Help with bronze wing/Pionus body language and vocals?

[baserock love]

Well there you go, her first trigger with you so avoid the black shirts around her and keep letting her go as she pleases within reason. She may later decide the black shirts are OK if she sees you in them enough and decides they wont eat her or you. Some days Lurch would trigger on something, and some days if he saw me in it from the first time he noticed me he'd be OK with it for some reason. Now that you know how she reacts to things that upset her you can watch for that reaction again and fix the issue before she totally freaks out. With Lurch most times once the offending item was removed from my person he was just fine again. Dobby was a little afraid of my ball cap when I went to meet him and take him home if everything went OK, I just took off the cap and he was oh hi new person, I think your OK.

Yeah, the problem is i wear only 2 colors of shirt lol, white and black. My black shirts are generally my slumming at home shirts. I keep forgetting i'm even wearing it haha. Yesterday i woke up and uncovered her cage and she immediately came out and started going into velociraptor mode and I'm thinking "Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the perch.", then i realize the shirt haha. Go change it, and she eats a dozen apple pieces from my fingertips eagerly

 

[camelotshadow]

My dream bird...Congrats. Almost had mine but I got cancer & am going thru chemo.

Soundslike she needs more time. First few days can be different, Just go slow & let her set the pace,
Seems like she has had good repore with her people so she willcome around. Like you said all these new things & being taken away from her home. She's trying to figure it all out.

Too bad about the black as I wear that all the time but don;t wearit for now. It could change when she is more comfortable but now it might signify danger to her. You can work on the color when she settles in it could change or she might just hate that color. Some birds dislike some colors like red.
Odd as I;m sure a teenager would wear black t shirts.

 

[finchly]

Hah I was good to ask if you wore black a lot. My pi hates red shirts, and he doesn't care for my recent blue nail polish.

I spooked a lady's cockatiels once wearing blue n white. She said my shirt had too many flowers.

 

[baserock love]

My dream bird...Congrats. Almost had mine but I got cancer & am going thru chemo.

Soundslike she needs more time. First few days can be different, Just go slow & let her set the pace,
Seems like she has had good repore with her people so she willcome around. Like you said all these new things & being taken away from her home. She's trying to figure it all out.

Too bad about the black as I wear that all the time but don;t wearit for now. It could change when she is more comfortable but now it might signify danger to her. You can work on the color when she settles in it could change or she might just hate that color. Some birds dislike some colors like red.
Odd as I;m sure a teenager would wear black t shirts.

Yeah. I'm just not a patient guy but I'm being patient with her. None of this would be so weird if she wasn't so clingy the first couple of days. I just need to not lose perspective. For a bit on the pionus group i'm in now people were mostly saying "Oh it hasn't been long enough give her time". Now there's only a handful of people on there who's pionuses took this long to come around :\ It's been over 2 weeks now. But hell my mom has a kitten, a domesticated animal that 2 months in is still basically scared of her. 85% of the time. I just hope i realize when she is ready. Never done this before.

I think the black shirt thing might be due to the fact that her cage cover is black. She still gets a little nervous every time i cover her cage for bed. Just this odd mix of flock and friend behavior and sheer nervousness around me is weird. IT's very schizophrenic. LIke yesterday she was SO excited when i came home, i thought she was going to fly to me for a minute she was doing the "excited want to come to you" bird dance and chattering like crazy. I put my hand on the same top of the cage perch area but several feet away to offer her the opportunity to step up if she wants it, she just immediately goes silent and gets as far away as she can from me. Today she's happy and chattering and taking apples from me this morning. Eats breakfast with me (she now won't eat breakfast till i eat mine next to her cage.), was all happy and chattering. Now she's quiet and mopey and hiding again. She's just all over the place.

Also i'm so sorry to hear about your illness. I'm rooting for you! Just do what the doctor tells you.

Hah I was good to ask if you wore black a lot. My pi hates red shirts, and he doesn't care for my recent blue nail polish.

I spooked a lady's cockatiels once wearing blue n white. She said my shirt had too many flowers.

My friends tiels will practically kill themselves throwing themselves up against the bars of their cage to get away from somebody if they're wearing a shirt with contrasting colored stripes less than an inch wide. It's so weird.

 

[iamwhoiam]

My sparrow is VERY afraid of red. I didn't realize that at first but he would freak out every now and then and I figured out that it was when I was wearing something red. I like red but if I want to wear something red I just put it on right before I leave the house, leave different clothes in the laundry room which is right off the garage and as soon as I get home I remove any red clothing and put the other clothes on. If someone is coming over I request that they don't wear red. Can't control service people but when I have someone working here I just cover his cage just in case.
None of my other birds seem to exhibit fear of any colors.

