The Parrot Pair
These two new Best Friends parrots may look like they’ve been modeling for Fruit Loops boxes. But actually, their lives haven’t been nearly that glamorous. In fact, they had a long, sad journey before reaching their final safe landing here at the sanctuary.
Maggie and Rainbow are macaws who started from different situations. Maggie was raised to be a pet, while Rainbow was a working bird in Las Vegas, entertaining hotel visitors. But those Las Vegas gigs never last too long! So both Rainbow and Maggie wound up in the care of a breeder who hoped they’d lay a very valuable egg for him. But macaws are choosy about their mates, and the two never came to love each other "in that way". So no baby scarlet macaws for that breeder! Frustrated, he locked them up in a small shed and left them there for six long years.
A woman visited one day and thought she heard or sensed something coming from that shed. When she discovered the outcast macaws, she asked if she could give them a better life. It cost her $1,500, but he did let her have them.
Unfortunately, their social skills weren’t up to snuff at this point. After being locked up with him for six years, Maggie was constantly plucking out Rainbow’s feathers, and neither of them were any too snuggly with their rescuer. So she asked Best Friends to take the slightly unsociable pair into the new, light-filled Feathered Friends building. And there was a space!
Maggie and Rainbow are now at Best Friends, and at first they were enjoying a little time apart. After years in that shed, they were a little sick of each other, and Rainbow’s feathers needed to grow back! But one day, when they were both hanging out in an open room at Feathered Friends, they toddled over and began to groom one another. It seemed they were ready to get back together! Now, there’s no more feather plucking. And best of all, we’ve made them the Best Friends promise that nothing bad will ever happen to them again.
By Elizabeth Doyle
Read about another parrot named Gregory who plucks his feathers.
