I've had a few more days to look at this and here is what I see. Part of the biting may be an expression of jealousy. Now, he never bites hard, and he never really squawks when he does it, but I notice it happens a lot after I feed the younger bird. Nibbles, the one who I'm working with the biting on, has a cage in the family room. Every morning, like I did with him, I bring the little one out to be hand fed. He watches while I do this, and if I bring him out of his cage right after, then he's really after my ear. If I do it a few hours later, he's fine. I've tried to introduce him to the little one, and he wants nothing to do with it at all. He tries to get as far away as possible. The chick is 6 weeks old, one the verge of weaning and will soon be going to a new home, but I do try to spend an equal amount of time with them both during the day. One as a pet, and the other to learn basics skills and socialization with people. I noticed a new odd behavior this morning when I tried to redirect his attention. He was on my shoulder and I pulled an almond out for him. When I presented it to him, he stuck part of it in his beak, and then made the pumping motion that the little one does while I'm feeding him with a syringe. He's obviously observing our interaction during feeding times, so I think I'll try it out of his line of sight from now on and see if that makes a difference. I also understand I have a piercing in my left ear that's right at the level of his face when he's on my shoulder. It's like having a bright shiny object in front of a child. Of course it's going to get his attention. I expect the chick will be leaving in 2 weeks or so, and then we'll see how the behavior is. The chick bites too, but we're talking about a 6 week old who is learning to eat solid food, compared to a bird that's most 6 months old. Like I said before - it's a work in progress and learning experience for both of us.
