3/7/2006: Incubated Macaw

Spanish news site 20minutos.es has a daily image section ("mejores fotos del día"), which today serves up this beast from Brazil. The official caption reads

Avecilla de incubadora. Un ejemplar recién nacido de guacamayo azul y amarillo (Ara ararauna) es alimentado por los empleados del zoológico de Brasilia. Es el primero de su especie que nace en incubadora en Brasil.

This turns out to be a Blue-and-yellow Macaw, the first of his species born via incubation in Brazil. That means someone took the time to lovingly warm and care for this Martian, too frightening for a Friday image. But eventually he'll look a little more like this:

That is one deformed looking bird... but it will look better with time I guess.

When he grows up...

Is there something about Macaws that make them difficult to incubate for some reason, or had no one just ever thought to try it before in Brazil?

If there ever was a pet^H^H^H lifelong companion (other than my lady) that I would want, this would be it. It could live long enough to see my grandchildren's children (and tell them dirty words)

A friend of mine has a macaw. He is an interesting and well-mannered bird, all things considered. He likes car rides, especially to the Taco Bell, where he tries to walk into the source of all tacos through the drive thru window. He does have some "issues," the worst of which is that he's a plucker.

He was bred to be a show bird or window bird (you know, the macaw they keep in the petstore window to entice you to come in and look at other animals?) and would have absolutely beautiful plumage (yes, I think it with the accent) but for one thing ... he rips out his feathers from his back, chest, and wings ... pretty much everywhere he can reach.

It's uncertain why he does this. It could be stress related (although, frankly, his majesty has very little stress in his life), or he could just like running around naked.

He bears certain simularities to the little spud, above.

The back of his head looks like on of those cartoon villians, with the giant brains that make their head bulge.

Was that a green wing or a Scarlet, Wolf?

Seems his majesty might just enjoy the attention.

He speaks too. Or should I ask, does he ever stop speaking?

I don't know if birds poop more than other pets but it seems like it.
Maybe the height from the floor, they usually poop from, makes a bigger mess.

So is that yellow thing beneath the chick's skin the yolk sac?

Looks like his craw to me. He's definately being fed well. I had a Hahn's McCaw once for a while, but he was a huge hassle. His language was filthy, to put it mildly. I had to put him in the closet when my Mom visited. I gave him to my Uncle, who still has him. Someone owned him before me. He had to learn it from somewhere.

Everybody in my family loves birds, and the birds love them. I am the outcast. They make me so freekin nervous. You've got a bird that can crack a walnut in its beak, and it wants to sit on your shoulder and preen your eyelashes. I'm sorry - no thanks.
My parents have an African Grey named Bert (short for Albert Einstein). He is very, very smart and can imitate any voice or sound possible. He knows I am scared of him, so when I am at my parent's house he will let himself out of his cage ("oooh we can't figure out how he got out"), and he will call me in one of my parent's or kids' voices, and when I show up, he will fly at me and land on my shoulders or my head which results in some really embarrasing behavior on my part.

Not all birds make me nervous - just the smart ones. I used to work with bald eagles, and while they are big, they are not that bright. I only got bit once.