b & g macaw

Question
Hey Rev,

The weirdest thing happened today.

I was sitting in my family room, it was quiet and our Macaw was resting, she seemed sleepy and she was closing her eyes.

She heard some noise outside and woke up and then streched on top of her perch. she stretched her wing and her foot. She does that all the time but then what happened after was a little weird and scary.

She laid down on her top perch and she let her right wing hang...like she just let it loose and it was leaning downwards and she was real low on top of her perch.

It was really weird and when I came up to her she seemed really tired, kind of mopey and depressed, with her eyes closing too. I've noticed today and yesterday she hasnt really been stepping up when i tell her to either. after i approached her I tried making her step up and she wouldn't, she gave me a warning that she didnt wanna be lifted but didnt mind being rubbed on the head, right after this she went and started eating her food.

I'm not sure if she is just moody because of molting season or what she was doing by letting her wing loose. I'm not sure if its natural behavior or a signal of sickness.

Any input would be GREAT, thanks.

Answer
How is her poop? Well formed centers, nice white middle layer and clear outer layer?  Depending on the time of day this all happened, you might have just caught her during her normal nap time.

Also, this is an interesting behavior you'll probably encounter a few times over the years, when a macaw is startled or frightened, sometimes they "freeze". When I first saw this it unnerved me. No movement, barely blinking and no matter what I said, she was just frozen.
 
 When our girls try to take control by not cooperating with routine instruction, like step-up, we increase the instruction with lavish praise. She might be feeling that stepping up isn't the big deal it used to be, so why bother?  When you have her in hand, make 'step up' a game with the reward of laughter, praise and before you end the exercise, a nice treat (try to make it something healthy like a half a peanut, a grape, small piece of salt free cracker, graham cracker, dried fruit, etc).

Keep an eye on her, make sure she continues to eat, is active and of course those all important droppings.

 If she fluffs up and seems to choose the bottom of her cage for sitting - this would indicate a problem.

Let me know how she does.