 

[tka]

My pi took at least that long to come round and now she's all over me! Today she's been stepping up to my dad and I, hanging out on my arm/knee/shoulder/head, flying around and landing on me, playing with her toys on the stand next to me, getting up to mischief...she has a new game where she goes headfirst down the towels I hang over my bookshelves until she's hanging off them, then waits for me to rescue her! It's encouraging her to step up to my hand (which is a relatively new thing) so I don't mind this blatant manipulation

It worried me too - everyone else's new birds seemed to be happy to step up and be on them and mine wasn't. I gave her all the time she needed and we got there - I think we have a pretty strong bond now.

 

[Dartman]

Lurch took about 5 years to MOSTLY decide I was trust worthy and his friend so your gal is doing just fine. They take their time watching the routine and deciding who to trust and choose. Sounds like she has chosen you but is still working on the full trust and love part with herself.
Lurch was a damaged soul after loosing his first owner then I'm pretty sure being ignored, hit at, and all that probably because he didn't understand why his friend left and was acting out and the leftover family wanted nothing to do with a pissy parrot that would bite.
Your girl likes you but also doesn't understand why her previous friend gave her away so she has her bad days I spose. She'll get there and I'm sure much faster then Lurch did.

 

[baserock love]

Funny that right around the time i voice my dismay at her taking so long to come around, she steps up finally! Twice today! One right after the other. I could tell it took every ounce of her guts to muster up the courage to do it but she did it. Something turned in her today, hopefully not just for the day but she's got a new call for me when i'm out of the room (an annoying one lol), and answering that call seems to be scoring a lot of points with her. she just started getting very vocal, and really tracking my movements trying to get as close to me as possible, making those dipping motions like she's about to take flight staring right at me instead of out of the side of one eye. Let her come to my hand and she stepped up after a couple minutes of coaxing. Was very scared so i put her back after praising her, a minute or two later she did it again. Again briefly but she got a lot of apples and just seemed VERY contented afterwards. I'm very relieved!

She's not as food motivated as some pi's other than her roudybush which she isn't a big fan of taking from hand. She loves apples but isn't like gaga over them, won't eat anything else, literally. The behaviorist who's method i've been trying to employ says use anything that might motivate them for positive reinforcement, if it's not food, find something else. THe last 4 days she was calling for me when i'd be out of the room working (I work in my bedroom and her cage is in the living room.). I started coming to talk to her a little when she'd call for me, offer her the chance to step up, and if she didn't i went back to work for a bit. Using my presence as positive reinforcement seems to have worked. I had a bunch of work to do but i sat down next to the cage and just hung out with her for another hour or two while she looked very happy and content on her perch after it, which i could tell was almost overwhelmingly exciting for her.

 

[camelotshadow]

Glad things are coming around. You still seem to be pushing her to step up.I know you want to teach her but she seems to know how to step up she just needs to be more comfortable & confident. Species aside which is reserved birds are birds & new places & people put them on guard.

Try not to reinforce too much vocalization...you don;t want to teach her to yell when you are not around or leave the room. They seem t do that on there own without calling back or coming to them when they yell. know you aare trying to establish trust & repore but coming to her when she yells is not going to end well.

Bird do take a long time to become used to new things, people, & surrounding.

 

[baserock love]

Glad things are coming around. You still seem to be pushing her to step up.I know you want to teach her but she seems to know how to step up she just needs to be more comfortable & confident. Species aside which is reserved birds are birds & new places & people put them on guard.

Try not to reinforce too much vocalization...you don;t want to teach her to yell when you are not around or leave the room. They seem t do that on there own without calling back or coming to them when they yell. know you aare trying to establish trust & repore but coming to her when she yells is not going to end well.

Bird do take a long time to become used to new things, people, & surrounding.

I don't push her to do anything. When she's in certain moods where I can tell she wants some interaction several feet away from her on the rim of the cage i will put my hand down and give her the option to step up. She either willingly approaches the hand or doesn't. She's been getting more comfortable with the hand's presence to the point she gets closer and closer to it and finally stepped up yesterday.

As for the reinforcing vocalizations, I've actually already taught her that I only respond to pleasing/cute vocalizations and not the loud obnoxious ones and she's pretty much figuring that out. Just a week ago her loud "WAWCK!!!" call would go on for sometimes up to 30 minutes, I never hear it anymore. Her cute noises which she mostly uses to call me I'm fine with her making those as much as she wants. She's already replacing this brand new annoying call for me with her standard cute chatter noises.

