This is important. The amount of meat or gristle eaten is only small, but it is essential. In Dresden Zoo we looked for the food preference in the Hyacinthine Macaws. The food was weighed before the mixture was offered to the macaws in the evening. The next morning the remains of all items were collected and weighed.
Losses are negligible, as the fencing of every aviary is sparrow tight.
There may be a little amount eaten by an occasional mouse, but these rodents are not common in the aviary. The Hyacinthine Macaws eat preferably sweet fruits like apples, pears, kiwi, and bananas. However, in the vegetables a closer look to the total amount per day shows that the birds eat very little. In the case of paprika and carrots one can often see that they take a piece into the beak, chew and chip it. The chips, some of them very finely chipped, fall to the bottom and are not eaten.