Fancy Pants

By Tressa Everts

I have always wanted a large macaw, so when a local parrot education and rehoming organization contacted me about a Green-winged macaw that needed immediate foster placement I accepted without hesitation.

The bird I call Fancy Pants (due to her brightly colored tail feathers) arrived about five hours later in a large dog crate. The guys that brought her immediately warned me, “Don’t try to touch her, or you’ll bleed!” True to their word, one of them made the mistake of putting a finger too close to the front of the crate as they were carrying it up to my bird room. Sure enough, within seconds I heard the bird say “Ouch,” and this comment was followed quickly by the flow of blood. While the guys put her cage together, the constant sound of growling erupted from the transport crate, sometimes accompanied by her charging the front if we got too close. I sat next to her singing Old MacDonald and reading the information her previous owner had provided, desperately trying to figure out a way to make friends with this bird. I kept thinking what have I gotten myself into? Once she was transferred into her cage, I sat on the floor and talked to her, hoping she see that I wasn’t the meanie that she thought I was. She wanted no part of it – she turned her back to me grabbed her food bowl threw it on the floor and retreated to the back of the cage.

As Day Two rolled around, I walked over to say hello and her response was a very loud “Ouch!” As I stupidly reached inside to freshen her water bowls, she grabbed my forearm and bit me with a force that I didn’t think possible. Ow! At a loss as to how to proceed, I called my Parrot Mentor and asked how to handle her without losing a digit. My friend Liz told me to ignore her until Fancy Pants made an effort at making friends. She assured me that macaws are social animal and soon enough she would seek out my attention. Fast-forward three days. I had not talked to her other than the cursory hello, and had done all cage maintenance from outside the cage. I had spent plenty of time playing with my other birds in front of her but had made no attempt at all to engage Fancy Pants in play or interaction.

Miracle of Miracles - as enter the bird room, I hear a new voice saying a quiet but distinct “Hello.” Could my new girl be anticipating my arrival with something resembling pleasure? Holding my breath, I picked up a small piece of mango (her favorite treat) and tentatively approached the cage. To my delight, she moved to the perch closest to the cage door and fluffed her feathers at me. I offered the mango through the cage bars. She took it and withdrew. When she finished her snack, she returned to the front of the cage and I opened the cage door. As I did so, she said “Ouch.” I put my arm in front of her and ask her to step up and you guessed it… She stepped on my arm, and then bit me. HARD! Gritting my teeth and planning an exit strategy in my head, I told her what a beautiful girl she is and I wait for her to let go. I’m hoping against hope that the offer of another bite of mango will tempt her to release my arm to get the treat. I don’t know which of us was more shocked when she stopped biting me and took the treat. She stood on my arm for all of 30 seconds before going back to her cage but she didn’t bite me again. SUCCESS!

We repeated this process for several days. The first time I reached in and didn’t get bitten was a banner day!

Three months later and we’re still figuring each other out. As I sit here typing at my computer the birds are all around me, chatting to each other and me, whistling, singing and laughing as we share our breakfast time together. It took me awhile to learn Green-winged macaw body language. To her credit, she has been a very patient teacher. She’s taught me the games she likes to play which are nothing like the games my other birds like. I can honestly say that we’re friends. Yes, we sometimes squabble as friends do, but we’ve learned to trust each other. She trusts that I’m not going to do anything to cause her harm, and I trust that when she’s had enough of me she’ll give me fair warning. The relationship has blossomed in a way that I never could have imagined that first day. She calls out “Mom” when she wants my attention (she learned that from my son) and will gently push my hand away with her beak when she doesn’t want to be bothered. She likes to play tug, give kisses, and gently chew on my fingernails. She hates red nail polish and it's the only time she'll bite with any force at all. She's accepting of my human family and will happily take treats from them - although both of them are still afraid of the big scary beak and won't actually hold her.

She doesn't talk much - but that’s a non-issue since that's never been a big deal to me. I figure if she has something to say to me she'll figure it out. She almost never says "ouch" any more – which was her cue to bite when she was angry or scared and didn't want to be touched. She's learning to hang out on the back of the sofa and on the kitchen counter. She gets to pick her breakfast from the fruit bowl on the counter every morning and she gets all excited as we're walking down the stairs saying "mmmmm" as we head to the kitchen

I believe that sharing life with parrots means allowing them the freedom to choose when they want to interact with me, and I respect that sometimes they don’t want me bothering them. Each and every bird in my home is an individual. The difference in their personalities is remarkable. The spectrum of emotion they show never ceases to amaze me. Fancy Pants is a (sometimes crabby) member of our family and she’s never leaving.

Tressa Everts can be contacted through her website, Professor of Paws (K-9)