Macaw Compendium
Macaw Compendium 
Illiger's Macaw (Ara maracana) is one of the Mini-Macaws and by far
not as impressive as his bigger relatives like the
Blue and Gold
or
Scarlet Macaw .
But he is a very gentle and active character. Kept together with other
psittacines (outside breeding-season) he always performs some action, and
even the laziest
Yellow-headed Amazon is influenced by this activities.
Together they playfully chase from perch to perch across the aviary.
The general habit of the Illiger's resembles more to a small parakeet
or conure though it's relatives are some of the largest parrots in the world.
This little macaw really is an artistic flyer. It likes to fly high in
the air and next moment dropping down like stone only to change direction
near the ground all over sudden.
This behavior is reason enough to keep these birds in a larger aviary
where they have room enough to move.
As a new member of the flock the bird should be carefully acclimatized.
Illiger's are sensitive but curious. Soon they may become affectionate
friends to their humans who are called by the crow-like voice when
the aviary is entered.
The best companion (as with all other social birds like psittacines)
however is a bird from the same species and even better if the companion
is of different sex. Most likely the birds should be paired as soon as
possible. There will be difficulties if one or both birds were kept
before as human pets.
Generally psittacines should be paired whenever possible to give the birds
a natural partner which is important for the "psychological" health.
Parrots in general are very intelligent and suffer from loneliness.
Despite of that:
As Illiger's now are listed as highly endangered species every effort should be
taken to breed them whenever pairing is possible.
As said before the Illiger's is a very curious and active bird. Everything
carvable or movable has to be tested. Also rotten food will be tried so
the aviary must be kept very clean. Wooden constructions are of interest
ever, which means a desaster for wooden build aviaries.
The playful character of Illiger's often resembles to the
Kea.
The following scenes will give an
imagination.
Scratching: The bird is sitting on the aviary's ground
near the mesh. One foot is holding a little stick which the bird played
with before. All over sudden it turns the head to scratch between the
shoulders with the beak. Now there's a problem of balance. Also the maid
is far away and not interested in preening. So the bird lays itself to
the side not releasing the stick which is held into the air. The other
foot holds the head up and then the bird scrubs his back at the mesh.
Some sort of giggling shows that this is fun. After some time Mr.
Illiger's turns to normal position, drops the stick and flies off.
| Also funny are the little scrambles between a pair of Illiger's which make the atmosphere of "marriage". They fight head over heels for a grape or even a little piece of wood only. But never this fighting is violent or insidious. They try to outwit each other with cleverness. Soon the quarrel is forgotten and results in social preening. |
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