Ok don't laugh me out of here, but I am wondering if my macaw has too many wrinkles, or not enough on his face for his age! I have been doing hours and hours of Internet research about macaws since I brought one home a couple months back. I am a total newbie.
My vet told me that it's tough to guess the age of birds, so she couldn't help me age mine. I was told by his previous person that he is 10 max but I am not totally trusting that due to the situation that the bird came from. Somewhere I read that young macaws will have some eye color indicators that you can use to judge that they are juvenile, before they mature. (The eye is all dark when they are young, but then the light ring emerges around the pupil when they are mature.). Then after they get their color ring you cannot tell just how mature the bird is. That same article suggested that a macaw's face patches will get more wrinkly as they age, like people's skin will do.... I am curious to know if any of you can attest to this wrinkling and I would love to observe this wrinkling of other birds than mine.
I do see some wrinkling on my guy's face (will have to get photos tomorrow) but I am not sure if it is age appropriate wrinkling for a 10 year old or not. I have not seen other macaws up close to compare. Do any of you have a really mature macaw (30 yrs+) that you could share some facial patch photos with me? How about those of you with the younger guys than mine? So just how fleshy and full do facial patches on young birds look? I think my guy has thin skin on his face, but that is because I don't know otherwise. I need to see some others up close to be able to compare. I have not have this opportunity yet.
My macaw and I are both learning about each other now that we are in one another's lives, but unfortunately I am not totally sure of his background. I am not even sure if he's really a boy.... I do try to keep in mind that he may be a very old bird and he won't be with me for as long as I think. I know that I could wake up to an egg on the cage floor too...but regardless he's here now and we keep rolling along....
Anyway, if we can talk about wrinkles and age in macaws I will be all ears! Thanks in advance.
My vet told me that it's tough to guess the age of birds, so she couldn't help me age mine. I was told by his previous person that he is 10 max but I am not totally trusting that due to the situation that the bird came from. Somewhere I read that young macaws will have some eye color indicators that you can use to judge that they are juvenile, before they mature. (The eye is all dark when they are young, but then the light ring emerges around the pupil when they are mature.). Then after they get their color ring you cannot tell just how mature the bird is. That same article suggested that a macaw's face patches will get more wrinkly as they age, like people's skin will do.... I am curious to know if any of you can attest to this wrinkling and I would love to observe this wrinkling of other birds than mine.
I do see some wrinkling on my guy's face (will have to get photos tomorrow) but I am not sure if it is age appropriate wrinkling for a 10 year old or not. I have not seen other macaws up close to compare. Do any of you have a really mature macaw (30 yrs+) that you could share some facial patch photos with me? How about those of you with the younger guys than mine? So just how fleshy and full do facial patches on young birds look? I think my guy has thin skin on his face, but that is because I don't know otherwise. I need to see some others up close to be able to compare. I have not have this opportunity yet.
My macaw and I are both learning about each other now that we are in one another's lives, but unfortunately I am not totally sure of his background. I am not even sure if he's really a boy.... I do try to keep in mind that he may be a very old bird and he won't be with me for as long as I think. I know that I could wake up to an egg on the cage floor too...but regardless he's here now and we keep rolling along....
Anyway, if we can talk about wrinkles and age in macaws I will be all ears! Thanks in advance.
