New member — my blue and gold macaw is my world

Welcome to the forum! Great to have another bird lover from the GTA. Your blue and gold macaw sounds adorable — what's their personality like?

Hi! I'm new here but definitely not new to birds. My blue and gold macaw Pickle has been my companion for 18 months and I honestly can't imagine life without them. Just moved to Vaughan recently and looking to connect with other bird owners in the area. Happy to be here!

I struggled with this too until I started stuffing paper towel rolls with treats for foraging. Now it's like a completely different bird.

My Skittles went through a phase like this around 15 years. I was terrified but it passed. Birds are weird sometimes lol.

I've done a ton of research on this because my blue and gold macaw had the same issue. Here's what I learned: the most common cause is not enough quality sleep — they need 10-12 hours uninterrupted. What worked for us was adding a full-spectrum Arcadia UV light near the cage. I also started rotating toys weekly so they always have something "new" and noticed improvement within a week. It's a process but it gets better.