Advice on Type?

[Bonesy]

Hi there Guys

Just like to know if anyone could tell me what type of macaw this is? I dont know even if he's not a macaw and an Amazon or something.




He's coming for training next weekend and I'd like to know what exact type he is to better research his breed.

Thanks in advance!
Sophie.

[Monica]

OMG you are quite lucky!

If I'm not mistaken, the species is a red bellied macaw, which tend to be quite rare in captivity!!!! Although, to be honest, they seem to be more common in Europe and surrounding areas (second time I've heard of someone living on that side of the world with a red bellied - haven't heard of them being kept anywhere else)...

[Bonesy]

Originally Posted by Monica

OMG you are quite lucky!

If I'm not mistaken, the species is a red bellied macaw, which tend to be quite rare in captivity!!!! Although, to be honest, they seem to be more common in Europe and surrounding areas (second time I've heard of someone living on that side of the world with a red bellied - haven't heard of them being kept anywhere else)...

Hi there Monica!

I thought he must be sort-of rare as I couldn't identify him from first look, which i can normally do when a client waves me a picture of their birds.

I posted this on another forum and someone said he looks like an Illiger's Macaw, which I assume is another name for red-bellied isn't it?

And yes they are rare in captivity, according to the pages I've read. So As his new owner is a breeder of parrots, I will be advising him to have a look for a breeding partner for this bird once it has gone through it's training with me and had it's DNA test. So hopefully he's found the best owner he could have wished for after spending most of his life in his cage on his own. Poor bird

Quite often i can tell a birds sex by it's behaviour, which at his 3 years of age should show through fairly easily now, then failing that he can have his DNA test to be sure.

His new owner sent me another picture earlier, he looks rather sweet



I'm really looking forward to training this chap, he's beautiful

[Monica]

No, Illigers are a different species actually... although I can see why they thought that.... Here's some pics of illigers....











Red bellied macaws tend to be more yellow in the face, and have "dirtier" (bluer? greyer? )feathers (at least around their chests), where-as the illigers feathers are greener around the chest and back area....










I really think though that if he could find another red bellied of the opposite sex he (owner) really ought to breed them to get them more common in captivity, at least to preserve them in captivity as a species.

[Irish]

He sure is a beauty!

[Bonesy]

Ah right, thanks. I'll let him know it's a red bellied for sure.

Yeah, he's been thinking of lowering his cockateil breeding for a larger parrot type bird, as he does ring necks also. So I'm going to speak with him more in depth about breeding this red bellied when he drops him down on the first of July.

I think he's pretty sure it's male. It may have already been DNA tested thinking about it, as his previous owners took him for yearly vet checks.

Hopefully I can train him to be more sociable towards people and he can be bred over spring/summer and put in over winter, as I read they can have a fair few clutches of eggs if they do breed but fair badly in low temperatures, so in English weather he's going to be better indoors.

Will keep updated on if he does get to breed or not, it would be great if he could! I suppose it's just finding the female now!