Life with a young scarlet macaw.
Back in the day, I frequently wrote 'life with' stories (found here in the memories).
I know that of the active members here, I'm, if not the only one, one of a very few people who have experience with scarlet macaws, the 'bad pets' of the macaw world. I don't know if words will do justice to how fascinating I find Schrödinger, but I'm going to give it a try.
The world of the internet has a lot of things to say about scarlet macaws. They're usually described as 'high strung' and 'nippy'. Many hybrid macaw breeders say they cross scarlets with other macaws to make them better pets.
I'm here to tell you.. it's mostly true. :)
But first, Schrödinger's life story. He was born on May the 4th, 2008, which makes him just shy of ten months old. He is a DNA sexed male. Keep his age in mind as you read this, as most baby birds are a lot more laid back than most adult birds... and he's not your typical baby bird. I'll update this in 3 - 5 years when he's an adult. :)
He came from a breeder in Ontario who did just about everything right. He's had constant good experiences with people, has been extraordinarily well socialized, spent many of his first months traveling and experiencing new people and new locations. He went camping, to dog shows, and saw tons of new things. His breeder acclimated him to the crate knowing that I was going to be flying him home, and he took a long plane flight without a hint of problem.
He was also described to me as extraordinarily social and extraordinarily full of himself. She nicknamed him the Brat, which is an apt nickname. His brother is much more laid back about things, and it was obvious from the moment I met them who was who. His breeder also informed me that I needed the Brat, not the sweet one -- which was 100% true. :)
And of course, Schrödinger came home unclipped, and is 100% flighted still. I have absolutely no intention of ever clipping his wings.
I had done some interacting with an adult scarlet macaw at Natural Encounters (picture heavy link) a few months earlier, and thus had a pretty good idea of what to expect. I was right.
I'm going to tell some stories, rather than go on and on, because I think it will be more obvious.
Socialness:
The Good:
This bird is 100% okay being around almost anyone, and is extremely easy to convince to go visit a new person. As a baby last fall, he went to a local beach and was surrounded by crowds who petted him and interacted with him. (Note: I do not expect an adult bird of any species to let strangers pet them.)
We had him meet our dog trainer friend who has had close to zero experience with parrots, and I'm pretty certain none with two pound beaky monsters. :) We asked him to fly to her and he discovered a key fact about her: Because she was a little uncomfortable with large macaws near her face (duh) and she was fascinated by him, she gave him a LOT of peanuts for staying on her arm rather than climbing up to her shoulder. Way, way, way more than either of us would. He spent the rest of the day flying to her and most of the time refusing to fly to us. She, you see, had peanuts.
The Bad:
Another acquaintance of ours came over and wanted to come and approach him. This person is also not at all used to parrots, and came into his space in a forceful way, approached a little too fast. He attempted to bite her, and became pretty close to aggressive to drive her away. He didn't follow her, but he made it clear (at SIX MONTHS OLD) that there was absolutely NO WAY he would deal with this woman. He has continued to be extremely intolerant of people who do not take their time coming near.
Intelligence:
The Good:
I taught Schrödinger to target (touch his beak to a target stick) in literally 60 seconds. I presented it, he touched it, I moved it to one side of his face, he touched it, I moved it to the other side, he touched it, and then I presented it 5 feet away so that he had to fly to touch it. He did so. I taught him a flying retrieve (grab washer from me, fly 10 feet to another stand, deposit washer in bowl) in about 15 minutes, spaced over two days. I taught him to wave in 2 - 3 minutes. Granted, I've got quite a bit of experience training birds, but he's dramatically faster than any other parrot in my house, and it's not just because he's really motivated by food -- he isn't so much.
The Bad:
He figured out how to unlock his cage door at five months old, and twice had Exciting Fun downstairs while I was wondering what those noises are.
