I
thought it might be
interesting to post pictures showing the progression of a baby
Greenwing Macaw. I've started to include videos of her from week 8 on.
Jen and I decided to get this girl
who was
born November 6th, 2005 at my favorite aviary
www.avalonaviary.com
. I'm not sure when or where but I went macaw
crazy, I love
these birds. I think I'd ultimately like to add a Blue and
Gold
and Scarlet Macaw to our mix as well but for now Merlin and the
Greenwing will be more than enough. We won't be able to take
her
home for a good 6-9 months when she is weaned but we plan on visiting
her quite often. The first week we weren't allowed to take
pictures because they didn't want light around her. The
second we
could snap a picture through the incubator door using a high ISO
setting on the Canon 20D. The third week she was finally
brought
out of the incubator and we were allowed to touch her (briefly and
under controlled situations).
Ariel's
Growth
(Videos at Week(s) 8,9,10,11,12,18,31,39, 1 year 4 months, 2 years 1week)
(Videos at Week(s) 8,9,10,11,12,18,31,39, 1 year 4 months, 2 years 1week)
Week 1: No picture - 77 grams
(Born November 6th, 2005)
Week 2: 180
grams (November 21st, 2005)
Week 3: 300
Grams (Merlin is 450
for
comparison) (November 27th,2005)
Week 4: 450 Grams (December 3rd, 2005)
Week 5: 716 Grams (December 10th, 2005)
Week 6: 900 Grams (December 17th, 2005)
AND WE FOUND OUT SHE IS A GIRL
Chester and Rosy
Week 7: 1000 Grams (December 24th, 2005)
Here is Jen holding Chester, we are still 95 percent with the Greenwing but he is one beautiful boy.
Week 8: 1088 Grams (December 31st, 2005)
VIDEO!!!!!!!!!!
Week 9: 1120 Grams (January 7th, 2005)
Week 10: 1120 Grams (January 14th, 2005)
VIDEO!!!!!!!!!!
Ariel Page 2
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Week 4: 450 Grams (December 3rd, 2005)
Week 5: 716 Grams (December 10th, 2005)
Week 6: 900 Grams (December 17th, 2005)
AND WE FOUND OUT SHE IS A GIRL
Apparently
the bird cut a
toe early on and they grabbed a quick blood sample. I think
the
aviary generally wouldn't have sexed her for another month or
more. Now we can start trying to think of names.
The girl
is getting more of a personality and will beak our fingers and moan a
bit. Today was the first day she was brought out of the
incubator
room. We got to hold her in our laps for five minutes before
she
was brought back. One potential snag has occurred
though.
The aviary has Scarlet Macaws and a mutual liking has grown between
myself and a male named Chester. Fortunately the aviary told
us
we could just keep playing with him as the Greenwing grew and make our
mind up much later. As it turns out there is a goodly waiting
list for Greenwings and none for the Scarlet. Our 1300 dollar
deposit bumped us up to the top of the list for the
Greenwing. We
will probably stick with this girl because Merlin is a needy little
fellow and I'm not sure a Scarlet wouldn't cause jealousy problems but
I have enjoyed interacting with the Ara Macao.
Chester and Rosy
Week 7: 1000 Grams (December 24th, 2005)
Well,
this little girl seems to be a smaller Greenwing, we are told
she'll top out around 1200 or so grams, that's fine Merlin is ~450.
She is a noisy little girl but started puffing up for us when
we
pet her for the first time today.
Here is Jen holding Chester, we are still 95 percent with the Greenwing but he is one beautiful boy.
Week 8: 1088 Grams (December 31st, 2005)
VIDEO!!!!!!!!!!
We
also decided to name her Ariel.
Ariel means light or lion of God, it is also a biblical name
for
Jerusalem. Among certain myths Ariel is also an angel of
wind,
water, and nature. Ariel's upper and lower beak do not join
together properly. Our aviary has been massaging her beak
daily
and using a dremel to stimulate the beak to correct the problem but
there is a possibility she will need surgery to implant the equivalent
of bird braces. I really hope this doesn't happen.
We are
assured it is standard but I am nervous about our little girl being put
under gas. Wish her luck on this one. This was
the first week our baby showed allot of awareness of us and was very
responsive to talking to and scritching. I've also posted a
video
of this visit. She is going to be a little Greenwing.
The
species tends to be in the 1200-1500 gram range but I'm guessing this
beautiful little girl will be more like 1100-1200. Today she
also
made allot more noise. It is interesting. Merlin
screeches
whereas Ariel makes a moaning noise.
Week 9: 1120 Grams (January 7th, 2005)
Ariel
is definetly going to be
small for her species. Greenwings tend to be in between 1200
and
1500 grams and I doubt she'll reach 1150. She is still
beautiful
though and is much more responsive to petting this week. She
doesn't perch yet but was able to hold on to my hand much more firmly
this week when I picked her up. Apparently she has also been
flapping her wings quite a bit so sometime in the next month should see
her perching and flying. On a side note, a personal matter
took
the aviary's owner away for the week so Ariel has been under the care
of her most trusted employee who also happens to work for Sally
Blanchard. Sally Blanchard recently moved to Colorado and Ariel got to
spend the week at her new place.
Week 10: 1120 Grams (January 14th, 2005)
VIDEO!!!!!!!!!!
No
change in weight, this
little girl is going to be tiny. Her feathers are mostly in now
although her tail still has a good few weeks and her crop and belly
area are still a bit bare. This week we set her on the floor
and
watched her waddle around. She has been attempting to perch but isn't
there yet. According to 'The Large Macaws, Their care,
breeding,
and conservation' Greenwings perch between 56 and 88 days and fledge
between 78 and 93 days. Since this is day 69 we can expect
interesting things from Ariel over the next few weeks.
We pet her to sleep.
She still sits cross legged, we have a contemplative little Greenwing.
She waddled over here from the couch, it was her first steps for us.
Week 11: 1100 Grams (January 21st, 2005)
VIDEO!!!!!!!!!!
HOUSTON, WE HAVE PERCHING, T-minus a few weeks or so and counting
We pet her to sleep.
She still sits cross legged, we have a contemplative little Greenwing.
She waddled over here from the couch, it was her first steps for us.
Week 11: 1100 Grams (January 21st, 2005)
VIDEO!!!!!!!!!!
Ariel is now perching.
For those non-bird people following this thread there are
three distinct events in a baby birds life before it should be allowed
to go home. These events are perching, fledging (flying), and
weaning (feeding themselves). Ariel's next event,
fledging, should take place in the next few weeks and she is already
flapping her wings in expectation. She still tires very
easily so we only spend about 1.5 hours before heading home.
HOUSTON, WE HAVE PERCHING, T-minus a few weeks or so and counting
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