History

Egyptians are the said to be the first culture to keep birds as pets, specifically pigeons. But Alexander the Great (who had an extravagent aviary with many exotic birds) gets most of the credit for birds becoming popular mainstream pets for the wealthy.

Later, birds from the West Indies were captured and traded by many different countries. Awhile ago I read a story about a sea captain that made quite a bit of money just bringing wild captured goldfinches back to Britain. It's not surprising if you think about it!

In the United States, domestically kept pet birds was popularized in the 1950's with budgies/parakeets. With each year after, the industry has grown. In the beginning of the US bird market, wild birds were captured and brought to the US for pets. Unfortunately a lot of the methods used to capture these birds was less than humane. Not to mention the stress it can cause a bird to be snatched from their wild home and brought to a unknown place. And we're not even scratching the surface of nutrition here. We've learned so much over the years on parrot diets that it's hard to believe what they used to feed some species! All of this put together made the wild caught birds undesirable pets.

Breeders eventually saw the advantages in breeding birds where they could eliminate some "wild" behaviors. Bird owners took to the domestically hand raised birds and they have now replaced the wild caught birds.

In the 1990's a law was passed that made it illegal to import wild caught birds. There is also an extensive Endangered Species list to protect many species of parrots. There are some really great breeding programs for the endangered birds that will hopefully bring them back from the brink of extinction.

Macaws natural habitat is Central & South America. They are found in the rain forests and other tropical areas. They feed on plants that produce fruit & nuts year round.

Blue & Gold macaws originate from Panama to Brazil. Scarlets originate from southern Mexico to South America. Green Wings originate from Panama to North Argentina. Red Fronts originate from Bolivia. Military macaws originate from southern Mexico to Columbia & Venezuela.