Biff – Welcome to BNN, The Bird News Network. Give us 10 minutes and we’ll give you Feathers! I’m Biff Bluefeathers and today we have Reka and Freeman with us. Now it says here that Reka you’re a Female Greenwing Macaw 9 years old and Freeman you’re a 13 year old Male Blue and Gold Macaw.  Why not say "hi" and tell us a bit about yourselves.

Freeman – Yo yo...Freeman in the...

Reka –  STOP!  Where are your manners? Ladies first...Hello Biff, happy to be here. Our species originally came from South America, but I was actually born here. I have the privilege to say that we Greenwings are the second largest Macaws in the world, but being the lady that I am, I weigh a slim 1190 grams (that’s 2.6 pounds) although most of my kind weigh more. We do however grow to be about 26 to 37 inches in length and have a 41 to 49 inch wingspan, and let me tell you, that takes a lot of flapping to get some exercise. We are very even tempered.

<CRUNCH...CRUNCH...CRUNCH>

Biff – What is that???

Freeman – That’s me, just enjoying some walnuts while I wait, I get bored easily just sitting here

Biff – Ok Freeman, well why don’t you tell us about yourself

Freeman – Well, lets see...what can I say? I’m a Blue and Gold, and very popular...

Reka – And very full of yourself too, hehe

Freeman – HEY NOW! I’m telling this story...as I was saying, we Blue and Golds, or B&Gs for short, are a popular bird, due to us being lively, intelligent, affectionate and even-tempered. We’re not as big as Reka’s species. We only average 34 inches (86cm) in length and I only weigh 1090grams (2.4 pounds) or at least that what the lady in white coat told our humans, but we love people and we LOVE to play and chew. I love to sing too, I do this great rendition of...

Reka – Uhhh, not now Freeman. He likes to scream sometimes, as do I. We just need to express ourselves! It gets a little loud, but our humans don’t mind most of the times. Sometimes you just need to sing!

Biff - So you said you like humans; that’s good. You do need some of those around to get things for you. What happened to you if you don’t mind me asking?

Freeman – Yeah the feather thing right? We, being social birds, like to be around the "happenings" of the house. Previously, we were kinda cage bound, and Reka got a bit bored and decided to pull some feathers until she wasn’t bored anymore. Well, that and the stress of the furry things that used to try to get us (dogs I think) she kept going until she didn’t have any more. I figured "ehh, why not?" and I tried it. It’s not fun, but it passed the time

Reka - Yup, and now look at me, going topless. Ugghh...kinda breezy but no one notices really. Our humans keep calling us "pretty birds" and getting all mushy now, but they seem to get it. They make sure that we’re getting the lifestyle we need: fresh veggies, baths, nuts, LOTS of wood for our trees (so we don’t touch the chairs) and lots of toys to play with.

Freeman – Don’t forget the snacks! Gotta have snacks, maybe some pop-tarts, mini-wheat, fruit...you know we love apples and apricots. Oh, and don’t forget swinging and flight practice too. We need to be with and around people or we get kind of cranky, or we can get a bit nippy, or we’re just having an off day. Did I mention that we love to play? My favorite game is to make different sounds by dropping stuff on the floor. Or the dog, we’ve got that one trained! She’ll wait for our leftovers to clean up!

Reka – Our house needs to be quite spacious too, luckily we just got a new one, this one is nice, we get to be together now, which is good cause I get to keep a closer eye on Freeman. It’s a learning experience for us both. We’re learning how to share all over again. But for all the extensive care and space, we give lots of love in return for a long time since we can live to be 70 years old.

Biff – Well, that’s all the time we have for now, good luck to both of you, we hope it works out and you have a good time with your new humans.

The Alaska Bird Club • P.O. Box 101825 • Anchorage AK 99510
akbirdclub@yahoo.com