Hi bird families

[Grandma Froggie]

I am Stacie or Grandma Froggie as my grandchildren call me.
My "baby burd" is "Sassafrass". She (if it is a she) is just over 3 years old. A catalina macaw. Very beautiful bird.
When my sister gave her to me she was extremely aggresive, said only 'hello", and occasionally would imitate my sisters laugh, and did not want anything to do with being held or even touched by people.
I was terrified of her. And worse than that I was really worried about not knowing anything about how to care for this creature, especially how to train her to like people. Its pretty disheartening when you know that even the kind act of feeding her every day is going to get you bit........!!
So I determined that in my care this beautiful bird would find out that people are not horrible creatures to be terrified by, but instead are warm, caring, loving friends that are nice to cuddle with and talk to.
I started out by patiently sitting in front of her cage with the door open and just putting my hand inside and resting it on her perch. very calm, very still, but there....
Eventually I decided that if I ever wanted her to get really up close and personal we needed a cage that I could into with her. So, I built her a huge cage with lots of things to climb on, a cool swing and most importantly enough room for me to get in with her. It worked wonders. Soon she got used to me being in ther with her and after awhile I noticed that she would follow me around inside the cage, very interested in whatever I might be doing. Little by little she started letting me pet her and would even reach for me when I was near her.
It's been just over a year that she's been here with me and now we are best buds and she spends most of her time inside the house with me.
She is still a little stinker but how can you not love an animal who seems to know just the right thing to say at the right moment.
She now says at least 100 words and phases. Plays peek a boo, where she actually puts her hand up in front of her face and then pulls it away and says peek a boo. Another of my favorites is when she wants my attention she says "come here", "come here baby", and "I love you baby", she says "wanna fight?", "put up your dukes". She fake cries, with her hand covering her beak, it's hilarious! When our dogs bark she tells them "stop" or "knock it off". In the morning if she's outside and doesn't get my attention soon enough she starts her screaming thing, so she yells (LOUD) then says"what's your problem"? Recently she started barking with the dogs. Guess she figured if she couldn't beat them she'd just join them. I'm in love.

[marie83]

Welcome to the forums

She sounds adorable. Well done for putting in so much time and effort with this bird, so many wouldn't