My name is Gary. I was born in Canada, raised in England, returned to Canada, moved to Spain for 12 years, then to Belize in 2010. The only bird I ever had before Dino was a green Budgie named Joey, when I was 8 years old. I only had him a couple of months, got up one morning and he was lying on his back in the bottom of the cage, dead. I swore then and there that I would never cage another bird in my life.

Fast forward to 2008 and 51 years of age, I got Dino, but only because I'd seen from a friend who had parrots, that they could live without being caged as much as you will let them. I have to be honest, I wish to this day I had never added to the bird trade and bought Dino, but I did, on the spur of the moment, so now all I can do is give him the very best life I possibly can.

Everything I do, I do for him. I go shopping, first thing I look for is food and toys for him. I arrange my home for him. I arrange my schedule for him, and now to top it all off, I'm buying the home I'm buying for him! It is perfect for him, a Yurt style house with no rooms, so basically its one giant aviary for him, which he'll be free to fly around in all the time. The only exception being when I go out alone, which is rare, because I usually take him with me when I go out. On those occasions, he has to go in his cage for his own protection. Parrots have a lovely habit of biting through electric cables!

As I said, I hadn't had a bird since I was 8 years old and until I got Dino, I thought of birds as having "bird brains". How wrong could I have been? I have a creature full of emotions. Yes, he gets upset, he gets scared, he gets bored and depressed, but he also gets very happy and playful, thankfully most of the time. He has his off days, just like us and he'll let me know when he does. He has learned to speak in context. He'll say "Is that good?" when he sees me eating something, then he'll come over and try it and if he likes it, he says "Mmmm". When we're having a special moment, he'll look at me and say "I love you", and does that ever melt your heart! There ain't no other animal on Earth that will tell you in words that it loves you.

To say I am astonished by this creature's intelligence, would be an understatement. He has taught me more about people in the 3 years I've had him than I learned in my life. He has a fine tuned instinct for knowing when someone is genuine or false, good or bad. He has different body language for each person and each situation and if you watch carefully, you can learn the signs he's already picked up on.

As for our future, well, we move into our Yurt soon and I already have many fruit trees in pots ready to plant for him in the garden. Mango, Papaya, Kraabu, Lychee, Kenip, various fruiting palms and some plants I don't recall their name. I have made a couple of good friends here in Cayo and they're really all I need. I enjoy being single and doing as I wish, when I wish. That is, I enjoy it as long as I have my best buddy Dino around! Oh and yes, our Yurt house will be called CASA DINO :-)

Gary at: papa@casadino.com

Dino is a Green-winged Macaw (Ara Chloroptera), often referred to as the "Gentle Giant", because of its gentle nature. Native to northern and central South America, he is the second largest species of parrot, only surpassed in size by the Hyacinth Macaw. He is one of 18 different species of Macaw, belonging to the genera of 372 species of parrots. In the last century, at least 6 species of large Macaws have become extinct, never to be seen by mankind again!