Buying a parrot, Mexican style

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Echo Bird
Famous Author

Buying a Parrot…Mexican Style

Gail E. Martin

Echo, my Scarlet hen, was hatched in Cancun, Mexico on January 29, 1995. The search to find a reputable breeder in Mexico was not at all like buying a bird here. I would like to take you on an incredible (and sometimes sad) journey.

I have always been terrified of birds; Sparrows, Crows, Robins…they all made my skin crawl. But I was TERRIFIED of parrots. That's why, when I made the momentous decision that I wanted a parrot, my husband thought I had lost my mind.

In Mexico, you can't go to a grocery store, restaurant or even church without the requisite tiny seed strewn cage, filled with a large Amazon Parrot. I had seen enough to make me want to "save" one of these poor birds.

Keep in mind that I was a "Bird Moron". I knew nothing about Psitticines. I didn't even know the names of any of the Amazons; they were just "green parrots" to me.

At the time, there was no "Bird Talk", we were not hooked up to the Internet, and there was one avian vet in the whole Yucatan peninsula (I found this out much later). There were no resources with which I could educate myself. My sole source of bird education, initially came from the Mexican people of the state of Quintana Roo.

Picture life in a sleepy Mexican village. Hot, dusty, on every street corner is a vendor selling parrots tied to a twig by a string on their leg, Your heart would break every time you stopped for a traffic light and a vendor approached your car shaking the stick with the birds on it. Some would fall off and hang there, flapping their wings, tethered by that awful cord like broken green marionettes.

I saw pick-up trucks full of Amazons being driven from Coba to Cancun, in the broiling hot sun. I always wondered how many actually made it to the street corners to be sold.

I must confess, I felt so bad, I broke down and bought two Spectacled Amazons, just because I couldn't stand the torture they were going through. (They were later donated to the Avario Xaman Ha, a parrot sanctuary). **

After getting the two Amazons, I started borrowing books from American friends and begging visitors to bring me parrot-related reading material. I vowed to never again put money in a trapper's pocket. but how was I going to get a bird legitimately?

In the entire Yucatan Peninsula, there are only five pet shops. Two are in Cancun, one in Chetumal and two in Merida. Cancun was the closest, at only an hour and a half drive, so I decided to start there.

One of the pet shops carried birds, but they were kept in filthy conditions, with feces encrusted cages and old, oily black sunflower seeds in every food dish. After talking to the owners, I discovered that they had a deal* with trappers and paid them $5 US for each Amazon, $2 US for parakeets and a whopping $50 US for a Blue and Gold Macaw, $75 US for a Scarlet or Greenwing and $200 US for a Hyacinth. Needless to say, I decided that I wouldn't buy a bird from these people. (We later had the misfortune to get a dog from them that died within 3 days)

On to the other pet shop... "Africa" is a beautiful, clean shop in an affluent section of Cancun. It caters to the very wealthy Mexican and the store's prices reflect it. They had a Harlequin baby and an Umbrella Cockatoo baby in the store, at the time. Fortunately for me, both were sold. His price was $3,500 US for the Macaw and over $10,000 US for the Cockatoo! The birds were healthy and very well kept. They had dog food and fresh fruit in their bowls. I had asked him where he got his birds and he told me that he bought them from a breeder in Puebla State, over 700 miles away. I left the store with my heart broken. There wasn't any way I would be able to afford his prices and he said he was the only source of Macaws in that entire area of the country

Temporarily disheartened, I continued to get "Bird Talk" Magazine from the bookstore, in Cancun (at $10 US a copy!) and tried to find a way to get the Scarlet Macaw I desired.

Over a period of months, I had met a Mexican gentleman named Mariano who had a Scarlet Male called "EK". The bird was sweet and gentle and I fell in love with him, on sight. Ek was not clipped. He would fly off into the trees and, at a whistle from his human, return to land on Mariano's shoulder. I loved whenever I ran into the pair and Mariano let me hold Ek.

Mariano's English wasn't too good and my Spanish, at the time, was barely passable. I had misunderstood him when I asked where he had gotten his bird and thought he said, "from a man named Macip, in Cancun". I immediately started asking everyone I knew if they had ever heard of this guy. No one had.

A couple of months went by and I met an American woman named Betty who had a sister to EK, named Michaela. Finally, I found the source! Betty had bought "Misha" from a breeder, in Cancun. His name was Conrado Gonsalez and he and his wife, Clara, hand-raised Macaws.

Betty was nice enough to make an appointment for me to go with her to visit their "criadero" (breeding facility) the following week.

I didn't get much sleep, that week. The anticipation was killing me.

When the day arrived, I was an hour early to pick Betty up. We got to the house, in Cancun, an hour early for my appointment. I paced, drummed my fingers, talked Betty into going around the corner for an iced tea…and we still had 15 minutes to go.

Finally, a car pulled up into their driveway and a distinguished, gray-haired gentleman got out. This was Conrado, the ONLY government-licensed bird breeder for 700 miles. I could have kissed his feet.

What greeted me when Conrado opened the front door, took my breath away…there were babies EVERYWHERE! Conrado and Clara had turned their home into a huge aviary. There were gigantic tree-perches cemented into the living room floor, the sunken living room was a big baby pit, there were play tables everywhere covered with babies in every stage of development.

