We have never owned a Macaw before Rain. Rain is our seven year old female Greenwing, and she's completely blind. When we took ownership of Rain, it was with the understanding that the previous owner and his family could visit her upon occasion. *Since we have had her, Rain has bonded heavily to my teenage daughter, and will usually tolerate me and my husband well enough for some head pets. We take her with us on many beach outings and such, and she has settled in nicely with our family with her own daily routine.
Yesterday was the first meeting with her previous family since she was rehomed to us in April. They drove over an hour just to visit Rain......and she was AWFUL to them. She treated them as though they were complete strangers and for the life of me, I can't understand her hostility. She was so mean to the teenage girl (whom she had previously been bonded to for years-according to the father), and bit this child hard on the hand. It will leave a mark. In addition, she refused to let the father come near her, only sat on his arm for less than an minute and would only do so after reassurance from my daughter. Nothing they did could gain her acceptance.
I felt sick. It was heartbreaking to see this play out, and I felt awful for them-especially the teen girl who is the same age as my daughter. Once they left, Rain wouldn't leave my daughter's side and was extremely clingy the rest of the day.
So here's my question: Do Macaws tend to forget people in their past, or do they harbor resentment if someone is no longer in their life? Is this typical behavior of birds of this level of intelligence? She's incredibly smart. Is this normal, or could it be that Rain has trust issues due to her blindness. I never imagined the meetup would go down this way. We thought she would be happy to be around them again. Any and all suggestions would be most welcome.
Thank you
Yesterday was the first meeting with her previous family since she was rehomed to us in April. They drove over an hour just to visit Rain......and she was AWFUL to them. She treated them as though they were complete strangers and for the life of me, I can't understand her hostility. She was so mean to the teenage girl (whom she had previously been bonded to for years-according to the father), and bit this child hard on the hand. It will leave a mark. In addition, she refused to let the father come near her, only sat on his arm for less than an minute and would only do so after reassurance from my daughter. Nothing they did could gain her acceptance.
I felt sick. It was heartbreaking to see this play out, and I felt awful for them-especially the teen girl who is the same age as my daughter. Once they left, Rain wouldn't leave my daughter's side and was extremely clingy the rest of the day.
So here's my question: Do Macaws tend to forget people in their past, or do they harbor resentment if someone is no longer in their life? Is this typical behavior of birds of this level of intelligence? She's incredibly smart. Is this normal, or could it be that Rain has trust issues due to her blindness. I never imagined the meetup would go down this way. We thought she would be happy to be around them again. Any and all suggestions would be most welcome.
Thank you
Last edited: