Lovebird Macaws in Parrot Garden at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary

Recorded LIVE from Parrot Garden at our Sanctuary in southern Utah, chatting with some of our caregivers about our very special feathered friends! LaQuita & Kaimi have been together all their lives. *recorded live

Video Script:: 

hi thank you for joining us today on our live stream here at the pear garden I'm Ellie I'm one of the main caregivers here at the pear garden I'm here with some of my two good friends kind a me and laquida uh laQuita is the one who's preening hyemi he's a blue and gold macaw and his me is kaity me she's a green macaw so these guys came in together as a bonded pair so these guys are actually monogamous they'll be together their whole life and they love each other very very much I hope to one day also love someone as much as they love each other when alec Lita's favorite thing to do is help creme kaity me so that means he kind of helps like comb her hair he makes sure she looks good that the oils are spreading around that she's nice and healthy beautiful feathers a little bit of a naked chicken that's what we call these guys when they maybe don't have all of their feathers that can happen for a lot of different reasons in general we say is because of captivity these guys are still wild animals but not domesticated or anything like that so when these guys are in captivity is very easy for something to not be quite perfect so it could be a lot of stress happen at some play in his life it could be a bad tie it it could be a medical issue but something caused him to start plucking his feathers out and if that behavior isn't stopped right away or if we don't really know for sure why why is happening it can kind of turn into a compulsive behavior so even though he's very very happy here he's probably our happiest bird that we have here at the sanctuary um then he can still click his feathers and he actually is so into plucking and getting those feathers that you can actually see kind of ears kind of is telling us that we're little too close right now because it is mating season so mating seasons in the springtime and that means that these guys are extra hormonal and we all know how fun hormones are you know we go through puberty and these guys go through puberty just like that and during springtime there these are telling them let's have a baby let's make a family I'm and when that happens they just want to be with each other they want to make nests they just want to create each other and do all that really cute you know kind of married couple stuff and so when we're in their space Kayani will tell me hey this is my boyfriend right here you need just take a step back and just pay attention to me which we always respect when birds are telling us that if birds are not filling it they're too close if they're not having a good time we read their body language and we always take a step back and make sure the birds are comfortable that's our first priority that birds are having a good time here I'm just gonna you have a happy bird you have a happy b q have a happy person and you usually have that they're happy which we love um so birds end up in rescues and sanctuaries for three big reasons the first one being their long life ie me here's about 40 years old which makes sounds really old but she only has another 40 years most macaws can live 80 plus years if they have good diet as they have lots of sunshine lots of enrichment on some mental stimulation and look the guy's a little younger um he's a little bit just kind of cuckoos man he's about 35 or so it's for most birds you can't actually tell the age unless you know they're hatch days there's no sign they don't get white like dogs do or maybe they're they don't have teeth that can kind of tell us that they're older and young so if the people who surrender them or rescues that we might get them from don't know their age and that sometimes it's a guessing game can say oh it's an adult's they've reached puberty and they are healthy but we do know for sure these guys their owners love them very very much and sadly they could no longer take care of them after a very very long time having them so they came to us about ten years ago I think everyone here at the para garden if you ask us what's the one bird you could take home if you could I think we'd all say Canadian laquida because we don't separate bonded pairs these guys do have to be adopted together but they're probably one of our most low-maintenance well-adjusted well socialized well trained funniest birds you could have tiny me here loves having dance parties it's the only way people here at the pear garden stay in shape really we like to go into the McCallum and we play some some fast p beat music and we like to go and some kind you will go yeah does she ever do that when I say that they do this no these guys do can mimic can't talk Can Dance can do a lot of things do they do it when we have on tears and adopters and people watching no they don't they immediately come completely still but that is okay these guys are very very smart they have intelligence of a three to five year old and so the a lotta stimulation but because they are so smart it means that they need to really be able to get to know you most parents are not once ever they gotta learn to trust you in like you're a safe person what what are you growling about the other two reasons that parents end up in rescues are the one is the screaming these guys right now but these guys really really loud if we're not fast enough giving them breakfast or their treats or anything like that they will not us you know to the point where we actually have earplugs all-around parrot garden if we need to pop them in our ears so if you ever come and visit us here and you say hi and I don't hear you it's not you it's me thing and I just can't hear anymore the third reason these guys end up in rescues and sanctuary is because of that big beak and that big bite because these guys are wild animals they're not domesticated or anything they still have all their wild instincts so even if you have a great