On 07-3095, AUDRA MCMASTER wrote to ALL:
 AM> I'm looking into buying a Green Wing Macaw. He is 12 years old.
 AM> ... My question is: if he has
 AM> been with one owner for 12 years can he be trained and have a good
 AM> trusting relationship with a different owner?
First of all I am not a bird expert, but I have read quite a bit about them 
and I do own 3 African Greys ... with that said, here is what I would expect. 
 First you said (and I didn't quote) that he was owned by a man. A 12 year 
old bird that has 'bonded'(?) to a male may have a minor adjustment to make 
to learn to be handled by you, a female.
12 years is a long time to develope habits -- and habits are hard to change.  
If this bird was a domestic hand fed baby then I would think the conversion 
is duoable, if not, you would have to be a very patient person with moxie to 
handle him.
Time and love heal most anything ... [the crowd goes ahhhhhh ... ]
 AM> She said he is suppose to be able to say " Hello and Shut up" (some
 AM> vocabulary huh). Can he still pick up words and talk?
Suspect so.  After all he still is a teen ager ... I've heard and read that 
parrots continue to learn even in advance years.  (Adrian Laidlaw -- where 
are you?)
 AM> Any helpful advise would be great.
Again, I am not an expert.  Two of my 3 birds are wild caught.  The male is 
one I would say could not be tamed.  He is very, very  wild.
As a teenager living in Wisconsin I once caught a weasel in a live trap.  My 
brother and I watched him pace back and forth in the cage for several 
minutes.   He then laided down and just panted.  We released him by dumping 
him out to the grass, left and came back an hour or so later ... found him 
dead.  My guess, he was so wild (weasels are very high strung as opposed to a 
racoon, for instance) that he could not be tamed ... rather die than be 
caged.  My Wild breeding AG has much the same nature, IMO.  Not all AGs are 
that way.  My DHF is not, by any stetech of the imagination. So why the 
weasel story?  The point is that each bird species is different as are each 
bird.  If he is not DHF, be wary.  The leg band is your clue.
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