Some animals are real treasures and Marteen, my Orange-winged Amazon, was one of them. He lived to a ripe old age of 59 and died in my arms, how precious is that?!

Marteen was not the easiest companion to care for. Like all parrots, he was plenty messy and he had his grouchy moments; and once he even grabbed a sizable chunk of flesh out of my lower lip trying to prevent my cat, Chessie, from getting up on the couch with me.

But most of all he was a great whistler and a wonderful companion and a talker when he felt like it. Orange-wings are not particularly noted for their talking abilities. When the telephone rang he always said "HELLO" in a deep voice after the first ring. When he was bad and I was scolding him momentarily he would say "Hello, Ellen" in a plaintive, funny, cutsy way, such that it was hard to stay mad at him for long. I will never forget his softly cooing "NO-oooooooooo" back to me whenever I said "No" to him.

He actually knew quite a few words but what he most liked to do was mimic my laugh; he loved to say "ha ha ha ha ha" and would insert all the requesite intonations just I as would...leaving everyone else laughing along with him. What a card!

When he wanted my attention he would drop things and bag things around his cage, or throw his seed around (of course). Or he would climb around the top of his cage and onto a thick rope that I had strung from his cage all the way across the kitchen: once above me, he would then hang upside down by one foot and spew CAT CALLS galore until I came running.

He LOVED it when the cooking started. He always waited for those 'taste treats' as things progressed. In the morning, every morning, I created a platter of diverse fresh vegetables and fruits for him and then sprinkled his favorite nuts on top for zest. He was a wonderful and appreciative eater!

He lived in my kitchen most of the time because he had so many windows and play things in there; but he also had a perch near my desk and another one in the livingroom and even one in my bedroom during the cooler months of the year. He was definitely in the middle of everything...all of the time.

Was he a happy guy? You bet. And he showed it. Marteen loved me dearly and he traveled willingly with me wherever I went, even to on a road trip from Virginia to Florida, and another from Florida to East Tennessee! I would put him in his traveling cage in the passenger seat of my Mazda and off we would go – he'd hang from one foot and whistle along with the radio and in general treated passing cars to some fun antics. Why, I even took Marteen out in a canoe a few times on Florida's lovely Rainbow River! He and that travel case went almost anywhere.

As he grew older I elected not to clip his wings, as I wanted him to have a way to land easily if he slipped and fell off his cage...which he did occasionally. He weighed one full pound so a jarring fall from a tall cage would not have been good!

I gave him showers at least weekly, which he greatly enjoyed. I would put him in the kitchen sink and open one wing at a time and point the hand-shower under the wing and around his lower body, then switch to the other side, and to his feet. The color of his feathers really deepened from these warm, gentle showers. But BEWARE: I was always careful to keep water away from his ear openings and his eyes and nostils.

Marteen's Diet

I have gotten lots of emails over the years from folks about what to feed their Orange-winged Amazon other than seed. Here is what I always tell them:

A variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, the deeper the color the better

A variety of fresh nuts

Enriched and vitamin-fortified (fresh) seed, not the dime-store type; and not birdseed exclusively. Also, beware of fattening seeds like sunflower seeds. The seed should actually comprise no more than 1/3 of the avian diet. The rest should be made up of fresh things and also of a dry natural maintenance diet like ZUPREME or Harrison's dry high potency maintenance diets. You can get these natural diet formulations for all kinds of birds, not just parrots; and be sure to do so!

I sprinkled the maintence food on fresh greens and fruits, and also put it into a separate food bowl, often first – a few hours before I put the seeds out.

And don't forget: birds need fresh water at least twice a day!

I also gave Marteen many different little taste treats to keep him interested; for example, he loved a bit of cheese now and then, even a chicken or beef bone that he could chew the marrow out of. [I never gave him bones without being present to supervise things, plus it was just fun to watch him go at it!] He loved a taste of something warm from my own dinner plate if I thought it wouldn't hurt him.

Brown rice is especially good for birds, so I kept some cooked rice in the refrigerator at all times. I mixed fresh vegetables into the brown rice and some times I even added a little chicken broth (or maybe gravy) for flavor. I ALWAYS heated it up in the microwave for about 20-seconds before serving the rice casserole to him.

Marteen's Chest of Toys

I got a real kick out of finding just the right toys for Marteen to play with. He loved to chew, so any toys have to be bird-proof. Parrots need a wide variety of interesting jingles and jangles and wood blocks and whatevers...enjoy the hunt with your bird! Whenever I was in Florida I always gathered up those extra large pine cones and dried them for several months in a bag, and then hung them up in Marteen's cage using plastic tie-downs.

The trick is to hang toys so that your bird doesn't poop on them!

Marteen loved mirrors, too, as he was an ONLY bird and this 'friend' was someone he commmiserated with when I was not at home to play with him.

He also always had big [rope] perches that gave him plenty of fun 'hanging' time, plus they didn't give him foot sores like other perches can do.

Oh, yes, I had to clip Marteen's toenails every so often but that was not so bad...I rolled him in a big white towel (the same one every time) with his head sticking out one end and his feet the other, which worked just fine. I used heavy-duty dog nail clippers, always careful to do it often enough so that I didn't hit the quick which would then bleed profusely. The more often you clip the better, as it causes the quick to shrink over time. Long nails made maneuvering around a cage difficult for him.

Alas, my Amazon friend died of old age finally and I surely mourn his loss.

