We got Kado from an abusive situation when he was in his late teens. It took him a few months to come to trust us, but once he did, he was a nearly perfect pet. He never bit me after the first month, and was very clear if he didn't like or trust something (clear body language and a creepy warning laugh sound). He could be very loud when he wanted something, but it wasn't anything we couldn't live with and he would quiet down after being told to, or his cage would be briefly covered until he was quiet.
He came to enjoy having his head and back stroked in the direction of his feathers and would allow myself, my husband and one of my daughters to do this. The other daughter didn't spend much time with him and he never trusted her entirely. He would sometimes let me touch under his wings, but he didn't like it, so I didn't push. He was very affectionate with us and loved to sit nearby or, preferably, on us. He was a big food and drink mooch, so I would often have to get a cup or plate of something he could have, so he could eat/drink with us.
He never showed any sign of personality change associated with hormones or seasons, and was uniformly friendly. He would be mildly out-of-sorts during his summer moult, but that was just because he was clearly uncomfortable. Normally, I would never stroke down the back of a bird, and I wouldn't allow any other bird to dry regurgitate for us, but he loved to do both and wasn't picky who he demonstrated this devotion to. He was just as quick to practice a regurgitation dance for my husband or daughter as he was for me. It seemed to satisfy him that he could do this, so we let him do it as it didn't connect to any undesirable behaviour and he wasn't fixated on one person as a 'mate'.
He was friendly, if a bit hesitant and reserved with strange visitors, but remembered my extended family and always had a greeting for them. If the new person allowed Kado to come to them, he would warm up pretty quick but they didn't have any touching privileges. My Aunt felt she was a parrot expert after coming to know her neighbours amazons, and she tried to dominate Kado rather than let him come to her. She missed the point that he wasn't interested in dominance struggles and was totally straight forward, and he never forgave her for pushing.
He wasn't a fan of dogs, but he found our cats endlessly amusing. They were terrified of him...
He discovered wood toys when he moved in with us and was a total chainsaw for about 3 years. Then he seemed to get bored with wood and more interested in puzzle toys. I tried to make the wood toys novel and interesting, but I think he just got over the concept and I noticed that he would get bored easily with things even if he loved it at first. Kado was very destructive so he could never be left alone out of the cage. I don't think any button I had was intact by the end.
I never was successful in getting him to eat pellets of any type (he was so against pellets that he would rather starve and got increasingly loud until I gave him his seeds/fruit/veg back). His favourites were apples and walnuts.
He spoke in a very very clear high voice and had a vocabulary of about 30 words including what I think might have been Italian profanities from his last owner.
He usually didn't use words other than 'hello Kado' when we were in the room. His contact call with me was a pattern of clucks and whistles that had a different call and response I had to get right or he would start over. He was clearly really smart.
I kept him fully flighted, and we practiced flying off my wrist. He wasn't so great at landings and was a blazingly fast flier, so I always kept the drapes pulled for this to reduce crashes. He eventually got pretty good, but was more a straight line rocket than anything else. I got him used to a flight harness, but being outside was just too stressful.
We miss him desperately and would have another in a heartbeat. Hope this helps!
