Oscar came to me from an aviary in Florida as an unfriendly former pet. He speaks spanish and is afraid of nothing. Like most breeding male amazons, he is not to be touched, but he is a fantastic companion for Ellie, and her screaming has almost completely stopped.
Prior to Ellie coming into my life, I thought amazons were vicious biters. While their moods can certainly be volatile, I enjoy them so much I decided to keep thier first chick as my pet.
While I really enjoy amazons, they are not for everyone. They are not usually a cuddly type of bird like cockatoos and some macaws. They certainly love a good head scratch, but it is always on their terms. Instead of sitting and being petted constantly in the evening, an amazon prefers to be on a playgym near you or sitting on the couch beside you playing with toys while you watch TV. A good amazon owner is someone who can respect their birds moods, and knows when to back off and let the bird work out its frustrations on a toy. For the right person, they can be one of the least problematic species available. Very rarely do they feather pick or self mutilate, they are great at keeping themselves entertained while their owner is at work, and they don't often develop the screeming problems that cockatoos and macaws do. Even Ellie at her worst was not nearly as bad as my cockatoo and macaw are on a bad day. They are one of the most adaptable of the large parrots. While they don't tend to mimic the exact sound as well as african greys, they do talk very clearly and can develop vocabularies equal to that of most greys. When content, they can emit puffs of the most wonderful sweet smelling perfume. They usually do this when spending some special time with their owner and getting head and cheek scratches.
Do be warned, amazons can be strongly affected by hormones when puberty sets in at around 4-8 years old. Sometimes it is best to leave the bird in its cage for a few weeks until its moods settle down. And never let an amazon routinely sit on your shoulder. Most birds do settle down after a few years, or at least become more seasonal in their aggression. It is a great idea to stick train amazons when they are young and get them a really nice sized cage right from the start. Most females do not experience the aggression problems that males do. And for the right home, males can be fantastic pets. Little Chico in the picture below went to a lady that had an older male for 20 years and just had to get another one when the original bird died.