Marteen died on May 2, 2008, just 2-months shy of his 60th birthday. Read this tribute to him by Dr. Ellen

Because of Marteen's advanced age I had an autopsy done at the University of Tennessee Veterinary Teaching Hospital. I am happy to share the results with avian specialists and breeders if you will just email me for a .pdf copy of this 2-page report.

Things Marteen Would Like You to Know

 

01- As with us humans, diet is extremely important in a parrot's overall health and longevity.

02- So, too, is the proper amount and quality of daylight in their lives. Read this important article on Lighting and Your Bird by Patrick R. Thrush.

03- Do not buy a parrot (or any animal, for that matter) if you don't expect to have it for its natural lifetime. I know, things happen...but too often people get a parrot 'for fun' and then give it away when the fun is over and the messes have to be cleaned up day after day after day. A PARROT IS A LIFETIME COMMITMENT. Thousands of parrots end up being moved around from home to home over the course of their lifetime, which is highly stressful and also produces an unruly and unhappy parrot in short order. So once you acquire a parrot, you will probably need to make advance arrangements for him in your Last Will and Testament. That's how I got Marteen; my friend, AV Symington, got Marteen when he was a juvenile (around 1948-49) from Bogata, Columbia. She knew that I wanted Marteen so she left him to me in her will when she died at the age of 86.

04- Parrots will pick at their feathers around their neck when left alone too much, when they are under continual stress, when their diet is seed-based and/or otherwise unsatisfactory, when deprived of sustained sunlight, or a combination of the above. Parrots are very intelligent. They are also keen observers of their environment (and of you!) and do not let things pass unnoticed.

05- Get a parrot only from a reputable independent breeder in your local community. Do not get a bird from PetSmart or any other large chain that sells animals. These chains really should be stopped from doing that. There is also a huge problem in the U.S. and around the world related to the exotic bird trade, something you don't want to support. Learn about CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), which is an international agreement between governments. Its aim is to ensure that international trade in species of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival.

Be sure to get references for your local breeder of choice and follow-up on those references. If you don't like the breeder, don't buy a bird from him or her. Inspect the premises where the breeding activity takes place. Talk to people who have purchased birds in the past from that breeder.

Remember, too, you can always adopt an adult parrot that needs a good home. The adult adoptee will take extra tender loving care in the beginning but if you persist and are kind and caring, he (or she) will eventually come around. Visit a locally-owned avian shop and talk with them about your parrot interests...get to know them...spend time at their shop...join a local network of avian enthusiasts...THIS IS THE BEST WAY TO ACQUIRE AN ADULT COMPANION PARROT THAT WILL BRING JOY TO YOU FOR ITS LIFETIME. Whatever you do, don't buy a parrot on a whim.

06- Find a veterinarian who is a board-certified Avian Specialist. No one else will do. Specialists are more expensive but also far more knowledgeable about Exotics than a regular vet will ever be. Be sure to take your parrot in for annual checkups at the very least.

07- The larger the bird cage for your parrot, the better. Small cages are claustrophobic and many cages on the market are dreary and quite hard to keep clean. HQ CAGES are excellent for parrots and have many nice features for ease of cleaning, plus the bars are substantial and easy on the feet for climbing. Find a place in your house where your parrot can be a part of the family and then spend plenty of time with him. Keep your bird in the middle of things, not closed off in some back room. They love to be by windows, on porches, in the kitchen, wherever the action is, and they even like to walk around on the floor....anywhere, that is, except in constant drafts. Drafts can kill.

08- Read about your parrot and how to best care for him. Here is a reading list from AMAZON.COM to get you started.

09- Amazons can bite mightily, so always be careful. Even after all these years I was respectful of Marteen's beak and therefore moved him around on a 1.5 inch round wooden dowel that I had cut to about 18 inches long. He stepped up and down from this dowel readily, and it prevented possible bites by not letting him get too close to my face. It also allowed other caretakers (in my absence) to do the same.

Amazons are very territorial around their food which is a big part of their life. Bites can occur around feeding times, or when they are fearful or made suddenly anxious by some change in their environment. They can also be quite protective, even jealous which can result in highly unpredictable and at times aggressive behavior.

10- I played music for Marteen all the time. He loved music and learned to whistle and sing (in his own way) along with the music. In fact, I have a collection of about 15 children's sing-along CD-ROMs which I played just for him...he recognized all of them and sang loudly along with them...oh, you know, mostly toots and whistles but it was his kind of singing...and he loved it, flapping wings and all. His favorite was MICHAEL ROW YOUR BOAT ASHORE . I sang three verses to him every single night while he raced to meet me at the door of his cage to sing-along. After that he was ready to be covered for the night.

11- You can really only sex a bird through a DNA sample. It is otherwise extremely difficult to determine whether a bird is male or female based on its behavior or appearance alone. Some people would like to tell you this is possible but it isn't. Marteen was sexed and he was, indeed, a male. But the owner of my local Avian shop was sure that [he] was a [she] because Marteen was so adaptable at such an advanced age. Barbara clipped Marteens nails and sent those clippings off for DNA sampling. Easy! That's all there is to it.

12- Finally, Marteen hopes that you will treat his cousins well. Report any local cases of abuse and follow-up on them. Make sure that the bird involved is rescued and finds a better life elsewhere. It is the right thing to do.

Far too many parrots languish in unhappy circumstances for their entire lives. This wouldn't happen if owners knew what they were getting into upfront and re-arranged their lives to accommodate this truly remarkable being.

If you don't know where to go for help, contact your State Veterinarian's Office.