relationship with your bird if something scares them or it's hormone season and that you're not paying attention to their body language even if it's like because it can be really subtle sometimes they will let you know by petting you and because this peak is really big so me and you have a bite pressure about 150 um a green winged macaw here starting by pressure is 500 and more than 2000 by airship really per inches so I'm gonna give them a tree and I can kind of show you so I know when I try to open a walnut I usually have to hit it pretty hard with a hammer to get a good day we will see what kind you need us here's that for you I dare you oh wow oh that's a good job so you can see a side of it I've ever hit if they ever get me or anyone else or even on their cages and they can do a lot of damage and some of these days is just really important to be able to know their body language and truly listen to them so they're gonna eat this for sorry I like Peter makes this black you're quite a bit he is a very very good way a very smart boy in the best kind of way and he is one that sometimes you have to have some help with things we're gonna give him a few more minutes he's gonna get it uh Kayani here might have to help them in a little bit while she finishes eating her walnuts so nuts are a really high value treat everyday or anything because while they could eat nuts all the time and though in captivity they tend to not fly around again as much exercise as they might in the wild and nuts actually really I mean they have lots of fats and calories so again if you're flying 50-plus miles a day they totally it can be ten of these a day and be fine but if you're in captivity and you maybe you don't like thirty miles a day one walnut can have quite an impact so they have ten a day then you can get more that's actually obese and have some little body baggage which is just fine but we do get a lot of birds that have got come to us on a bad diet or a diets that have a lot of nuts and seeds and again while those are okay every once in a while or as treats as an everyday diet kind of like me eating cake I would not look very good if I every single day even if I love it so as someone who's responsible from these guys it is our job to make sure they do have the best diet that they can get in custody absolutely a good mismatch of high quality pallets that have all the vitamins and nutrients and heat and they also get chopped it's like a big birdy salad here at the carrot garden you make chopped that has more than 15 3 types in it so every bird has a little something they like so some birds love corn some birds like broccoli some like spinach or peppers and so we chop it up really really small and you give it to them about three times a week sometimes a little more and they love it and they eat it really good so some birds like eating their fruits and veggies and those are really high just value treats for them as well and so a way to make sure that these guys are constantly using their mind which is really important for birds in captivity so we made corgi an enrichment toys one of our easiest one that we have is called a baffle cage so this is what it looks like so we're able to fill this up with newspaper we have hogni pods you have little plastic bag and in this newspaper are also able to put treats as well so not only will just keep them busy maybe stay a half at busy because that happy beak so they'll be busy tearing out all that genius paper maybe they'll get a little bugger and that is enriching so just like us like in dogs licking something it releases endorphins and like happy feelings and hormones so just kind of biting it forward you can using that beat makes them very happy and so this is a very basic very easy thing to do for your bird to have the lot of birds this is the first step we take for birds for foraging it's really easy I could put an almond right there and that bird will know boom I get that almond that's super fun um that's why if you get a little harder we have these right this is a foraging 1 let's see yes she'll be into it just me all that woman I don't know if she'll really care for this but in this right able to put a newspaper and this cardboard with also not some stuff in there and if they're interested in it what do you think Lolita do you want to try it see you got it both where is it see he knows this game he knows somewhere in here it's probably gonna be gonna oh good job laQuita that was so good and so when we give them into this this way they do have to work for it again it makes their big work it makes their mind work and a mixer feet work and so they always have a good time with these and you can make them harder and harder I could wrap this up in something and the rest add up in something to the point where they have to spend a good 15 plus minutes unwrapping something to get their trade day like some birds are very very smart hyemi is one of them we totally believe here that kami chooses to be in her sleep area at night and we have put her in a sleep area where she did not really care for it and took the door off of it um and was on her boyfriend's by morning and so she loves these little screwdrivers and little washes that she can actually use her time to undo all of these so birds are really cool parents are really cool that they actually have a loan in their time so that is kind of like a thumb for them that's how they're able to get out of everything that's how they're able to climb things right Amy yeah yeah Lizzie I know I might begin to close sweet red yeah will you try that side no no I just want to destroy things right now which is fine and that's what we have toys like this if you roll them it has lots of lots of wood fit and lots of coconut bits things that they can really put their beak to and that helps keep their beak nice and sharp and in wealth form so these guys are inter central air aviary right now this is this big space that were in is a lot during the wintertime or when it's too cold for these guys to go outside because they are tropical animals so they're found in tropical subtropical areas from like South