Is this normal playing behavior for a B&G?

So, I've known Jacob for almost 16 years now and had him since late April. I honestly never thought of this as anything other than just how Jacob plays but I am starting to wonder if that's normal for all blue and gold macaws or is mine just crazy?

He likes to toss his toys around aggressively and gets even more pumped up when one comes back and hits him in the head. He always seems to have fun doing it and that's why I just assumed that's how he plays.

Here are a couple video examples, first one I was playing fetch with him and he got all excited and started tossing his toys:
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJb9kKypT9U&t=2s"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJb9kKypT9U&t=2s[/ame]

Second video I am of course getting him extra excited and pumped up with loud music and again just looks like that's how he plays because he is happy the whole time (no need to watch the whole thing, you get the idea within 30 seconds of the video):
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qY0gpMt93iw"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qY0gpMt93iw[/ame]

He also seems to do this when I give him food he doesn't like which got me questioning whether he does it for fun, attention or for tantrums or maybe all of those. Does anyone else have a macaw as crazy as mine?

Titan does the same thing lol. The louder it is the better which is why he doesn’t have any metal toys in his cage. He will toss stuff around and scream at it. He always has a busted up face because he does it with wood toys and they kick his butt:18: He also likes to dive face first into stuff which doesn’t help with the face issues haha

riddick07 said:

Titan does the same thing lol. The louder it is the better which is why he doesn’t have any metal toys in his cage. He will toss stuff around and scream at it. He always has a busted up face because he does it with wood toys and they kick his butt:18: He also likes to dive face first into stuff which doesn’t help with the face issues haha

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Ok, glad it's not just Jacob, and ya he gets lots of little cuts on his face but they heal so fast.

Love the videos, seems a classic case of macaw displacement "rage." You're not kidding about the "danger zone!!"

We haven't seen Arika get quite that wound up, but she can get pretty excited throwing her potholder around (Thanks Titan ) and sometimes she gets a bit aggressive with her bell and soft rubber rings.

I would read the videos as Jacob just enjoying himself but the severe eye pinning means approach cautiously because I may be in excitement overload.

When Arika gets wound up like that we have to read her carefully because her eyes will start pinning to an extreme she can start to get a little nippy. For the most part though she is very good with her bite pressure.

Jacob is such a character

Wow! Looks like you have a blue and gold amazon! My amazon plays with that kind of fury. Almost like he's trying to kill his toys LOL. So fun to watch. Jacob is beautiful.

WakaWaka said:

We haven't seen Arika get quite that wound up, but she can get pretty excited throwing her potholder around (Thanks Titan ) and sometimes she gets a bit aggressive with her bell and soft rubber rings.

I would read the videos as Jacob just enjoying himself but the severe eye pinning means approach cautiously because I may be in excitement overload.

When Arik gets wound up like that we have to read her carefully because her eyes will start pinning to an extreme she can start to get a little nippy. For the most part though she is very good with her bite pressure.

Jacob is such a character

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When his face goes pink from all the blood rushing in with excitement, the eyes pining and the toy tossing, I definitely don't pick him up as he would for sure chomp hard. I always tell him when he's too excited and wants up that I don't pick up T-Rexes.

Perfect example, I wait for him to settle down a bit before picking him up:
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ_hCQS57wI"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ_hCQS57wI[/ame]

Don't know about other parrots, but Salty really really gets into attacking certain toys, especially his metal bells and jingle toys. Like a jackhammer 'bonk, bonk, bonk, bonk, bonk, bonk, bonk, bonk.......'. squealing with pleasure(?) at each bonk. Looks painful, but then again my nose and mouth aren't made of horny keratin.

Seems like pretty normal healthy parrot behaviour.