New member with Military Macaw

[spotter]

Hello Parrot Community!

A little intro on Radar and myself: My family has had a military macaw since he was a chick, he is approximately 19 years old now. We live in northwest Florida near the beach.

I just moved back to my hometown last month, after finishing graduate school, to settle down and be a real adult. Over the past 3 years during holidays at home I have been developing a bond with Radar since my mother is now working full-time and has not been giving him the attention he needs. It took a while, but I believe he is now bonded to me more than my mom. When I approach his cage, he eagerly comes to the door and on to my arm with ease and showers me with kisses. His favorite food is peanuts, but he's very picky about when he eats. (The reward system didn't really work with him. Most of the time he'd sling the peanuts to the floor.) He mainly just likes to hang out with me while I study or watch tv. I also use Aviator Harness with him. He enjoys spending time outdoors but can get overwhelmed at times- still working on that slowly. Also, getting his head out of the harness is an absolute chore- but he forgives me eventually.

I am looking for some further advice to help bring him out of his shell. When I have him out of the cage, he doesn't really play like I've seen other macaws do. He usually just sits next to me, preens me, and rest his beak on my nose. That's about as exciting as it gets. I want him to be comfortable enough to play and be a bird. I'm assuming since he used to spend so much time in a cage maybe he doesn't know how. He doesn't even really play with the toys in his cage. He destroys them violently. It makes me sad to not see a playful side of him.

He also consistently tries to feed me and burrow under my legs. I believe this is mating behavior. I don't encourage it, but he does it every single day and it's really frustrating for both of us- I'm sure.

Anyways...thanks for reading my long post! I look forward to reading more posts and getting to know y'all!

Best,
Sarah

 

[ChristaNL]

so....Radar is a girl?

 

[spotter]

I honestly don't know if Radar is male or female. I usually just say he/him

 

[ChristaNL]

As long as you both have fun it doesn't really matter of course.
Sometimes it's good to know just because in certain situations the male/female reactions are quite different (and if you have a male there is no worrie about the bird being eggbound).


Its great to hear about a bird that has been in one home/familie its entire life.
My B&G (not counting breeder and shop) is on her third home since sale, she is 10 y.
The greys have had at least (some of their history is missing) 5 and 7 "homes/owners" that I know of.
You guys did and are doing great in my book!


Maybe you can find out boy/girl if he goes for a full check-up.

 

[itzjbean]

Hello to you and Radar! We could love pictures of him/her !!

I'm glad you are getting back into his life and bonding with him. It sounds like you are doing all the right things. It's terrific that you use a harness with him, safety is key!

As time goes on, there are a few things you should be doing for him.

1.) Vet check! If he hasn't been to the vet in a few years, now would be a great time for a checkup, blood done to ensure he is healthy as he should be.

2. ) Desensitization -- bringing him outside more on his harness and taking longer walks is ideal for getting him more used to being outside, on a harness, all the sounds and people etc. The more you do it, the better he will get at it, and hopefully learn to enjoy.

3. ) Develop a good diet for him if he isn't on one already -- not sure what your mother or you have been feeding him but peanuts are of course not to be had too excessively. Fruits and veggies should be fed daily.

4. ) Be sure to read all of birdman666/s threads about macaws, his advice and insight about macaws is GOLD

5. ) Make sure every single interaction with him is a positive one.

That's all I can think of for now!

 

[GaleriaGila]

Hello, and welcome!

You've come to the right place! Lots to learn here, and we'll enjoy hearing from you as your journey with Radar/Radarette continues.

 

[spotter]

Thank you all for the warm welcome!

His/her diet is great; fruits/veg/zupreem products/banana chips and stuff. He looks healthy to me and has had no issues with plucking or any of that. I definitely agree- I think desensitization is going to be key. I should also take him to get a checkup. I don't think he's been in quite some time. He hasn't had any health issues. Just a lonely bird. I wish there was a macaw club here or something.

Hopefully, with time and attention, he will get better. I will look up other threads on militarys, but are they generally less playful than B&G/green wings? I was told that military macaws aren't as goofy- but I would imagine there would be too many factors in upbringing to say that for sure.

Here are a couple pix

 

[GaleriaGila]

I have only known one Military well, and as I have stated before, he was SO mischievous. He constantly would steal things, yell right in peoples' faces, throw toys AT people, fly and drop stuff (including poop) on peoples' heads, and just generally disrupt. He was absolutely adorable, but high maintenance! We've had a few Military parronts here, and they characterized their birds as much calmer and more cooperative...

I guess the real takeaway is that every parrot is his/hedr own bird, even within species.

Yours sounds beyond adorable. Thanks for sharing him.

 

[Scott]

Welcome Sarah and Radar! You seem to have great instincts dealing with his behaviors. Some birds enjoy playing while others do not. May have to experiment with varied toys - something may spark his interest.

