Photo by Jamieleigh Location: Waynesboro, Virginia The cutie: Hyacinth Macaw "Hymie"

Yes, it's true... I came home with a Hyacinth macaw this weekend... and it's amazing and my jaw still drops when I look at him. It's like looking at a second house, but in a cage... just kidding!

Meet Hymie, a 2 year old Hyacinth macaw who still twitches his wing like the baby he is. Taking him was a last minute thought... you see, Hymie has this TERRIBLE habit of RUNNING to shoulders and then refusing to come down. And when you're trying to get a bird of this size do something it doesn't want to... well... you know what happens. That beak is intimidating, and the first time I saw the size of his feet I about died. He is HUGE! And that size is super intimidating to work with.

However, he is very sweet as well. So I've been researching like crazy to make sure I properly care for Hymie in the 6 week-ish time period I have him. Right now he eats 9-12 nuts a day for his much needed fat content of his diet, and he is on a pellet diet (colored) by Zupreem. He refuses to eat anything other than his colored pellets and nuts. I almost got him to eat some banana while in Virginia with him. Below is a picture of me holding a small piece of banana for him. He licked it, but didn't get much flavor.

Photo by Dave Location: Waynesboro, Virginia Pictured: Hyacinth Macaw "Hymie" 

Hymie put up with going into a travel cage (which he hates by the way... because his travel cage means vet time) and sleeping in it all night, then leaving bright and early (6am) from Virginia for the 12 hour drive to Florida. He experienced his first 10 rain showers Florida is famous for... and actually didn't do too bad with them! The rest of our flock was back there with him so I think it helped to see them handle it just fine. Probably calmed him a lot.

Once we got home, we unloaded everyone before Hymie and let him hang out on his travel cage in our bird room first, take a couple nuts and just play with some coconut toys (his owners said they are his favorite) and then he eventually went into his new cage and started playing real hard with all the new goodies inside!

My goals with Hymie right now are:

• Get him eating some fresh foods.
• Break the bad habit of immediately running to the shoulder.
• Train him to let me hold his feet when he steps up on my hand.

Article by Jamieleigh Womach. She 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 whom she shares the stage with.