Does anyone else have a macaw who is obsessed with TV? My macaw is obsessed with watching TV, she has mobility issues so I think it’s entertaining without her having to move much. She also likes to chew wood, but her beak is not so strong as she sometimes struggles to crack a walnut. I crack the nut if she fails to open it herself.

She loves hello kitty, Barbie princess movies, Elmo, Teletubbies, and likely some other early 2000s kids shows.

I try to mix up what she watches so she doesn’t get too bored.

I give her two shows to pick from every morning at random and she picks. She is able to confirm yes and no if she understands what’s being asked.

Apologies for the long post, but am desperate for advice.

My wife is the 3rd owner of a Military Macaw named Oliver (she is female, but we kept the name we got her with). My wife's health currently prevents her from caring for the bird and providing enrichment, so I am trying to step in.

However, the bird seems to actively hate everyone else in the house (me, 29 YO son, 16 YO daughter), and will actively try to bite us even if we are near her cage.

Here are all the facts we know:

Owner 1 (or first owner we know of, have never met this person) kept her isolated in a dark basement with no enrichment.

Owner 2 is the boyfriend of a good friend. When he rescued the bird from owner 1, he was able to build a rapport, the bird would play with him and allow him to give her attention. At some point, Oliver laid an egg, and owner 2 took it away as soon as he saw it. After that, the bird became more aggressive to him, and that aggression increased. Eventually, when he and his girlfriend were expecting a child, he knew he could no longer keep her, so he gave her to my wife.

Owner 3 (my wife). This bird loved my wife as soon as she saw her. We visited owner 2's house often, and the bird would have no problems when my wife opened her cage and reacher her hand in to pet. None. Owner 2 was shocked because the bird responded better to my wife than to him at that point. A month or so before they had their child, after about 6 visits to them, my wife adopted Oliver once owner 2 was certain that the bird actually liked to be around my wife.

Extra details:

Based on what owner 2 told us, she is approx. 20-25 years old.

Since we have had her, she has only ever been even the least bit friendly with my wife.

She does not fly. We do not clip her wings, nor did owner 2. My wife can take her outside on a nice day and lay in the sun on the hammock with the bird, and will just cuddle her. Or she will walk around the railing on our back deck. It is almost as if she doesn't know she can fly. Vet found nothing physically abnormal.

We used to let her out of her cage daily before we adopted our daughter but had to stop for obvious reasons. One time when she was out she walked up to me hesitantly, climbed up and perched on my leg, but then someone made a loud noise in the house and she bit down on my fingernail so hard she cracked the nail and destroyed the nail bed and left a large deep wound with a lot of blood. My wife had to get her to release.

She laid an egg with us, my wife left it for 5-10 days before the bird "lost interest" as my wife said, then took it out.

If anyone goes near her cage, she will attempt to bite. The ONLY time she won't is if you are handing her a treat. I can open the cage, reach in and hand her a treat and there is no concern that she will be aggressive. Every time, and with any person.

Please, anyone with any advice or suggestion, let me know what I should or should not do. Even if it involves a lot of trial and error, I want to be able to give the bird the same level of care my wife has while she is unable to.

Thank you all.

These 2 just love each other to death.

I have a military macaw rescue who the vet says has probably plucked for years and probably won't regrow those areas back. She still has her head feathers, most of her Wing feathers and her tail feathers but that's it. The rest of her body in the front and the back is bare. I keep my house between 68 and 80° depending on the season. I'm starting to wonder what would be the ideal temperature for this bird to keep her comfortable. I know birds have higher body temperatures than humans do, but this is a special needs bird obviously. I keep her out of drafts and I have one corner of her cage covered with a cloth so she can go there to be a little bit warmer if she needs to be. But what would be an ideal temperature range for a bird that doesn't have natural insulation?

Scarlett and Blue-and-Gold Macaws. Photos taken Summer of 2026.

Hey, I’m a pretty active member on r/parrots but I’ve run into some issues lately with the moderators. I’m certain that there has been a mistake that has resulted in my account being banned.

I’m unable to send the moderators any message so I’m just reaching out here to see if any others have experience issues as well.

Because there hasn’t been any kind of negative back-and-forth or any rule breaks that I can understand, I’m just confused at this point is all. Hoping for some help or perspective.

This is Gaylord, resident cougar at my moms house

She. Only. Likes. Me!

Everyone else she bites pecks and hates, me she cuddles, coddles, and regurgitates for (the last thing I hate)

If she’s in her cage and I’m away from her, she screams blood murder for the entire day (no joke)

And if she’s out the cage she’ll walk her way to me (can’t fly), climb up any obstacle, then head bang, sing, noise, and regurgitate for the entire time I’m here

I only visit my ma occasionally since I’m in college.

Any insight? I don’t like the regurgitation, everything else is cute, but I don’t like having bird processed food on my clothes lol.

I plan on getting a green wing macaw in the future, but I would like to get everything it needs in advance starting with the cage. What are cages that you people who already own macaws would recommend? Links if possible!