The Ugly:
He picks up patterns almost instantly. It took maybe 3 - 4 days, when he had first come home, of me doing the following: Have him step onto my hand. Walk down the stairs. Put him in his cage. He wasn't going out downstairs because we hadn't set it up for him yet, so every time I walked him down the stairs, he knew he was going back in his cage.
He started immediately flying away when I asked him to step up and walked towards the stairs. If he managed to get onto the stairs, he nipped me really, really hard while walking down the stairs.
When he started to hang out downstairs, he began to realize also in an extraordinarily short time that when I put him in his cage, playtime was over, so the same thing happened -- he'd fly off my hand immediately.
He regressed, handfeeding wise, when he came home (which we expected), and thus I had to handfeed him for a bit longer. When he called out in a certain way, I knew he was hungry, and went downstairs. Want to guess how long it took him to start doing that to make me appear?
He also figured out the quickest way to get me to pay attention to him when downstairs was to land on top of another parrot's cage.
Now, all of these things are pretty easily nipped in the bud when they first start. You simply stop making life so predictable (for example, I walked up and down the stairs with him a lot without putting him in his cage and had him go into his cage frequently when he was out without locking him in), and you heavily reward what you want (so staying on my hand, and I also taught him to climb into his cage on command).
But, if you aren't really good at figuring these things out quickly or really willing to change your behavior, I would highly recommend against a scarlet macaw.
'High Strungness/Dominance/Handling/Motivation':
The Good:
Respect him and his needs and desires, never use force to get what you want, and reward what he does that's good, and he's an amazing, funny, fascinating bird.
The Bad:
The older 'dominance' based ways of training is, absolutely, almost 100% guaranteed to turn a scarlet macaw into a screaming, biting, horrible monster. Most parrots can tolerate some amount of pushing -- for example, if Tea, my sun conure, won't step up, he'll usually beak gape at me. If I ask again, he usually will step onto my hand. Same goes, in fact, for almost all of my birds save for my African grey, who has a very similar viewpoint to Schrödinger on what he will and will not do.
The baby scarlet, as listed above, just flies off or bites you. End of story. And I'm pretty much certain that if you 'took the bite' with him (thus teaching him that biting doesn't work), he'd progress really rapidly to breaking fingers to get you to go away.
Flight:
The Good:
I will never in my entire life bring home another young bird who isn't flighted. The amount of physical skill that he has in getting places is astonishing. He can fly through doorways that are 10 inches narrower than his wingspan. He can RACE up to someone, putting on his breaks at the last second, and land neatly on their hand. He flies everywhere, even distances that I'd think would be easier to climb.
As an example, when I was working on targeting, I raised the target stick to the next 'level' of the boing from where he was. He looked at it, flew to the couch, turned around, and flew back up. That, for him, was easier than climbing up.
He's also extremely willing to fly over and harass people.
The Bad:
Do you know how much it hurts to have a scarlet macaw land on your head? He's willing to attempt to land anywhere. Head, shoulder, laptop screen, hanging off your back, anywhere.
Thankfully, he's also pretty easy to convince to leave, at least for a little bit, but if he really wants love, it's time to set aside what you're doing and pet him for the five minutes he needs, because otherwise, you're going to have macaw war for the next three days until you do give up and do so.
Because he's so smart and so curious and so willing to go fly, he's also pretty good at entertaining himself, as long as there are frequently rotated toys and his owners also make sure to pay attention to him while he's doing good things and not just dive bombing them to get entertained.
Nippy:
Good: Like most parrots, if taught appropriately, he understands very quickly exactly how much pressure is and is not okay with our delicate skin.
Bad: Right now, he's molting up a storm and looks like the world's weirdest, fluffiest bird, and tends to be a little more irritable and a little more pinchy.
And so there, in a nutshell, is Schrödinger. If you have any questions or comments (including 'Why on earth would you get a bird like that? ;)'), feel free to ask!
I leave you with a picture of his moltingness today.
