A Sunny Update/Questions (lots of progress and good news)

I haven't been around in awhile due to some rough personal issues, but fortunately I'm getting things back on track now, and I wanted to reach out and let you know how Sunny is doing! And also give hope to all the new parrot owners like me who have the best intentions but not a whole lot of experience and decided to rescue a bird that has some baggage.

I've been working with Sunny as much as I've been able. She healed well from her vet incident, and doesn't seem to be psychologically impacted by it anymore. She still hates men, but with the help of my friend, she is getting better. He can pick her up on his own, hand feed her treats, and care for her when I'm gone here and there. If anyone remembers my old posts, you probably know what a huge accomplishment that is! She won't 100% step up for him, and she does get grumpy and lunge at him here and there, but she generally will tolerate him, particularly if I'm out of the room, and thus far she has never officially bitten him. She doesn't like being on his arm, but he can move her when needed and give her a little attention without much trouble.

She still shakes when she sees men. She usually will go to the other side of her cage, sometimes even acting very aggressively and lunging/pinning her eyes/raising her feathers. She also has started flock calling if they walk too close to her cage. But her progress with my friend makes me think that with time and patience, she will eventually adjust. I've also started taking her short distances/putting her in different rooms to help with her anxiety of new areas (which seems to be a parrot thing in general).

Her talking has greatly increased. She copies my laugh, says "Uh oh" when she drops something, says "hello" and "goodbye" and "HIIIIIII!!!!". She also randomly started saying "cracker" when I fill her food dish, which then developed into "want a cracker?" (I didn't teach her, so I'm assuming one of her previous owners did). She also says "stop" in a huffy tone (this is what I say to her when she screams, and she thinks it's hilarious and will repeat it back instead of screaming). She meows when she wants me to come see her because she knows that I will come into the room looking for the cat. She also growls/barks like a dog occasionally. She also says, "Is that good?" since I always ask her that when I give her a treat. She says "Come on" and "Come'ere", "step up", and a lot of garbled words that I can't quite distinguish. I'm pretty sure some of it is the cat's name (she's very jealous of him).

She can also take showers with a spray bottle now! She will squawk a little at first, but then she will open her wings and let me get them pretty saturated. She still pinches me after it's done, but I can live with that.

The best improvement is her allowing me to touch her more. She will let me rub the feathers on her head, and occasionally I can touch the edges of her wings. She has also started licking my fingers which I'm not sure as to the reason. She will grab my hand with her foot, then with her beak and she will lick my fingers and sort of chew them? It doesn't hurt and she's really gentle. It's like how a baby would teeth, but it doesn't appear to be a feeding behavior? There's not head bobbing or anything like that. Then she will rub her face all over my palm and make little noises. I'm assuming she's just happy/being affectionate?

I also suspect she may be trying to mate with my head She keeps flapping her wings really vigorously when she is on my shoulder and uh, bumping into the back of my head, which I've been trying to discourage.

Her cage chewing is my one real problem. I am gone one day a week, and when I'm not here, she chews the metal of the cage to the point where he beak looks a little ratty/peel-y from rubbing it on the metal. I'm not sure how to prevent this one? She has plenty of toys but will very rarely play on her own.

Overall though, I'm really happy with how far she's come in the last few months. I want to keep improving her disposition with men, and I'm hoping to eventually convince her that cuddles are good.

Oh *thank you* that was one update I really was holding my breath for

She looks great btw - maybe a bit wary of the camera (I dont blame her).
You let others know what you can achieve with a parrot that seems kind of hopeless at first - that is really encouraging.
(Could not have done as well with mine without your helpfull stories and questions)

Your friend is a brave person- this large a parrot could do serious damage if pushed to far (by accident) and you both are doing great with her!


Great progress \o/



LOL@ the back of your head -> yup, you are populair allright!

I think all macaws are part puppy - I have never met parrots who lick that much.

ChristaNL said:

Oh *thank you* that was one update I really was holding my breath for

She looks great btw - maybe a bit wary of the camera (I dont blame her).
You let others know what you can achieve with a parrot that seems kind of hopeless at first - that is really encouraging.
(Could not have done as well with mine without your helpfull stories and questions)

Your friend is a brave person- this large a parrot could do serious damage if pushed to far (by accident) and you both are doing great with her!


Great progress \o/



LOL@ the back of your head -> yup, you are populair allright!

I think all macaws are part puppy - I have never met parrots who lick that much.

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It's funny that you caught that! Yes, she hates my phone. She lunges at it and tries to bite it whenever it's out---except when it's playing music! Has to be a woman singing or she's not interested.

And I'm really glad some of my posts helped. I have no idea what I'm doing, but having all the input from people here who are more or less experts has really helped me help Sunny. Having a macaw was always my dream, so I knew I was going to make it work, even if it's really challenging sometimes.

My friend is a real animal lover, which has made all the difference. He's really respectful of Sunny and tries not to push her past her boundaries. I was impressed that he's been doing research as well for the times when he watches her for me. I'll probably make a post about how we've been getting her used to him, because it's really working.

Sunny does bite, unfortunately. I think she's gotten me three times now? All three times there was blood, and I have scarred fingers But I consider it part of the learning process. She warned me and I didn't listen or didn't understand her signs. She hasn't done it in months and months, and generally if I upset her, it's a firm to painful pinch depending on the transgression She's patient with me considering how inexperienced I was in the beginning.

LOL same here, I am slooowly healing and she has not made any more serious holes (touch wood) in my skin the last few weeks. She still gives me bruises once in a while.


I also started form macaw-scratch (only had african greys, budgies and exotics before) so the "I am not the only one" really, really helped.
So your Sunny helped dutch Sunny(NL) A LOT!


So the forum really did its job: it connected a lot of people when they needed each other the most.
once again: thank you!
(all of you out here included of course!)

ChristaNL said:

LOL same here, I am slooowly healing and she has not made any more serious holes (touch wood) in my skin the last few weeks. She still gives me bruises once in a while.


I also started form macaw-scratch (only had african greys, budgies and exotics before) so the "I am not the only one" really, really helped.
So your Sunny helped dutch Sunny(NL) A LOT!


So the forum really did its job: it connected a lot of people when they needed each other the most.
once again: thank you!
(all of you out here included of course!)

Click to expand...

It's always good when there's less blood! Ha! And I just realized your B&G has the same name as mine!

LOL I know- I am soooo unoriginal when it comes to picking names (I got this one out of a series of books). She is mostly "sunny-bunny" is she is being a good girl and nobody else is around because ... well it is rather terrible (way too saccharine) and since she can't fly she hobbles around.

I saw your post about sunny the blue and gold macaw. I used to own the same bird and had to rehome her 30 years ago. I live in Nj. I’m wondering if this is the same bird. It’s a long shot but how many blue and gold macaws are named sunny.