I'd like to tell you that there is absolutely nothing wrong with having a dream! Dreams are what make life tolerable! And you've come on to a forum full of very experienced bird owners for advice, and that's a great first step towards SOMEDAY possibly owning a large parrot, like a Macaw. That being said, you're only 15 years old, and (I'm saying this with the utmost respect) you do not have a clue about life yet. And that's okay, you're not supposed to! But a Macaw is a living creature that has the intelligence, needs, and wants of a 3-4 year old human toddler. A Macaw is not a house or a car, both of which are inanimate objects that you are not old enough to purchase or own! You have absolutely no idea where your life is going to take you, so why would you want to strap yourself down at 15 years old and limit what you'll be able to do and where you'll be able to go? Because that is exactly what you would be doing if you got a Macaw right now. And you don't even know it or realize it yet, which again shows why you shouldn't get a Macaw, Cockatoo, African Gray, etc. right now.
I can tell that you're a responsible teenager and that you would want what was best for any pet you would get, or that you already have, like your budgies. So can you honestly say that you're ready now, emotionally, socially, financially, mature enough, and fully 100% willing to limit your social life, for the rest of your life, to have a toddler? I don't think that you fully understand what actually owning, living with, and being solely responsible for a Macaw is like or what it entails. It truly is just like having a human toddler. So think about that, would you want to have a human toddler right now at the age of 15? Would your dad? Because I'm sure your dad has no concept of what owning a Macaw is like, he's probably thinking that he'll pay the couple thousand dollars for a baby Blue and Gold Macaw and a cage and then it will be your responsibility. But every single person that lives in your house is going to be extremely effected by having a Macaw living there, and they ALL need to know what is involved, what they will all have to give up and put up with, and they ALL have to be fully on board. If they're not then you have a huge problem, and realize that this is a problem that is going to follow you for the rest of your life. From the day you bring home a Macaw forward it will effect every aspect of your life, as well as the lives of anyone that lives with you, or has the potential to live with you. It is extremely difficult to own a large parrot like a Macaw, a Cockatoo, African Gray, etc. and to live in an apartment or townhouse. First of all, a Macaw requires a huge amount of space, both for it's cage, it's play stands, etc. and for it's existence. My birds are fully flighted and each bird has its main cage in my connected living room/dining room area because birds of this intelligence need to be located in the main room of your home, where all the action is, where the people of the home spend most of their time. They cannot be located in your bedroom or a spare bedroom. My birds are always out of their cages when I'm home, and this is an absolute must with a Macaw. If you're home your Macaw must be out of his cage or you're going to get screaming. I have a Green Cheek Conure, a Quaker parrot, a cockatiel, and a Senegal parrot and they take up 90% of my living room with their cages and play stands. A Macaw is much larger, obviously. So apartments are very difficult to keep a Macaw in because you don't have the space to sacrifice. And secondly and most importantly (and a major cause of rescues being FILLED with Macaws and Cockatoos) Macaws are extremely loud! Most neighbors will put up with a little, but even if your bird is happy, healthy, and completely occupied and stimulated, it's going to be loud at best, at worst it will be constantly deafening. So apartments and townhouses generally do not work. So from the day you get the Macaw forward you'll most likely need to live in a house, or you'll be bouncing from apartment to apartment on a regular basis forever. And pet-friendly apartments are becoming more and more scarce and are more and more expensive. I cannot begin to imagine having a Macaw in a dorm room at college!!! That will go from everyone on your floor living the bird and thinking it's badass to wanting to kill you very quickly. And most colleges and universities require that you live on campus in a dorm for your freshman year, so you can't get "an apartment" off campus your freshman year. So are you willing to sacrifice going to the college you really want to go to in order to go to one, perhaps one that doesn't have the major you want or one that is of much lesser quality, that will allow you to live off campus your first year? And what is your backup plan for when you are told that you have to either get rid of your Macaw or move out of your dorm (again this is very rare and very doubtful) or your apartment? Are you prepared to leave school in order to keep your Macaw with you? Because if you're thinking that your dad can take care of YOUR Macaw while you're away at college for the better part of 2-4 years and your Macaw will be perfectly alright with that with no issues then you need to do some research. And if you think that you'll just come back home for Christmas break after being gone since August or September and your Macaw will just act the same way he did before you left you again need to do some research... Would you leave your 3-4 year old toddler?
And then there are the finances... You're 15 and apparently planning on going to college, so you've got at least until you're 22-23 years old at a minimum before you'll be making a solid income that will support a Macaw financially. While your dad says that he's willing to buy you a Blue and Gold Macaw (and I'm assuming all of the initial expenses that go along with it like a cage, play stands, toys, food, etc.) is he both aware of all of the yearly expenses that a Macaw requires, and willing to pay for all of them until you're out of college and able to pay them? Forgetting the initial expenses that your dad will have to pay in order to just get a hand-raised baby Macaw (somewhere between $2,000-$3,000), you have to figure that the yearly medical care from a certified avian vet for a Macaw will cost around $1,000+, and food much more per year if you're feeding a high quality pellet diet. So is your dad aware and willing to commit to paying for this for the next 7-8 years? Are you willing to pay it for the rest of your life? And that without assuming any illnesses or serious injuries.
And after you get past everything I've already said, you're still only 15 and have no idea where life will take you. I have no idea what you want to do with your life, but I doubt that you are willing to put it on hold or change its path because you have a Macaw that you are responsible for. A lot of opportunities are going to present themselves to you in the near future, they always do between the ages of 16-23, and I can't begin to tell you how many of my friends and acquaintances from high school had to pass them up because they had kids in high school. Many of them basically gave up their own lives because they had to give their kids a life. Now is owning a Macaw the same as having a human child? No, not exactly, not in the sense that you are required by law to provide certain things for it, and not in the sense that if you don't provide for it the way that you should you'll be looked down upon and face consequences for it. But if you are properly caring for and providing for a large parrot and spending the amount of time with it that will make it happy, healthy, and keep it from having behavioral problems (the main reason people rehome large parrots or surrender them to rescues), it's not a whole lot different.
Ask yourself why you want a Blue and Gold Macaw right now. What is it about that specific bird that makes you want to have one? Is it the way they look? Their ability to talk? All I read as far as your prior interaction with one is that you've had one on your arm and that you're not intimidated or scared by large birds. So I'm not sure what it is that is making you think you want one and that it would be a good idea for you to get one now, but I haven't heard you say a single word about wanting to be responsible for a large parrot that has the mentality and the needs of a young child. I haven't heard you say anything about wanting a bird that will need you to devote most of your life to taking care of it. You haven't spoken about holding, comforting, and being affectionate with a bird that will have tantrums like a young toddler. You have yet to mention wanting a bird that you will have to care for before you leave for school in the morning and that will require you to come straight home from school every single day and spend your entire evening every single day with, as well as most of your weekends. You haven't expressed a desire to own a bird that will need comforting when it gets scared or has a night terror at 2:00 in the morning. And you haven't once mentioned looking forward to commiting most of your free time for the rest of your life to a Blue and Gold Macaw. All that you've said is that you're not afraid of them, you've handled them before, and that you would dump your significant other at the drop of a hat. Typical 15 year old mentality? Absolutely. Ready to commit to a parrot that has the intelligence and needs of a 3-4 year old and that will live for over 70 years? Absolutely not.
"Dance like nobody's watching..."