I don't know the Military personality sufficiently to draw meaningful comparisons with other species.

 

[Terry57]

Radar is a beauty!
I'm really happy you joined us, and look forward to hearing more about you & Radar

 

[Flboy]

Welcome to! I am about 150 miles SE of you!

 

[wrench13]

Welcome and be welcomed. Another vote for you to read all birdman666 posts and threads - for macaw owners they are priceless. So - now some advice. Ah the Aviator head loop. Its the Achilles heel of that harness. Great if you can get it on ( and off) with zero blood shed. I trained my amazon Salty nightly just putting his head thu the loop and taking it off. We train nightly doing that and learning tricks. Find Radars absoloute fav treat ( hope its not peanuts.... try others that are better for him -- my Salty loves pine nuts).
And now use that fav treat only for training or ewarding positive things. Radar should respond if you train every night and dothings consistently ( very important) and reward immediately for sucess(also real important so he knows what he did right). Check out some of Saltys videos on the link below to see whats possible. Birdman666 really has some good insight on Military Macs. Radar sounds like a nice one.

 

[ChrisYNA]

wrench13 - Where do you recommend I get good pine nuts? I buy a lot of quality food in Petco/Petsmart that's laden with vitamins (Higgins, Vitakraft, Zupreem), but I don't believe I ever saw a bag of pine nuts at the stores. There is a bird store here in NJ that a lot of people recommend, but I haven't been there yet. (Birds By Joe, they have a website)

Sarah - Sounds like you have a well-behaved bird who actually likes to eat vegetables. That's 3/4 of the battle, in my book lol. I wouldn't worry about socializing him... it should come with time. I take my bird out almost daily, even shopping (I'm surprised how many stores let me in, like marshalls, sears, walmart, target and about 10 more, even the pizzeria or Chinese place here or mcdonalds - I take her everywhere). Try having him interact with more people. Peanuts are ok for a snack, but not a main meal. Take him to the vet for yearly blood and poop (gram stain) tests.

 

[ChristaNL]

Gosh- those pictures ... Radar is a Beauty!

 

[wrench13]

Pine nuts, aka Pignoli nuts can be found in most supermarkets. I like the ones from Stop&SHop, their Nature's Promise house brand, come in a tub for around $8. You can also find them in the baking section since they are used in Italian cookies. Much smaller amount, but I always find them not fresh and sorta brittle. Try them. I would imagine Radar will like whole ones, Salty gets his shaved into 3 slices per nut. You make find Radar is meh! about them, but keep trying to find that one special treat he goes crazy for.

 

[ChristaNL]

Oh...and it does make a world of difference if you give them shelled/ unshelled.
So try both

Shelled they get hoovered up by my birds (exept one grey: she despises shelled ones and wil not touch them) but they are treasured treats by all of them in their original form ...

(I buy mine online - found a really good quality shop and now they refuse all others... the supermarket ones are usually older and dryish and have possibly been frozen -> okay for baking, not so much for the feathered ones.)

Buy and try, then try again ...

 

[wrench13]

Right the supermarket baking ones are shelled, and dried out. Stop&Shop sells them in a bulk container in a separate nut section and they are fresh. Salty has no interest in the un-shelled ones. Experiment!

 

[Kiwibird]

Radar is a handsome guy! Military macaws are my favorite macaws of all! Just love the striking contrast between green and red, but they seem to always be forgotten about when people talk about macaws.

As for getting him to be more playful, try playing with something yourself. Baby toys (like those plastic key rattles) are good to get older parrots interested in playing. Because no parrot can resist the desire to take what is yours, you get him interested by playing with the toy yourself. Play with it using your hands and pretending to use your mouth (since birds explore with their beaks more than their feet). Monkey see, monkey do This could take some time, but there will come a point he's going to become so intrigued with what exactly you find so fun/fascinating/interesting about the toy that he now comes to steal/check out the toy. Verbal praise when he touches/takes the toy and build up from there, encouraging play whenever you see him intrigued. In time, he'll figure out it's fun and want to play whether or not you're playing. It takes time, so just be patient

 

[noodles123]

Welcome- I am new as well!

I totally can relate to having a bird who doesn't really get toys and is a tad hormonal (I don't encourage it either). Have you considered lighting and sleep schedules? Also, mine tends to be less hormonal when exposed to a wider variety of people (or so it seems). When it is just us, she tends to fixate more on me. I don't know for sure, but it sounds like he is more attention motivated than food motivated,so when he does something that you like, praise him a ton because that may be what he is after. Also, he probably is in an awkward state of transition right now, so I imagine many of your concerns will resolve with time.

 

[spotter]

That's a great idea, Kiwibird! You're so right; he tries to steal all my stuff haha