i've heard macaws before, at pet stores, at the zoo, at a friends house. i heard them do the loud high pitch quick call. i thought thats what people meant when they say macaws are loud. it is loud, but i didnt think it was too bad. aparantly macaws have another sound with is a low piched EAR DRUM BLOWING. had never heard this one before. i'm expecting a 30 day notice within the next 48 hours. i have no idea why he is screaming like that. he does it when im paying attention to him, when i'm not, wether he's hungry or not, and he seems ok on toys and he has a good diet which includes alot of fruits and veggies a small amount of shelled almonds and walnuts and those expensive biscuit pellet things. why is he screaming he does it at all hours of the day. what should i do?
if anyone googles macaw/apartment and you're reading this, don't get a macaw if you live in apartment it doesnt seem doableat all. ive had him a week and i know for sure im going to get kicked out of here any second. that scream/yell is louder than anything i have ever heard in my whole intire life and the sheer pitch of it is mind shattering

Macaws are loud. There can be many reasons for him screaming. You could be reinforcing it without even knowing it.

Macaws and Cockatoos ARE NOT FOR APARTMENTS. Period, end of story, NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVEVER. Unless you have had your bird for YEARS and know it never makes any loud (and I mean loud) noise. If you have a bird like this in close quarters, expect to get complaints.

I would need to know more on your bird. The birds diet, its routine.. When you give it attention and what you do when he screams, in order to help you. The good thing about birds is they usually scream during the day, so you don't have to worry about midnight screeching, but you can train your bird to do a different contact call (SOME OF THE TIME) instead of its scream.

so... 1) When does he scream? 2) What do you do when he does? 3) How often is he out?) 4) What is his diet? 5) what does his cage look like?

Expect a macaw to scream a few times a day at the least.. Even just their regular protest sound is loud.

and it sounds like you're talking about their loud whistle that just makes your ears bleed. I am soooo glad my Macaw hasn't learned this YET. I know she will eventually.

Those postings and what I said before was not a joke. They can be very loud!!!! Most of the time he's rather quiet but when he get the kick he'll scream like no tomorrow...

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Willie posing for his closeup!!!!

Read my posts on Chilli. Yeah, macaws are L---O---U---D !! How long does your macaw scream for, before taking a break that lasts longer than 5 seconds? At her worst, Chilli used to keep going for 2 hours!!

If you want to keep your macaw, you really need to own your own house with full double-brick, concrete or stone wall construction, in a low density housing neighbourhood. Rural land acreage would be even better.

I think you should start looking for a place that will accept your macaw. It will be inevitable you will be evicted , so why wait and have to rehome your bird. That would be very sad for the both of you.
Good luck.

In the country, if it is flat like here, sound carries. I can hear my conure at some of my neighbor's houses. But, I can be in my driveway, changing oil or something quiet and hear my neighbor's (1/4 mile away) conversations as if they were standing 10 feet behind me if it's not windy out, lol! Even here in a rural area, I know you would hear a macaw.

Let's just say I know some things about them that they likely didn't intend for me to know!

Don't know the layout of your apartment, but here's a few things to try:
1. Let your bird spend most of its daylight hours outside the cage, either climbing around on the cage, or on a separate playground.
2. At night cover your bird's cage and don't uncover it for 12 hours. Best if the cage can be in a room you don't use during the evenings. Not critical that the room be completely unused, though. I watch television during the evening in my bird's cage room.
3. When your bird starts screaming, stand up, leave the room, and close the door. Do not respond in any way to the screaming.
4. When there is a break of, let's say 30 seconds, in the screaming, immediately re-enter the room and reward your bird by speaking softly and giving the bird a favorite treat.
5. Begin training your bird to say something. Pick something you won't mind hearing a hundred times a day. For my GW the word is "Hello." There are plenty of videos and web sites to show you how to train simple behavior.
6. That word or phrase will become your bird's contact call. You must always respond to that word and never respond to the screaming. The bird will gradually replace the screaming with that contact call. I return my bird's contact call from wherever I am in the house when I hear her say it.
7. Study the location of your bird's cage. Could there be something scaring the bird--something like the flash of lights from a passing car, children or animals playing outside the window, sudden loud noises. You might have to put up a translucent window covering to fog the outside image.
8. Oh, and yes, do start looking for a rental property where you do not have neighbors a 2X4 and two sheets of drywall away.

I retrained my conure's contact call to "Hey hey!" And yes, I always answer it so she doesn't scream. So 100x a day we might be calling that back and forth, but it's much nicer to hear. Not saying that's the right one for you, but it was for her. I heard her saying "Hey" and it actually sounded something like her call. But, she can't say it anywhere near as loudly, and it sounds pleasant in comparison.

nah, its a yell/scream almost like a human yelling at the very top of the lungs but much much louder