 

[baserock love]

It's been awhile and I don't come around here much. The pionus board is a ghost town and there's a very active pionus group on facebook but since most of you were so helpful I figured I'd give an update for Gamera. Basically I done raised her right haha. It took almost 3 months for her to start stepping up again and only a couple weeks after that for her to bond to me and when she did things moved very fast. She was and remains, the biggest wuss of a bird ever but all i had to do was get her to willingly let me take her into another room from the cage once and back without her dying and she immediately started to get the idea that I can be trusted and I won't put her into dangerous situation. After i got her 15 feet away into the kitchen the rest of the house came pretty fast as long as I escorted her and she was on my shoulder she would be ok in my room for short periods. She was TERRIFIED of her training perches but using the same desensitization techniques i eventually got her comfortable on them and now she's basically my constant companion and i'm currently paper training her. SHe's just in the last week comfortable being in my room away from her cage for extended periods of time like an entire day, 8 to 10 hours. She's just recently started to talk. I"m trying to actively talk train her as she sucks at it but I"m really hoping she improves. She still hasn't quite figured out that i want her to say her name and not just vocalize for food, either way it's incredibly cute.

She's basically the perfect bird, I used the force free totally voluntary techniques and while i was hampered by her unusual levels of fear at mundane things she responded well to them where she could. She isn't loud, doesn't bite, isn't destructive and she's just an absolute joy to be around. I'm still working on some of her fear issues before i really dive into trick and flight training. I can't target train her because she's terrified of all the targets :|

Here she is super content on my shoulder in my room, nowhere near her cage. She's a great balance between craving closeness and being independent.

Here she is demonstrating her utterly bizarre fears. I haven't figured out a way to mount dishes on her training perch which thank god she's no longer afraid of, i was exercising and she wanted food so i figured instead of holding the dishes up to her by hand so she can eat in my room i'd just put some pellets on her perch. NOPE! Food = not scary. Perch = not scary. Food + perch = super scary. She is really strange. Certain things most birds would find to be scary aren't scary at all, yet the most mundane things are terrifying to her.

Here's what her colors look like right after she dries off from a bath. I think she might be the most brilliantly colored bronze wing I've ever seen. most pictures do not do it justice.

Either way. Gamera is fantastic. I"m so glad despite a couple minor missteps I let her go at her own pace and didnt' force her to do things. I think she's ended up such a docile parrot because she doesn't see a need to bite. She'll give me escalating levels of warning beakings and some begrudging growls but she just doesn't want to bite me anymore.

 

[zoo mom]

I am glad things are going better for you guys.

 

[Dartman]

Lurch finally got to the point he trusted me enough to give progressive warnings before biting most of the time, and when he did decide to bite he didn't try as hard or fast as he always did when he first got here. We wore each other down and I know he was fond of me so he didn't want to just hurt me like he used to. I still got da bitez but I got better at reading him and faster at dodging him. It was a feature for him, not a bug, it was who he was.
Dobby loves everyone, does everything to avoid biting, and is totally socialized and outgoing, he also has only known love and safety his whole life. He is also extremely confident, has chosen my sister as his true love, and loves flying about and getting into things. Very different from Lurch, or Nerd, my first Maxi.
Now that you have her trust you have a loyal family member and friend for the rest of her life. Nerd was my best friend for 31 years and Lurch would have been had he not escaped last April. Respect her dignity and she'll quickly forgive any transgressions on your part.

 

[javi]

Congrats. I also have a Pi that is a chicken bird with everything. Glad she is coming along so well. Did you get her DNA done or just guessing she is a girl?

 

[finchly]

It's great that you're working things out, @baserock love ! My pi took a LOT longer than that, just over 3 years now and he is stuck to me like glue. But like you, I waited for his signals, and for him to get over his various fears.

On the perch feeders, I'm wondering if different kind or color would work? Or could you fasten the feeder onto a different item and move it near her slowly?

 

[baserock love]

I am glad things are going better for you guys.

Things are perfect Here extreme fearfulness is kindof annoying but that isn't going to last forever. the more she trusts me the more she seems to realize i'm not going to put her in dangerous situations.

Lurch finally got to the point he trusted me enough to give progressive warnings before biting most of the time, and when he did decide to bite he didn't try as hard or fast as he always did when he first got here. We wore each other down and I know he was fond of me so he didn't want to just hurt me like he used to. I still got da bitez but I got better at reading him and faster at dodging him. It was a feature for him, not a bug, it was who he was.
Dobby loves everyone, does everything to avoid biting, and is totally socialized and outgoing, he also has only known love and safety his whole life. He is also extremely confident, has chosen my sister as his true love, and loves flying about and getting into things. Very different from Lurch, or Nerd, my first Maxi.
Now that you have her trust you have a loyal family member and friend for the rest of her life. Nerd was my best friend for 31 years and Lurch would have been had he not escaped last April. Respect her dignity and she'll quickly forgive any transgressions on your part.