P.S. If you want to write a 'living with' essay about your bird, do so! I'll put them in the memories.
I know that of the active members here, I'm, if not the only one, one of a very few people who have experience with scarlet macaws, the 'bad pets' of the macaw world. I don't know if words will do justice to how fascinating I find Schrödinger, but I'm going to give it a try.
The world of the internet has a lot of things to say about scarlet macaws. They're usually described as 'high strung' and 'nippy'. Many hybrid macaw breeders say they cross scarlets with other macaws to make them better pets.
I'm here to tell you.. it's mostly true. :)
But first, Schrödinger's life story. He was born on May the 4th, 2008, which makes him just shy of ten months old. He is a DNA sexed male. Keep his age in mind as you read this, as most baby birds are a lot more laid back than most adult birds... and he's not your typical baby bird. I'll update this in 3 - 5 years when he's an adult. :)
He came from a breeder in Ontario who did just about everything right. He's had constant good experiences with people, has been extraordinarily well socialized, spent many of his first months traveling and experiencing new people and new locations. He went camping, to dog shows, and saw tons of new things. His breeder acclimated him to the crate knowing that I was going to be flying him home, and he took a long plane flight without a hint of problem.
He was also described to me as extraordinarily social and extraordinarily full of himself. She nicknamed him the Brat, which is an apt nickname. His brother is much more laid back about things, and it was obvious from the moment I met them who was who. His breeder also informed me that I needed the Brat, not the sweet one -- which was 100% true. :)
And of course, Schrödinger came home unclipped, and is 100% flighted still. I have absolutely no intention of ever clipping his wings.
I had done some interacting with an adult scarlet macaw at Natural Encounters (picture heavy link) a few months earlier, and thus had a pretty good idea of what to expect. I was right.
I'm going to tell some stories, rather than go on and on, because I think it will be more obvious.
Socialness:
The Good:
This bird is 100% okay being around almost anyone, and is extremely easy to convince to go visit a new person. As a baby last fall, he went to a local beach and was surrounded by crowds who petted him and interacted with him. (Note: I do not expect an adult bird of any species to let strangers pet them.)
We had him meet our dog trainer friend who has had close to zero experience with parrots, and I'm pretty certain none with two pound beaky monsters. :) We asked him to fly to her and he discovered a key fact about her: Because she was a little uncomfortable with large macaws near her face (duh) and she was fascinated by him, she gave him a LOT of peanuts for staying on her arm rather than climbing up to her shoulder. Way, way, way more than either of us would. He spent the rest of the day flying to her and most of the time refusing to fly to us. She, you see, had peanuts.
The Bad:
Another acquaintance of ours came over and wanted to come and approach him. This person is also not at all used to parrots, and came into his space in a forceful way, approached a little too fast. He attempted to bite her, and became pretty close to aggressive to drive her away. He didn't follow her, but he made it clear (at SIX MONTHS OLD) that there was absolutely NO WAY he would deal with this woman. He has continued to be extremely intolerant of people who do not take their time coming near.
Intelligence:
The Good:
I taught Schrödinger to target (touch his beak to a target stick) in literally 60 seconds. I presented it, he touched it, I moved it to one side of his face, he touched it, I moved it to the other side, he touched it, and then I presented it 5 feet away so that he had to fly to touch it. He did so. I taught him a flying retrieve (grab washer from me, fly 10 feet to another stand, deposit washer in bowl) in about 15 minutes, spaced over two days. I taught him to wave in 2 - 3 minutes. Granted, I've got quite a bit of experience training birds, but he's dramatically faster than any other parrot in my house, and it's not just because he's really motivated by food -- he isn't so much.
The Bad:
He figured out how to unlock his cage door at five months old, and twice had Exciting Fun downstairs while I was wondering what those noises are.
