This amazing bird came into my life about 4 years ago. He was 11 months old and so full of life and potential. He was everything that you would expect from a blue and gold Macaw, and so much more. He was bred and raised by a wonderful experienced breeder under the guidance of the best bird Vet in Australia. Fed on all the right foods, given all the attention and mind stimulation he required, and handled exactly how a Macaw should be. He was... perfect.Diego and I didn't have the best start.... All of which was my fault. He was great. He was accepting, non-judging and looking for love, attention and someone to bond with. I, on the other hand, saw a 1kg bird with a HUGE beak and potential to remove my finger. I was later informed he would be more likely to crush my finger into an unrecognisable mess than to remove it. Surprisingly I didn't find this to be comforting at all! I guess the difference between us was that Diego trusted me not to hurt him and I didn't trust him not to hurt me.
After a week of playing with him from the safety of outside the bars of his cage, I became brave enough to handle him. (Read: he forced himself upon me by flying a lap around the shop and landing on me). He didn't know how to "step-up" or any basic training, but he knew to be gentle and he knew how to make us laugh. In the first week, he learnt how to wave, hold hands and swear. Yep, I was a proud mum! He loved the reaction people gave when he dropped the "f" bomb. I must admit, I also loved the shock value of his antics. Diego spent hours talking to people, watching them, playing with his toys, flying around stealing things and dropping them from the roof. If you were unlucky, or in his bad books, you would have something dropped on your head. He had an uncanny knack to line up people he didn't like and drop a "bomb" on them. I'm sure you can imagine the size of the "bomb" a 1kg bird would drop... And saying, "it's good luck" never made it any less humiliating for those who were... blessed.
Slowly but surely, we developed a unique relationship. Diego was eager to please, when it suited him or the reward was worth it... Stubborn little man that he was! He loved rolling onto his back and having his tummy tickled. This trick was a huge hit with the members of his fan club. He also loved being kissed on his head and having raspberries blown on his featherless cheeks. He would try and imitate the kissing noise and shove his head in my face if he wasn't getting enough attention. The noise of blowing raspberries was fascinating to him. He couldn't copy it. He seemed to love the combination of the sensation on his cheek and the sound. He would reply with a high pitched "ohhhHHH"" everytime I did it to him. He used to study my lips to learn how to repeat this noise, I would end up laughing at his attempts and he would get upset and stop trying.
My favourite trick Diego did, no one can take credit for teaching him. He actually taught us. If Diego had no one around him and he thought it was time for some attention, he would hang upside down in his cage and squeal at the top of his lungs, "HELP!" This would send numerous people running to help him, thinking he was stuck. Of course, this rewarded his behaviour and because it was so cute, no one minded. In fact we were all always so relieved that he was fine that we would cuddle him, kiss him and play games with him. This of course was EXACTLY what Diego wanted. The bird with the intelligence of a two year old had out smarted and trained a team of animal experts.
Unfortunately, allowing Diego the freedom of full flight had risks. After flying into windows not once, not twice but three times, the vet finally agreed for his own safety, wing clipping was the best solution. We had decided that when his wing feathers grew back we would give him another chance. This was the biggest mistake we would make.... For five long days we searched, calling his name throughout the extended neighbourhood (undoubtingly annoying everyone within a 10km radius), putting up signs, ringing everyone we knew that might be able to help, hoping, praying, wishing... Diego was returned in very poor condition. It appeared that he was starved and injured. He was immediately rushed off to Brisbane Bird Vet. With the magical touch of BBV, a whole lot of love and support, Diego managed to pull through. He was returned home to be re-habilitated. We thought we were the luckiest people in the world. We thought we had a second chance... Little did we know we were merely bought some time to say good-bye.
Diego was ill for quite some time. He was under constant care by the team at BBV. They were running test after test to try and find out what was wrong with him. He was displaying neurological symptoms and it was suspected that he may have picked up a rare and fatal disease (PDD) from a wild bird or possibly had a tumour or cyst on his brain. We were slowly working out what was wrong with him by eliminating what wasn't wrong with him. Unfortunately Diego continued to decline. He lost his swallow reflex and was being spoon fed hand rearing mix to keep him alive. At this point the decision was made to do an MRI on his brain. Although there isn't a vet in Australia who could read the results of an MRI of a Macaw's brain, Diego's ever caring Vet was communicating with international Vets to make sure this wasn't a problem.
I spent hours trying to comfort Diego. By this stage he was unable to open his eyes or even stand. He didn't immediately know who I was. It took a good hour for him to settle in my arms with his head resting in my hand. I sat on the floor with him like this, gently stroking his back and talking to him. He was being medicated with strong pain killers and antibiotics but nothing seemed to be helping our amazing little man. This was the first time I realised that Diego was giving up his battle. On Wednesday the 29th of September 2010, Diego was taken to have his MRI done. Depite the best efforts of Adrian and the BBV team, despite the fact that he was surrounded by love and hope, despite the fact we (selfishly) wanted him to make it through so very much, Diego never woke up. At the baby age of 3 years old, Diego got his angel wings.
Diego has been sorely missed by all those who knew him. His death hit us all hard, including the beautiful team at BBV who treated him with respect and loved him as much as we did. He will always be remembered as the cheeky, fun loving, mischief maker that he was.
Jessie
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