Rescue Macaw Who Lost All Flight Feathers Learns to Soar Once More

Blue and gold macaws (sometimes called blue and yellow macaws) are a type of tropical bird most commonly known as a parrot. Due to the robust exotic pet trade, they are endangered in their home habitat. Additionally, many people who purchase these birds do not know how to properly care for them—and they aren’t necessarily being given the right information from whoever sold them the bird.

Take this poor macaw, who was so malnourished and sick by the time the rescuer got to her that it was possible she may never learn to fly again.

The macaw, named Aurora, was first surrendered to this bird rehabilitator in fall of 2022. She had been bought from a pet store as an unweaned baby and probably an illegal capture. The original owner had no idea what he was getting himself into, and provided neither proper nourishment or adequate space for Aurora to grow. By the time she came to live with Jen and “the Green Bird Brigade,” Aurora was a year old and extremely malnourished. Also her muscles had atrophied from being kept in a space too small for her to fly.

Related: Macaw Owners Gather in Thailand to Watch Their Birds Free-Fly and It's Stunning

Beware of Exotic Bird Sellers

Even if her original owner was trying to take care of her as best he could, he was set up to fail by the unscrupulous seller and exotic animal trainer that would snatch a baby bird from its mother. Aurora had never been weaned properly and was not really able to eat normal food. Jennifer at the Green Bird Brigade began by feeding her a wet formula meant for baby birds. Though Aurora was one, it’s not unusual for macaws in the wild to stay with their mothers for many months so she was deprived all that care time which she had to catch up on. Even now, she is still only a juvenile, as macaws don’t reach their full size until they are three to five years old.

When she first came to the parrot rescue, she was already suffering from many broken, missing, and bedraggled feathers. Worse yet, she suddenly molted all at once, losing all of her flight feathers, many of which had coloration that indicated what a sick bird she truly was. Losing all your flight features at once is very unusual, plus it renders the animal unable to fly.

Retraining a Bird to Fly

But just because Aurora was unable to fly didn’t mean Jennifer could afford to let her stop trying, It was important for the bird to build up her flight muscles, and so they practiced tricks and exercises that would keep her in fine form while they waited for her feathers to grow back.

Then, started the slow and laborious process of teaching Aurora to fly again, first by hopping from chair back to chair back, then by taking larger and larger leaps until finally she could soar.

Captive birds like Aurora deserve to have space to move and fly. Though she has been trained to return and so it’s okay to let her out on “free flights,” even untrained birds should be given the opportunity to fly in netted or otherwise enclosed spaces.

Just look at her go.

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