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Welcome to Arielle's world!
Arielle hopes that you find her story informative and interesting.
She is a parrot-like bird whose relatives originally lived in tropical
environments including the savannahs and rain forests of South America.
Arielle is a member of the species Ara ararauna commonly known as the
Blue and Gold macaw.
Brightly colored macaws are the largest parrot-like birds in the New World;
their usual imposing size is between 33 to 36 inches from the crown of their
head to the tip of their tail. If you imagine a macaw without its 20-24 inch tail
feathers, the parrot would be about the size of a two-pound chicken.
Hobbyists and pet owners keep more Blue & Gold macaws than any other type
of macaw, so a Blue & Gold macaw, like Arielle, is not considered a rare bird.
What makes macaws popular parrots?
People are attracted to macaws by their sleek beauty and brilliant colors.
Beyond their physical beauty, the birds have common endearing traits and
develop individual personalities. Some macaws are very active birds, and
they love to play with toys and disassemble things.
A macaw's antics keep the bird amused and can entertain its owners; however, care
needs to be taken because large parrots can inadvertently ruin things in and around a
home. Owners need to provide the birds with wooden-chew toys and people need to
be vigilant about the bird's activities.
As an example, a playful macaw, when unsupervised, can destroy household objects.
Arielle has at times chewed on wood molding around a doorway near her cage.
When she is free in the house, she can walk up a spiral staircase and mount a
wooden rail along the edge of our loft. She damaged the railing by breaking small
chunks from the wood. This behavior is not done in spite; the bird is doing what
comes naturally: wood is for chewing, and girls just like to have fun! When I take her
down from where she is playing, I get a look that communicates a variation of a Billy
Joel song, "I ammm an innocent bird ...."
Macaws, like other parrots, benefit from what many people consider to be an
inordinate amount of time with their owners. This is no coincidence. In the wild
many parrot species pair off as monogamous couples and spend a lifetime together.
In the wild, paired macaws spend most of their day foraging for food, relaxing,
preening feathers, and, during nesting season, caring for their chicks. Therefore, it is
not particularly surprising that a home-kept parrot wants to spend its life near its
human companion, who is the bird's surrogate mate.
People ask me how much time one needs to properly care for a bird like Arielle. My
answer is 4 hours a day extending over 365 days a year.
Inquisitive people want to know where the time goes. My answer is: "Caring for a
bird's physical and emotional wellbeing requires time for setting up the bird's
outside perch each day; the bird has to be removed from its house and taken to the
outside location; preparing and providing breakfast, lunch and dinner for your
companion takes time; taking the bird for a walk or spending time educating an
intelligent and social creature expends more time; gathering up soiled papers each
day from outside and from cages requires effort; in the evening an owner should
spend time being with and playing with his parrot.
So, for a number of reasons, four hours is not an overly generous accounting for
the time it takes to look after one's bird. It's like having a second wife, but each
of us knows that before we buy a bird. The trouble is that most birds are short
changed and it's not right. Don't buy a large bird unless you can forever devote
four hours of each day to your feathered friend."
She is a parrot-like bird whose relatives originally lived in tropical
environments including the savannahs and rain forests of South America.
Arielle is a member of the species Ara ararauna commonly known as the
Blue and Gold macaw.
Brightly colored macaws are the largest parrot-like birds in the New World;
their usual imposing size is between 33 to 36 inches from the crown of their
head to the tip of their tail. If you imagine a macaw without its 20-24 inch tail
feathers, the parrot would be about the size of a two-pound chicken.
Hobbyists and pet owners keep more Blue & Gold macaws than any other type
of macaw, so a Blue & Gold macaw, like Arielle, is not considered a rare bird.
What makes macaws popular parrots?
People are attracted to macaws by their sleek beauty and brilliant colors.
Beyond their physical beauty, the birds have common endearing traits and
develop individual personalities. Some macaws are very active birds, and
they love to play with toys and disassemble things.
A macaw's antics keep the bird amused and can entertain its owners; however, care
needs to be taken because large parrots can inadvertently ruin things in and around a
home. Owners need to provide the birds with wooden-chew toys and people need to
be vigilant about the bird's activities.
As an example, a playful macaw, when unsupervised, can destroy household objects.
Arielle has at times chewed on wood molding around a doorway near her cage.
When she is free in the house, she can walk up a spiral staircase and mount a
wooden rail along the edge of our loft. She damaged the railing by breaking small
chunks from the wood. This behavior is not done in spite; the bird is doing what
comes naturally: wood is for chewing, and girls just like to have fun! When I take her
down from where she is playing, I get a look that communicates a variation of a Billy
Joel song, "I ammm an innocent bird ...."
Macaws, like other parrots, benefit from what many people consider to be an
inordinate amount of time with their owners. This is no coincidence. In the wild
many parrot species pair off as monogamous couples and spend a lifetime together.
In the wild, paired macaws spend most of their day foraging for food, relaxing,
preening feathers, and, during nesting season, caring for their chicks. Therefore, it is
not particularly surprising that a home-kept parrot wants to spend its life near its
human companion, who is the bird's surrogate mate.
People ask me how much time one needs to properly care for a bird like Arielle. My
answer is 4 hours a day extending over 365 days a year.
Inquisitive people want to know where the time goes. My answer is: "Caring for a
bird's physical and emotional wellbeing requires time for setting up the bird's
outside perch each day; the bird has to be removed from its house and taken to the
outside location; preparing and providing breakfast, lunch and dinner for your
companion takes time; taking the bird for a walk or spending time educating an
intelligent and social creature expends more time; gathering up soiled papers each
day from outside and from cages requires effort; in the evening an owner should
spend time being with and playing with his parrot.
So, for a number of reasons, four hours is not an overly generous accounting for
the time it takes to look after one's bird. It's like having a second wife, but each
of us knows that before we buy a bird. The trouble is that most birds are short
changed and it's not right. Don't buy a large bird unless you can forever devote
four hours of each day to your feathered friend."
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Welcome Page
Welcome Page
It would be unfair to avoid the subject of speaking abilities of macaws
and other parrots. Macaws can reproduce the sound of human speech
quite well or with various types of distortion. The matter becomes
difficult because some sources state that macaws are not very good
talkers, while others claim that macaws are excellent speakers.
My experience with Arielle is likely not typical, and there is insufficient
space here to explain why. In a nutshell: Arielle achieves a level of
speech that is unparalleled.
Her words in the speech clip below reveal that she can do something
unusual.
and other parrots. Macaws can reproduce the sound of human speech
quite well or with various types of distortion. The matter becomes
difficult because some sources state that macaws are not very good
talkers, while others claim that macaws are excellent speakers.
My experience with Arielle is likely not typical, and there is insufficient
space here to explain why. In a nutshell: Arielle achieves a level of
speech that is unparalleled.
Her words in the speech clip below reveal that she can do something
unusual.
| Arielle often assembles series of untutored statements. In this example she makes a pronoun substitution that shows a small portion of her understanding of English. Click the play button to hear her speak. The transcription is below in a yellow box. |
| Arielle understands speech and speaks thoughtfully using English words, phrases, and sentences. |
Photo by Linda Carpenter
Arielle's said spontaneously, "I'm a pretty, ... pretty girl!" ... (sound of several kisses) |