The Ugly:
He picks up patterns almost instantly. It took maybe 3 - 4 days, when he had first come home, of me doing the following: Have him step onto my hand. Walk down the stairs. Put him in his cage. He wasn't going out downstairs because we hadn't set it up for him yet, so every time I walked him down the stairs, he knew he was going back in his cage.
He started immediately flying away when I asked him to step up and walked towards the stairs. If he managed to get onto the stairs, he nipped me really, really hard while walking down the stairs.
When he started to hang out downstairs, he began to realize also in an extraordinarily short time that when I put him in his cage, playtime was over, so the same thing happened -- he'd fly off my hand immediately.
He regressed, handfeeding wise, when he came home (which we expected), and thus I had to handfeed him for a bit longer. When he called out in a certain way, I knew he was hungry, and went downstairs. Want to guess how long it took him to start doing that to make me appear?
He also figured out the quickest way to get me to pay attention to him when downstairs was to land on top of another parrot's cage.
Now, all of these things are pretty easily nipped in the bud when they first start. You simply stop making life so predictable (for example, I walked up and down the stairs with him a lot without putting him in his cage and had him go into his cage frequently when he was out without locking him in), and you heavily reward what you want (so staying on my hand, and I also taught him to climb into his cage on command).
But, if you aren't really good at figuring these things out quickly or really willing to change your behavior, I would highly recommend against a scarlet macaw.
'High Strungness/Dominance/Handling/Motivation':
The Good:
Respect him and his needs and desires, never use force to get what you want, and reward what he does that's good, and he's an amazing, funny, fascinating bird.
The Bad:
The older 'dominance' based ways of training is, absolutely, almost 100% guaranteed to turn a scarlet macaw into a screaming, biting, horrible monster. Most parrots can tolerate some amount of pushing -- for example, if Tea, my sun conure, won't step up, he'll usually beak gape at me. If I ask again, he usually will step onto my hand. Same goes, in fact, for almost all of my birds save for my African grey, who has a very similar viewpoint to Schrödinger on what he will and will not do.
The baby scarlet, as listed above, just flies off or bites you. End of story. And I'm pretty much certain that if you 'took the bite' with him (thus teaching him that biting doesn't work), he'd progress really rapidly to breaking fingers to get you to go away.
Flight:
The Good:
I will never in my entire life bring home another young bird who isn't flighted. The amount of physical skill that he has in getting places is astonishing. He can fly through doorways that are 10 inches narrower than his wingspan. He can RACE up to someone, putting on his breaks at the last second, and land neatly on their hand. He flies everywhere, even distances that I'd think would be easier to climb.
As an example, when I was working on targeting, I raised the target stick to the next 'level' of the boing from where he was. He looked at it, flew to the couch, turned around, and flew back up. That, for him, was easier than climbing up.
He's also extremely willing to fly over and harass people.
The Bad:
Do you know how much it hurts to have a scarlet macaw land on your head? He's willing to attempt to land anywhere. Head, shoulder, laptop screen, hanging off your back, anywhere.
Thankfully, he's also pretty easy to convince to leave, at least for a little bit, but if he really wants love, it's time to set aside what you're doing and pet him for the five minutes he needs, because otherwise, you're going to have macaw war for the next three days until you do give up and do so.
Because he's so smart and so curious and so willing to go fly, he's also pretty good at entertaining himself, as long as there are frequently rotated toys and his owners also make sure to pay attention to him while he's doing good things and not just dive bombing them to get entertained.
Nippy:
Good: Like most parrots, if taught appropriately, he understands very quickly exactly how much pressure is and is not okay with our delicate skin.
Bad: Right now, he's molting up a storm and looks like the world's weirdest, fluffiest bird, and tends to be a little more irritable and a little more pinchy.
And so there, in a nutshell, is Schrödinger. If you have any questions or comments (including 'Why on earth would you get a bird like that? ;)'), feel free to ask!
I leave you with a picture of his moltingness today.
P.S. If you want to write a 'living with' essay about your bird, do so! I'll put them in the memories.