Desensitizing to me walking out of sight momentarily

[celes]

Had my conure for about 6 days now. He seems to be sort of a needy bird. If he had his way, he'd be *on* me all the time, but I'm getting him use to being *near* me instead.

I would like to desensitize him to me walking out his sight range for short periods of time. We hang out in the living room and sometimes I'll walk into the kitchen or down the hall--just for like a minute or sometimes literally a few seconds--usually within two seconds of me leaving his sight, he screams for me and usually will try to jump from whatever surface he's on to come find me. I don't respond, or call back to him or rush back--I know this is will make it worse. But I would like to be able to make it so he's ok for me to step out of sight without panicking. Tips?

[sweetnlow]

I am having the same problem with my green cheek conure. He is four months old and loves to be with me. I have noticed he will scream and whine but I also ignore him when he does. It really breaks my heart sometimes to hear him cry but its tough love lol. I think this is something that will settle with time. Its a learning process and eventually the bird will realize that you will not respond to the screaming so it won't be worth it for him to continue.

If you are going to be gone from the room for any period of time, you can leave the TV or music on and maybe offer an apple chunk or some treat he likes to distract him for the time being. That seems to be working pretty well for us.