Q about Pico, a Yellow Naped Amazon

[kateBird]

Hi,

any suggestions and comments absolutely welcome.

Pico - 17yr old YNA, we just brought him home on april 9th (sunday) and have visited him at the bird store 2 days prior. from what i know he has had 2 previous homes (one being the bird shop we bought him from where he lived for almost a year).

He will willingly and easily step up on my husband's hand, but when it comes to me, he gives me the aggressive look - pinning eyes, flayed tail, lifted neck feathers - all the time. after bringing him home, i have used a wooden perch to have him step up for me to transport him to/from play stand and cage. first time he bit the heck out of my right hand - just skin deep, nothing like deep punctures, but it bled like heck! i didnt freak out or panic. i kept my hold on to the perch and i finally thought of the technique to firmly, briefly rock the perch to stop the bird from biting and try to get his balance.

i did this "perch rocking" technique whenever he lunged for my hand, while giving a firm and quick "NO" and lowering the perch and that stopped him. since using this technique ive gotten no new bites, yet he does give me the aggressive stance - not as bad as before, but still pinning the eyes.

the weird thing, for me, is that whenever he is in the cage, he would allow me to scratch him all over his head for hours. id sit next to his cage, talk to him and scratch his head for at least 15mins at a time. (my husband was recently given the honor of being able to scratch his head while on the play stand - i havent been given that opportunity yet).

i think its very important to set "rules" and the hierarchy early with any bird. therefore its important that i handle Pico daily - even if its on a wooden perch. i believe i am showing him what is acceptable and what is not when i firmly use "step up" and "no" and when i shake the perch if he lunges to bite my hand. am i wrong? is this scaring him more? how do i tell if im scaring him instead of setting firm but loving rules? i feel like Pico is not so aggressive with me as much as earlier this week, but maybe not?

i would use the "laddering technique" when he lunges for me instead of the "perch shake" technique, but i only have one neutral wooden perch right now. i will buy another this weekend.

comments and suggestions GREATLY welcome!

kateBird

[Alyce Johnson]

Well, I'm surely no expert!
However, with our lilac crown amazon, he prefers my spouse too. We've had my husvand tell him (very firmly) NO! when he was applying his veak to me! He seemed to respect it more coming from "his" person and he treats me nicer now. So you might try that, too. Couldn't hurt, right?

[kateBird]

Hi Alyce,

thanks for the suggestion! Great idea! i will definitely try it.

I did find out that talking to Pico about 15 to 20 minutes does really mellow him out. i read the first chapter of a parrot behavior book i just got in a soft, animated tone and he came nearer to me in his cage, looked at me intently and begged me to scratch his head. cute! usually i get the eye-pinning-tail-splayed display when i approach his cage.

of course he had to show some dominance over me as i tried to get him out of his cage on a wooden perch. he tried to attach my hand, but i gave a little rumble on the perch and he behaved himself.

i really think hes a good bird, i think its just that he is always used to, to getting to love one person and no one else. i am dedicated to change that and as soon as the weather gets warmer, we are taking him out to the beach and to parks.

thanks for the suggestion! i will definitely try it tonight.

[Joanie Doss]

Your bird is displaying because he is excited. You excite him. Overly excited Amazons bite. Because he gets so excited be careful around this bird. Using a perch is a very good idea to transfer him from one point to the other. Wobbling the stick and/or lowering it seems to be working with you. Laddering is a good teaching tool but is not good working with an overly excited bird. Let him calm down before you do any work with him.

He may calm down in time around you as he gets more use to you. He will also be calmer in the fall and winter than during spring and the first part of summer.

Joanie Doss
The Amazing Amazons
http://www.parrothouse.com/bodylanguage.html

[kateBird]

Hi Joanie,

thanks for your insights. i have to say, while looking for information about amazons, i found your site and probably read through everything - great source of info!

it has been about 3 months since i wrote the beginning of this post, and pico still seems to get excited around me, but he doesn't show his aggressive display when i approach him anymore. he does occasionally bite me, but he does allow me to take him around on his perch, scratch his head and neck, and he purrs to me sometimes. i have spent a lot of time with him because i didnt want to live with a parrot that hated my guts and lived to bite the heck out of me.

he is calming, but i am sure interested to see what the fall/winter season will bring. maybe i can start teaching him some tricks...distinguishing colors maybe?

[Butch]

Hi Katebird I was reading about what your yellow nape dose to you I kind of chuckled because my wife and I also have a yellow Naped Amazon that we bought 17 years ago it was also in the pet store for a year only our home was it's third home our birds name is loleta she loves for me to scratch her head also when my daughters and grandchildren come over she freaks out she spreads her tail feathers starts squarking runs back in forth on her perch she has on occasion attacked my grandaughter and grandson when they walked past her cage while she was sitting on top of it funny thing is my wife can get around her cage and it dosen't phase her but let my daughters and grandchildren get around thats it freaksville I think that sometime during her life she was abused by children could be the same with your bird only it was a female that abused it you didn't say if it dose this around other woman well I've run my mouth long enough lol just through it was funny that we both had yellow napes that don't like woman maybe our birds came from the same family lol well good luck with your bird