Mark, I joined this forum a little over a year ago and actually was on another forum at the time you first list Maggie last year. I remember reading your posts and everyone making sure that Maggie's flyers, advertisements, etc. were posted on every website available. All of the lost bird sites, all of the social media sites, everywhere. I remember feeling your pain through the internet, your words made that pain very palpable to any bird owner and lover that read them. I was so certain that Maggie would be found and reunited with you, after all, it's pretty hard to miss a huge, red parrot that talks and is loving and friendly to everyone.
I can't believe it's been a year since Maggie disappeared. I agree that it's most likely that someone found Maggie and took her in, either to sell her or to keep her as a pet. The fact that Maggie has not been seen at any avian vet or avian groomer anywhere near you reinforces the theory that she has been sold to someone that lives away from the San Antonio area.
Here's my thoughts on this situation: There's just no way that Maggie is still out in the wild living, as in a year's time someone, probably multiple people would have at least seen her flying around with a flock of wild birds or by herself, or would have seen her perched somewhere outside like on a phone line, powerline, on houses or other buildings, etc. It would have been talked about publicly and word of the giant red parrot in the area would have gotten back to you. And from what I've read Maggie is friendly enough to have simply just walked right up to someone looking for help. So someone found her and took her in. And if this person lived anywhere near you and had made any attempt to find her owner they would have found you. Whether they got online to search for lost birds or to report the bird they found to any bird rescue sights, Facebook, any bird forums, rescues, etc. they would have found you. If they didn't get on the internet at all, but rather called all the nearby vets, all of the nearby animal shelters, rescues, pet shops, bird groomers, bird breeders, etc. and did this the old fashioned way over the phone, they would have found you. So this leads one to believe that the person or people who found Maggie immediately thought of and did one of two things: they either decided to keep Maggie as their own pet, or they got online, saw how much these parrots sell for, and sold Maggie to someone willing to pay a good amount of money.
Now the odds of Maggie being found by an experienced bird owner and lover is slim to none, and even if she was most experienced bird owners and lovers would not decide to just keep her, they would have tried very hard to find her owner. So I'm assuming that the person that found her is not an experienced bird owner, maybe not even a pet owner if they didn't have enough respect and love for her to find her owner. I find it very hard to believe that someone who is not a bird lover would suddenly find a tame, friendly Macaw that obviously belonged to someone, and would just decide to keep it, and then go out and spend a small fortune for a Macaw-sized cage, food, toys, etc. The cage alone would require the person that found her to make quite a financial commitment. And if they did any research online at all, they would have quickly found out how much care these birds require and what all is involved in keeping one every single day, as well as the long-term financial commitment it takes combined with how long they live. So at that point they would have to make a decision of whether to look for the owner or sell the bird. And if they did any research at all online they would have seen what these birds sell for. So that's how I get to being 90% sure that someone found Maggie pretty directly after you lost her, and they then sold her, most likely to someone they found online somewhere, probably Craigslist, Hoobly, Birdbreeders.com, etc.
Here's why I'm writing this long post now: It's been a year since Maggie was lost. Assuming that someone found her not long after she was lost, mainly because she wasn't reported being seen outside by anyone after a few weeks missing, that person would have wanted to sell her very quickly after finding her because they would have been taking care of her, at least spending money on food, and if they weren't experienced bird people, taking care of a Macaw that just lost her home and family would be challenging at best.
But, if I think like a criminal, I surely wouldn't post her for sale online soon after finding her, as I would assume her owner would be frantically looking for her and watching the internet for someone selling her....So it's been a year, that's a long enough time period to wait to advertise her for sale for a lot of reasons. First of all, a year is long enough for the active search by the owner to be slowed down, if not abandoned. All of the ads on Facebook, Craigslist, etc. advertising her as being lost are not current, they may still be posted but you'd have to really look hard and actually search for "lost macaw" on places like Craigslist to actually find the lost bird ads that were placed a year ago and updated or bumped up in the first few months after she went missing. Also, after a year the person that found her would probably be good and tired of taking care of her, both physically and financially.
Or another way to think about this at the one year point is what if she was already sold to someone at a bird fair or something like that, the person did a very quick flip to someone for cash. By this time the person that bought her may be tired of her. Maggie loved you and your family very much Mark, and she was closely bonded with you. Even though she is typically a gentle, loving bird, she may be a nightmare for the person that bought her. I'd think that someone looking for a macaw and willing to pay a good amount of money for a macaw, as well as all of the necessary equipment, food, etc. would be either an experienced bird lover and owner, or a very kind, loving person that was looking for their first parrot and decided on a macaw.
Either way I'd think that they would immediately call to report that they have Maggie as soon as they saw your lost bird ad. So the point I'm getting at is I think right now, a year after Maggie went missing, is a fantastic time to do another big flood of online advertising about Maggie being missing, and also reposting her flyers at local pet shops, bird shops, etc. because it's possible that if someone has recently bought her they are going to be shopping for stuff for her. Reposting on Facebook, Craigslist, Parrot911, everywhere you did a year ago, having the moderators of these pages and websites bump your old ads up to the top, maybe lead with "It's been exactly a year since Maggie was lost. She may have been for sale or sold by now" etc. I just think it's a great opportunity time-wise to get the word out to the people that weren't looking to buy a macaw this time last year and never saw Maggie's lost ads, but in the last 6 months have been looking for a macaw or possibly have bought a macaw. They may not have purchased Maggie but did see a for sale ad for her and maybe they even went to see her because they wanted to see if she was a good fit for their family. They could possibly at least tell you who it was that was selling her.
This group of people that never saw Maggie's lost ad a year ago because they weren't looking to buy a macaw at that time, but they were looking for one in the last 6 months, these are the people who need to see Maggie's lost parrot ads.
"Dance like nobody's watching..."