Yeah, parrot ownership is so different from predator mammals. You have to really play your cards right to win them over but once you do and every little bit of progress you get is just incredibly rewarding. She's just an absolute joy to have around and we both trust each other. I have zero fear of her being on my shoulder.

Congrats. I also have a Pi that is a chicken bird with everything. Glad she is coming along so well. Did you get her DNA done or just guessing she is a girl?

I haven't yet, I haven't even taken her to the vet for a wellness check :\ Soon as i got her some calamitous stuff happened and there went the 1000 bucks i make sure i have on hand for vet bills and emergencies. I"m going to take her in in the next few weeks for a general wellness check and stool lab work and hopefully a dna test if they don't charge too much. The previous owners think she's a girl for frankly dumb reasons and they called her a her, so i will to till i hear otherwise.

It's great that you're working things out, @baserock love ! My pi took a LOT longer than that, just over 3 years now and he is stuck to me like glue. But like you, I waited for his signals, and for him to get over his various fears.

On the perch feeders, I'm wondering if different kind or color would work? Or could you fasten the feeder onto a different item and move it near her slowly?

That's great! And i don't really necessarily wait for her, i do a pretty rigorous desensitization routine to things she's afraid of. I basically do everything i can to associate them with things she likes, aka food and over time just make sure whatever it is is closer and closer to her when she eats, and eventually she'll eat food off it and it doesn't bother her. I FINALLY today got her eating off a popsicle stick so that will now be my target for target training.

Dont' get me wrong, she gets to move at her own pace but I"m pretty consistent. It's like yeah, i know having a popsicle stick in my hand 6 inches from you makes you a bit nervous but do you want the nutriberry or not? lol. If she moves an inch towards that popsicle stick to take it then runs away, she made a little progress. Next few days it might be 2 inches towards it.

As for the feeder i just need to come up with a way to attach them to pvc, i think i got an idea. Only reason i didnt' do it earlier is that she was of course....terrified of all the training perches i built for her haha. It's only in the last week and a half that she's gotten comfortable enough ot be on them much of the day so now i can try to paper train her, which is sortof my focus right now training wise.

 

[Wannabird2003]

My Pi hates hats of any kind on me or anyone. She also hates the one dark blue crinkly jacket I love. I have to wait until I am in the garage to put it on. She is also an early to bed bird and late to rise bird.

In the past week she has been a wreck with Irma. It stressed her that I was moving furniture in, packing stuff, moved her and me to a house 10 min further inland, rode out the storm, returned home and did the reverse. She doesn't like change and started feather picking again. I hope now that things are more normalized, she will settle down and stop.

So my point is, anything out of the ordinary is upsetting to them and coming to you and your routines can be a challenge for them. In time, he will figure things out.

 

[finchly]

And i don't really necessarily wait for her, i do a pretty rigorous desensitization routine to things she's afraid of. I basically do everything i can to associate them with things she likes, aka food and over time just make sure whatever it is is closer and closer to her when she eats, and eventually she'll eat food off it and it doesn't bother her.

Every birdie is different. That would be too much like flooding for my guys. I can't imagine Ernie eating food off anything other than his dish!

 

[camelotshadow]

 

[baserock love]

Every birdie is different. That would be too much like flooding for my guys. I can't imagine Ernie eating food off anything other than his dish!

I wouldn't say it's like flooding. I got the techniques i use from barbara heidenreich who's a pretty famous parrot trainer. It takes patience and consistency but they do work. when the bird doesn't want to participate she just leaves. She's always got food in her cage. She knows though that to get treats she's gotta hang with me and whatever we're working on, that's the source of treats. This seems to have really helped her trust in me blossom, every day she seems more and more to just be open to trying things i present to her.

My Pi hates hats of any kind on me or anyone. She also hates the one dark blue crinkly jacket I love. I have to wait until I am in the garage to put it on. She is also an early to bed bird and late to rise bird.

In the past week she has been a wreck with Irma. It stressed her that I was moving furniture in, packing stuff, moved her and me to a house 10 min further inland, rode out the storm, returned home and did the reverse. She doesn't like change and started feather picking again. I hope now that things are more normalized, she will settle down and stop.

So my point is, anything out of the ordinary is upsetting to them and coming to you and your routines can be a challenge for them. In time, he will figure things out.

Poor baby. I jut noiced a when i was digging for pin feathers, a bald spot on gameras neck. You can only see it if you part the feathers, and she IS molting pretty hard still so i'm hoping it's just that. Iv'e never heard of pionuses plucking due to stress and gamera doesn't seem stressed at all to me.

It actually cracks me up what a non morning bird she is. She's like me, she's in a HORRIBLE mood when she wakes up lol. She wants nothing to do with me for about 4 hours.