America to Costa Rica to Africa India Australia so all those places were really hot and humid it doesn't get very cold here in Utah but we are in a desert it does get cold here I think it's about a 55 degree high today which is a little too cold especially for this because I have all his feathers to keep him warm so we're able to use the central aviary as a place for enrichment and exercise we're able to use this place when a doctor's come they're able to meet birds here it's a very neutral area for them to meet and start bonding and seeing how a bird would interact with them and a place outside of a cage so these guys love being in here again because luckily that is naked he these two tend to go in here more so than others even during the summer time but as a very brisk breeze or anything like that these guys do he is not able to go out and he is able to tell this he tells us this way too cold for him so we bring them in here and they love it in here and then after they go back into their sleep areas we get to come and be in this room and clean up all the toys are they destroyed they pooped and it's awesome so these guys again are adoptable if you guys are interested in birds who are pretty low maintenance bonnet hairs are can be really good for people who don't have that full amount of time of every single day bonding and having that bird out and about with them and giving them that socialization they need because parrots are very very social creatures they live in huge Fox some live in 10 plus 20 plus 30 plus Fox they do need a lot of needs inside of a home so if you're a person that likes a lots of vacations or likes to go out after work sometimes a bonded pair like these two who can a lot of the socialization with each other is a great option for you again even though these guys do will always prefer each other they love building relationships with people having dance parties hanging house one of my favorite things to do with these two wonderful birds is close all the doors and let kayani Lolita walk the halls laQuita loves to do a good luck oh hello at every single door I always know when he's I kind of figured out how to get to the bottom I love around me getting into everything and Carini is one she knows how cute she is and just how much we all love her so she's kind of our number one little star here a lot of times we have photo shoots and stuff like this she loves the attention she'll say hello oh well until people go over and hang out with her and say hi and she kind of poses so three nice so high um but here at the para garden we have a lot of different species of parrots there's more than 350 species of parrots so they have everything from your smaller little cockatiels and parakeets of what you are going to usually find in pet stores to your big guys like hi Amy who's the biggest bird behalf here she's about 1,300 so 1,300 grams which evens out about 2 pounds so even though she's a really big girl that is so pretty like for most of us you know most puppies are about 2 pounds there are some species of birds bigger than her but not very many the first a hyacinth macaw which you don't really find in captivity um and then we have everything in between we have lots of Amaz0n's here we have lots of cockatoos we're going to talk about cockroaches really quick because one cockroaches are some of my favorite birds here packages are also ones that are the most rendered parrot in the US I can for the same reason size I'm cause and any other bird are but because they actually have me strongest um the loudest voice out of any parrots so me and you speak about 60 to 70 decibels the loudest person in the world is about 118 decibels military jet light 140 and Kakadu can hang on hundred thirty-five so it's really really really really loud um and so what's one of the reasons why we don't only have one in here with us right now because we look more than one person is in here and interacting with them they get really really really really really excited they're kind of like a little kid on sugar rush and when that happens they like to screw him right now I have you looking at me like you're really weird I don't know why you're doing that but that's okay so we're people always work out parrots because you know no one judges you if you talk to yourself here because you're like oh I'm just talking to a parent don't worry about it or the Perry's talking to me um and so if you guys are late for packages we do have a lot of cockatoos here ready to find their forever homes they are very big very loud guys and they're ones that you got to know kind of how to read their body language but if you develop a really good relationship with them they can be from the best companion animals you can have do you want to talk about laquida and the fact that he's not necessarily cold with his shaking cuz yeah so birds are actually really funny and a lot of people don't realize and they kind of low-key shiver these guys are really really layer of skin and so when their heart beats and we breathe when their blood moves that actually will show on the house Heather skin so we do get a lot of questions when people come we've never really been by Birds I'm stealing PETA and be like oh he's cold and I he's not I promise you he is totally happy totally content when he is cold he will get kind of really big all the feathers he has will come up and he'll kind of scrunch up together and he'll do kinda is really big full full body shivers so right now this is actually something all birds do and but for the most part because most people see fully feather first like ie me here you can't really see that sugar all the time right laquida yeah we do in what she doing pretty boy are you just getting all those trees he is very funny he's won them all so kind of food driven birds and is d-19 attention to you it's you know um so one of the things that kind me loves for Lolita to do is cream what she saw earlier so breeding is just a way to say kind of grooming themselves but something that creamy me will do about what quita will do for kinda me that I would never do to a burn is that he will breed