When Storm the blue front Amazon parrot came to us he was too unhealthy to even dream about flying – weighing a whopping 580 grams! He has now been weighing at a steady 440 grams for the past week and continues to stay around 440 grams and a little above. Today, for instance, he was 445 grams. And in that week he has been experimenting with flying in his new aviary environment!

His aviary is 6′ diameter and I swear every time I look outside at him he is on a different perch. I placed his food and water as far away as possible, and even put some pellets on the ground so he’d have to move around the cage as much as possible and get the most amount of exercise.

However, he has been exercising plenty on his own! He sleeps at the highest perch he can find and plays all over the cage! He flies from side to side every so often and sometimes runs around on the ground. He doesn’t quite have the muscle mass to fly up from the bottom, and I think he knows that… but he can go from one side to the other, even though he loses a little bit of altitude in the process.

This has really made Storm a lot healthier and better looking in general.

I actually offered him nuts as well as a taste of his old diet and instead, he disregarded the nuts and seeds and reached out for the piece of broccoli I was holding!

Talk about a complete 180! We couldn’t be more proud of Storm for his new exercise plan, weight loss and healthy new diet. He has even been nicer to Dave since he’s been out there which is great. And he only screams if the macaws scream, but it doesn’t last more than a minute or two (or however long the macaws last) maybe he’s yelling at them to stop yelling!

Jamieleigh Womach has been working with parrots and toucans since the age of 17. She isn’t homeless but is home less than she prefers to be. She travels the world with her husband, daughter, and a flockful of parrots with whom she shares the stage.