photo shoots as she always wants to fly. She is trained to say hello for a nut the kids love to hear her talk. She hasn’t grasped the idea of doing tricks yet but will open her wings and wave for a pine nut.