her whole body so just like dogs and cats that we have in our home it's very natural for us so when I give them cuddles kind of full-body pets we go back down their back and all that and they love it well if we try that with a bird it's actually uh signifying to the bird that we want to mate with them and that we'd be great mates and that we should be together forever expects 180 plus years you usually have a husband or wife we have kids we actually turn out to be really honorable needs because we don't do everything with them we usually have jobs we have other things to do and so we get birds coming in that they're people used to have them and say my bird is attacking my wife and I can't no I can't no longer out of effort and we ask well what was your relationship with with the bird and they said well it loves tickles under the wings and on its back and they're like okay so you're telling this bird that you want to meet with it and then you got you're not very good meat and then the fur gets really really mad not only are you not good me you're not feeding them you're not printing her body you're not with her all the time but also you have this other girl other side chick with you that's not cool with them these guys are one and done that we do so they can't start become very possessive of you and can start having one person be the favorite and not really like anyone else so it's a very big stereotype for parents that they are one person bird only and well that was true for some of them as they've been in a home that they did were not socialized and worked with other people and someone had made bond into them and so while me funny might not seem super horrible to some people especially if you live with them by yourself but we have to realize that meat bonding can cause a lot of behavior issues screaming and not biting which I brought up earlier really come out a lot when you are mate bonded to a bird during springtime it gets a lot worse so scream when they scream on the screen because guess what it's mating season and there's no commitment there and when they're frustrated and they're saying hey why aren't we having a baby together and you're oh don't give them all the attention they want or they start screaming more so you try to ignore them you don't see them as much as spent as much time with them that means they can bite you and a lot of times again with this but this bite force they bite you once that with most people that kind of loses the trust you had with your bird and so while these guys did nothing wrong these again are so wild animals and everything laid it's completely normal makes complete sense to them to us we're like I had a sprint for ten years and I've been able to do cuddling it and pet it all over its body and it's been so sweet to everyone and all that bird reach puberty and it's telling you hey I'm not cool or what you're doing with me is not gonna make me very happy and so a lot of people tend to surrender their birds during the springtime it's the number one like most popular surrounding time of the year with that being said right now we all know that life is kind of beating a little weird right now we're kind of taking every day step each day so just reach out to your local pararescue or sanctuary because again they are still getting those calls to surrender birds and all that so if you can help them that would be great and they're ones that sub can get overlooked a little and and most the times are run by people out of their houses who just helped with such a great love and passion we're very very very lucky here at the pear garden to be part of best friends and to have such great sponsors and donors and people who care about these animals with all of their heart and they're the ones that really make a difference for these guys we're about ready to finish having a building be finished this building is super awesome because it's an aviary building and that means birds who don't do well in a cage or neglect something happened in their life even a Cajun beat by lots of people are now very stressed very unhappy and so we're very very lucky that were able on this big ad areas about the size of the satellite area that were able to put birds in together birds fly around talking bird you know language and have a great time make those mate bonds and be together that whole time and so again we want to thank our donors able to help us with that we would not be able to have those buildings and take more birds in hoping in the next few months we can get more than 50 plus birds right now we have about 95 birds actually like we had 18 birds adopted today what were they they were all parakeets but that doesn't matter because parakeets are awesome they doable and we love them and we're so excited they went to an awesome place that had a big aviary - woman in st. George who we love dearly and these guys are gonna have the best like liquor and so I think yesterday we started the day out with 95 and what that puts down that like 78 so we were super super happy and again in the next coming weeks we will be getting more and more birds in there will be a need for more and animals to be rescued in the next coming time we know how hard this time is for everyone so we want to make sure we are and reaching out to our local animal shelters and rescues and people that really need our help right now that might just be getting overlooked thank you guys so much for coming I'm tomorrow we will have another live stream and it's going to be at the dog town at two o'clock so please come back on Facebook and I know we are doing social distancing we're not doing social we're doing physical distancing so please come join us socialize with us ask us anything you'd like you can we have a Facebook page here I had the Paragard and called Best Friends Animal Society sanctuary and pair of garden you have any questions anything about that feel free to contact us on there if you're interested in adopting any of our birds or any of our animals you can go on to best friends org and put an application we'd love to contact you to find a forever animal for you thank you guys