Conrado offered us a seat, but the birds had gotten there before us. The only chair available was a rocker and a Blue and Gold was eyeing that possessively. I decided that I preferred to stand.

The large play table drew me like a magnet. There were three Scarlet babies and a Blue and Gold. I fell in love with the Blue and Gold. I tried to pick the baby up to cuddle it, but there was a slight problem. A young Scarlet baby, just barely pin-feathered, had decided that I was its personal property and kept attacking the B&G with neck extended and wings (such as they were) spread. I finally gave up and picked up the Scarlet.

The baby was so sweet. It cuddled up to my chest and made that special little "graak" that only Scarlets seem to know how to do. After a few "wing flips". The baby owned my heart. (I'm easy)

Betty's Spanish was excellent, so she acted as my interpreter. Conrado didn't have any babies available for sale, at that moment. Perhaps, he could provide one next breeding season.

I felt my eyes fill with tears. NEXT BREEDING SEASON! I had waited so long already and I had fallen in love with TWO babies that day. I wanted THAT Scarlet!

Conrado saw how upset I was. He said if I wanted to leave a deposit, perhaps he could wangle one of the Scarlet babies that he was scheduled to send to Xel-Ha (a Mayan ruin and tourist attraction), but he would have to let me know. In the meantime, if I decided that I wanted another type of Macaw, I could apply the money towards that one.

After talking to Hector, the owner of "Africa", Conrado's prices were a relief. In 1995, he charged $N7, 000 ($1,372.55 US) for a Scarlet or a Blue and Gold baby, $N8,000 ($1,568.63 US) for a Catalina, $N9,000 ($1,764.71 US) for a Harlequin and $N12,000 ($2,352.94 US) for a Green Wing. He said he would let Betty know as babies came available.

Conrado and Clara raised these birds without the benefits of packaged pellets and commercial additives. Each morning, Clara awoke to make hand-feeding formula for over 50 babies, from scratch. They fed a diet that consisted, primarily, of fruits and veggies with about twenty per cent seeds. Their seed mixes were comprised of pumpkinseeds, Flax, Cracked Wheat, Peanuts, Almonds and various small seeds. They also made a disgusting concoction of peanut butter, mango and dog food, crunched in the blender, that Echo loves to this day.

I have still not seen macaws that looked any healthier than Conrado and Clara's.

Clara was "Momma" to each baby and I seldom saw her without one clinging to her, nestled under her chin or perched on a shoulder. When she was in the midst of fighting a bout of uterine cancer, Clara came home from the hospital five hours after having a hysterectomy because she had babies to feed. That is dedication!

Two weeks after I left my $500 deposit, Betty called me with great news! Conrado had decided that I shouldn't have to wait and shipped the order, minus one Scarlet baby, to the park. If I wanted to, I could pick up the baby in two months. Conrado and Clara would not sell a baby to an individual before it was weaned.

How was I going to wait TWO MONTHS?

The time passed slowly, but I found a number of things to do. First, I discov

ered that there were no commercial bird cages available in Mexico, for a large bird. I could import one, from the US, for about $2,000 or have a cage built. I opted for the custom cage.

There was a wonderful furniture maker in the little town of Puerto Morales who had made some tables and cabinets for us, so I started with Rene. He built a Rolls Royce cage for the baby. It was a gorgeous thing made of hardwoods and hardware cloth, the size of a large freezer.

Rene also made a smaller wood and wire cage for the car. (This bird was going EVERYWHERE with me)

After taking care of the cage needs, we addressed the need for toys, playgym and perches. I was forced to go to "Africa" for the bird toys. Hector imported toys for his birds, from the US, and made the surplus available for sale at the store. I paid an average of $40 US per toy.

A trip to "Ace Hardware" and about $200 US took care of the PVC pipe and fittings to make a "PARROTDISE" (My wonderful husband designed a birdie Disneyland)

Luckily, we had brought a bunch of hardwood closet poles from the states, so that took care of the T-perch materials. (again, the wonderful husband did lots of work)

Finally, the day I had waited for had arrived. I was up before daylight, pacing the floors, hurrying my poor husband so we could get on the road to Cancun.

When we got to Conrado's, his eighty-five year old mother, who didn't speak a word of English, answered the door. I was too excited to remember English, forget about Spanish. We muddled through until Conrado and Clara arrived with... MY NEW BABY!

To my surprise, it was the same baby that had fought the Blue and Gold to get to me that first day. Conrado said he thought that the bird had expressed its preference and he was going to honor it. The aviary ot Xel-Ha could always get another baby, but this baby wouldn't find another human that it could love so completely.

That baby was Echo. To this day, she is still as sweet as she was the day I brought her home from Conrado's. Echo and I have been through a lot together. She had to endure three months in quarantine, without me when we moved back to the US. We have moved three times since then and she has had more cages than you can shake a stick at.

Echo was my first pet bird. She is the one that taught me what sharing your life with these intelligent creatures is all about. I am so thankful, every day that I was able to find Conrado and Clara and that no one ever told me that you should NEVER get a Scarlet Macaw as a "first bird".

*Trapping is totally illegal, in Mexico. They are members of CITES. I will address this situation in another article.

** An article about the "Aviario Xaman-Ha" is in the works

Reprints of this article are available solely with the express permission of the author.

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