How loud is your Macaw?

Macaws have a reputation for being loud, but neither of our B&G's seem to fit the bill. How loud is your macaw?

I would rate it in 5 different categories:

1. Extremely quiet (rarely vocalizes)
2. Quiet (vocalizes once or twice a day in short bursts)
3. Moderate (vocalizes several times a day in short bursts)
4. Loud (vocalizes frequently throughout the day)
5. Extremely loud (vocalizes constantly)

George is a 1 and Bo is a 2.

Gus is usually very quiet ... he mutters a lot, and sometimes vocalizes in a moderate voice when we are not in the room. But every now and then, like once every couple weeks, he has broken out with this ear-splitting, airport runway decibel level scream that makes the think ...oh ... is THAT why people say macaws are loud?

Kentuckienne said:

Gus is usually very quiet ... he mutters a lot, and sometimes vocalizes in a moderate voice when we are not in the room. But every now and then, like once every couple weeks, he has broken out with this ear-splitting, airport runway decibel level scream that makes the think ...oh ... is THAT why people say macaws are loud?

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I've never heard the ear piercing screams out of either of them. I feel like they hold back...

I've had three macaws over the years, and they ranged between 2 and 3. When loud, they are really jet-engine loud!!

Charlotte vocalizes all day every day with this barely audible "mutter". She and Goofy talk back and forth with the same volume. It's kinda cute. She does her flock call once or twice most days, but not every day. When she is loud, she's LOUD. She and another macaw a few blocks away actually call back and forth to each other from time to time. But that doesn't happen very often at all.

That said, I'd say she's quiet. Her mutter can't be heard if you're more than a few feet away from her and she doesn't even get loud every single day, just most days, and only once or twice on the days she does get loud.

Max is a 2 or 3.

when he does scream though it is blood curdling and loud.

it really does sound exactly like someone being murdered.

Rosie who not quite 6 months old only scream a couple of times per day; one when I get home from work and she is glad to see me and the other for no apparent reason. What she does the most is chat with me except when she wants a bit of loving at which makes coo's and throaty clucks.

Hmm, for my case, it's 1-2. He don't really scream at all. Only loves to say hello & etc.

I dont have a mac, though one day when I have the time, space, and money I plan on getting one.. but I think that generally most physically and emotionally healthy birds fall somewhere between a 2 and 3, with exceptions on both sides but also the extremes on either end usually indicate something isnt right (a totally silent bird or a bird obsessively screaming its head off).

Loko said:

I dont have a mac, though one day when I have the time, space, and money I plan on getting one.. but I think that generally most physically and emotionally healthy birds fall somewhere between a 2 and 3, with exceptions on both sides but also the extremes on either end usually indicate something isnt right (a totally silent bird or a bird obsessively screaming its head off).

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All of our birds are in the 1-2 range. You don't think that implies something isn't right, do you?

AfricanGreyEnthusiast said:

Loko said:

I dont have a mac, though one day when I have the time, space, and money I plan on getting one.. but I think that generally most physically and emotionally healthy birds fall somewhere between a 2 and 3, with exceptions on both sides but also the extremes on either end usually indicate something isnt right (a totally silent bird or a bird obsessively screaming its head off).

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All of our birds are in the 1-2 range. You don't think that implies something isn't right, do you?

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No, my sun is usually super quiet for a sun conure, and a content bird will not have the need to scream, just mumbling or clicking as he is content. What I mean by extreme or concerning is if the bird doesnt make a sound combined with lethargic behavior and such. Also, it is subjective as a 1 to you may be a 2 to me, and on.

Tesla is 3&4. Our Amazon gets him started chattering, then they have to see who can be the loudest.
Of course there's the times when he says " Hi Tesla" in the sweetest quiet voice that just melts your heart.

Amy doesn't scream but she can be loud ( 2 to 3) with talking..EXCEPT this morning...for the very first time in 27 years she was a 6! As soon as I came in the door this morning from work and she heard me.
She literally screamed in her nummy bowl FOOD!! FOOD!!! and then laugh at hearing herself reverberate in her bowl and then yell in Amazon speak.

She took me by total surprise,and the more I asked her what was going on,she got even more animated and louder..it was actually pretty funny hearing her coz she has never done this. I bet she went on for a good 7 or 8 minutes.


Jim

My macaws scream every time I leave the house. Other than that, they "speak" to me when I speak to them, but that's not loud at all. Sugar (male B&G) begs for human food and that can be a little loud, but that's in his "human" voice (he calls "MOMMY") so even if that's louder, it's still not a piercing sound.

