When it comes to life altering experiences, having a Greenwing Macaw move in with you has to be right up there on the top of the list. For those of you unfamiliar with macaws, think two year old with wings. Four feet of wings, actually, so there's no place you can put it that's out of reach. And by 'it' I mean anything you happen to own, from the television remote to the snap on your pants. Both will be reduced to what my youngest son refers to as shrapnel in a matter of seconds. The keyboard I'm using right now is missing five – no, make that seven – of the shortcut keys. I didn't see them go, but I occasionally found them – in pieces – scattered around the house. Most of my jackets are missing parts of the zippers, and if you'll excuse me for just a minute.... had to rescue my purse and car keys.
Jackie came from an aviary south of Calgary. My husband and I drove down to get her on the 17th of July. She was just ten days short of four months old, and a hand fed baby. I can't imagine what she must have thought when we loaded her into a highway tractor, drove back to Calgary and hooked up to a Super B cement bulker. The noise alone must have been terrifying. I had taken a pet carrier with me, but opened the door almost immediately. When I put my hand inside, she took my thumb in her beak, and just held on. She's been holding my thumb whenever she gets the chance ever since.
Jackie will be eight years old on the 27th of March, and she is a joy to have around. We spend all of our time together. I decided early on not to keep her caged – the day after she moved in, as a matter of fact. I left her in her cage, and she freaked trying to get out. She actually wore the feathers off the front edges of her wings and damaged her beak in her efforts to escape. Whether that was because she was afraid of being left alone or objecting to being caged I never figured out. It wasn't worth it to me to put her through it again. Since that day, the only time she goes in a cage is at night, when she goes to bed.
We were assured by the breeder that our new friend was a male, so we named her Jack, after Jack O'Neil from Stargate SGI. [Yes, I'm a space nut.] It was a couple of weeks before the DNA test came back, and we found out he was wrong. By then, our smart little friend knew her name, so we decided to feminize it.
The breeder also told us she was too young and inexperienced to fly. This seemed proven by the fact that she wasn't flying around the house, so when we took her out, we took no precautions to keep her safe. That changed in short order.
Jackie's first escape was spectacular. We had gone garage saling, and had just got out of our pickup. I was carrying her on my hand, and had my thumb over her feet. The wind came up suddenly, and she launched herself out of my hand and right into the wind. I was racing after her instantly, but she flew around a corner and was gone. Lucky for me, I managed to get after her in time to see her land – about sixty feet up in a black poplar! I expect the people having the garage sale are still talking about that day. They found us a ladder long enough to reach the lower branches of the tree, and I climbed the rest of the way up to get her. I think by then she must have been pretty scared, because she waited for me.
So you'd think I would have learned my lesson, right? I wish I could say yes, but the truth is, I lost her two more times – once for more than four hours – before I finally clued in. After the first time, I clipped a wing, following the recommended procedure. Part of the beauty of these birds is the magnificent wing structure, which has the primary feathers crossing at the base of the tail. To keep that and prevent them from being able to fly away, you clip the secondary feathers of one wing. They can still fly enough to keep from getting hurt, but the missing feathers keep them from gaining altitude. This is great in theory, but it didn't work. I'm pretty sure Jackie didn't read any of the instructions. By then we had an outside playhouse for her – basically a gazebo that we had enclosed with chain link, with a cloth roof, if you can believe it. I was bringing her in for supper, and once again, she launched herself out of my hand. A storm was coming from the west, she caught the wind again, and this time, got out of sight. I immediately got on the phone to everyone in the family, and had a search party out in the woods in short order. It was my husband who finally found her. He took Frank, one of our Cockatoos, and went walking the neighbourhood. Frank got to talking and carrying on, and pretty soon, Jackie answered him.
It was obvious I hadn't taken enough feathers, so I tried again. Before she went outside again I attacked her with the scissors, feeling confident that this time, I would get it right. To make a long story short, I didn't. It took several days for me to find it out, but eventually, she got away again. I was forced to conclude the only solution was to take the primary feathers, something I really didn't want to do. After all, if I did clip them, and that didn't work either, what would be next?
I decided instead to get her a harness. They are readily available at most pet stores, and I reasoned that started young, she would get accustomed to it. Jackie had other ideas. Although she tolerates the harness, she definitely hates it. Her entire attitude changes whenever I put it on her, and she frets with it constantly. I do occasionally make her wear it, but like her, I soon found the whole thing tedious. Putting it on her to make the short trip to the playhouse, for example, was time consuming and annoying. And if the weather changed suddenly, and I had to get her into it in a hurry, we would both get frustrated. An alternate solution had to be found.
With all that in mind, I designed what I call a tether. Essentially, it's a clip that attaches to her leg, with a strap that I slip around my wrist. Vets will tell you this is a bad plan, because if the bird flies, it will dislocate or break the leg when it comes to the end of the tether. I believe I have a design which prevents that, and so far, she has not sustained an injury. And believe me, she's tested it plenty of times in the almost eight years we've been using it. Although she's very attached to me now and less likely to fly on a whim, there's always the fear factor, so we never venture outside without it.
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