I think the scale needs a sound level scale also. It's not just how often they vocalize, but is it macaw or human sounds and how loud they are.

I encourage human sounds in my macaws and they know the difference between their human voice and their macaw voice. They know if they try to call me in their macaw voice, they will get ignored.

I recently got a baby scarlet. She screamed for 3 days to get attention, then she learned to use her human sound to get attention. Now she says "Hi" to get attention, which in my house is a good sound

Loko said:

AfricanGreyEnthusiast said:

Loko said:

I dont have a mac, though one day when I have the time, space, and money I plan on getting one.. but I think that generally most physically and emotionally healthy birds fall somewhere between a 2 and 3, with exceptions on both sides but also the extremes on either end usually indicate something isnt right (a totally silent bird or a bird obsessively screaming its head off).

Click to expand...

All of our birds are in the 1-2 range. You don't think that implies something isn't right, do you?

Click to expand...

No, my sun is usually super quiet for a sun conure, and a content bird will not have the need to scream, just mumbling or clicking as he is content. What I mean by extreme or concerning is if the bird doesnt make a sound combined with lethargic behavior and such. Also, it is subjective as a 1 to you may be a 2 to me, and on.

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George makes all kinds of muttering sounds to himself. He's the quietest. If he gets annoyed (almost every time I put him back in the cage) he'll bang on the cage and rattle his bell as hard as he can. I think his previous owner trained him to use the bell and not his voice. I was very happy about that! I am really lucky to have found him. He's trained to have manners, isn't loud, and he is 8 years old. The perfect age IMO...I've never really wanted to deal with the adolescent and hormonal stages.

I always think of "loud" as meaning the decibel level, and "noisy" as how frequently the noise is made. A large macaw, when they do decide to let loose and do a top of the lung scream, it is incredibly loud. Blows your hair back... too much for me personally lol.

RavensGryf said:

I always think of "loud" as meaning the decibel level, and "noisy" as how frequently the noise is made. A large macaw, when they do decide to let loose and do a top of the lung scream, it is incredibly loud. Blows your hair back... too much for me personally lol.

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This! Zoe doesn't yell often, but when she does it could break your ear drums. I can hear her from inside my car when I'm pulling into the driveway.


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Lucy our Blue & Gold talks all the time, but rarely gets loud. She's a jabber box. Rita our Military rescue rarely makes any sound at all. Phoenix our Camilla macaw is a little loud at times, but then when he gets wound up playing and doing flock calls you can here him 2 blocks down the street with the windows closed!

Wow! You guys are all super lucky to have moderately quiet birds!

This morning, I was woken up by Merlin SCREAMING, it was a level 8. He sleeps in our room with us and he was totally done with me sleeping in.

I'm not sure if him coming from a terrible pet store situation is why he is so loud, but I think hes louder than most. Some days are worse than others for sure.

He screams the ear piercing scream when; you try to sleep in on any day, when my hubs and I are both in bed on sat/sun morning, when the dogs try to eat the food from around his cage, when the dogs bark at things outside that he can't see, when my son gets too close, when we're in the next room and hes in the cage, when hes out of the cage, when any lights come on and stay on too late at night (you have 12 seconds), while I'm cleaning the cage out, if he even sees the vacuum- so bringing it into my room to vacuum is fun! When you fluff a blanket or ruffle through any basket of laundry. He has a real problem with clothes.

So days when I have to deep clean my bedroom and bathroom and his cage, I have to put earplugs in because its the only thing that saves my hearing and my head.

On top of his high decibel screams, he talks and chatters constantly. So there is always a stream of sound coming from that beak, and its hilarious! Hes loud enough, that I had to tell my neighbors that I have a macaw and not to worry when they hear screaming. It was a really fun conversation when Merlin was screaming HELP constantly! He doesn't do that anymore, thankfully! I kept my windows open the entire autumn and everyone got an ear full.

I feel like I've read something that says the birds try to match the level of noise in their house? So if thats true, its no wonder he is so loud. We're loud, a loud kid, a loud pack of dogs, lots of loud. So I buy my earplugs in bulk.

Romeo is a 13 year old B&G. He does a lot of talking to himself and muttering.

But when he gets worked up about something and let's lose we can just call it a 9-10. The neighbors can hear him down the street (while he's in the house with the windows shut because it's winter!)

It's loud enough it hurts your ears. We are working on it.

Mostly, he's pretty quiet but once or twice a day he let's you know you're not moving fast enough or he wants whatever he wants.