Tau has been a very hands-off boy since his last fright. Sometimes he'll step up nicely, but only to get somewhere - like his cage or the play area. 90% of the time I have to use a perch. Most of the time he's a feisty hissing bear trap just waiting to go off on one of my fingers or my hand. It often feels like he blames me for his fright, but deep down I know he's just scared by it all.
His playful character is coming back now and he's been singing for a while. He is still unsteady on his feet, and very slow and deliberate about moving around, but that WILL improve as he gets his confidence back.
The reason I'm posting this is something that happened earlier. He'd been playing for a while at the bottom of his cage and was slowly climbing back up the cage. He stopped half way and sat staring at me. I was talking to him all this time but he just stopped and seemed to be intent on just listening. So I carefully approached the cage and gently stroked his toes. Every toe, one at a time, still talking and watching him. It never distracted him at all, he was quite happy with the situation. Then, out of the blue he just reached down and started preening my finger.
We were doing this for like 20 minutes and he had every opportunity to get away from me but he didn't want to. It was me that stopped it with a millet bud but OMG tonight we made a breakthrough.
Tomorrow I'll be trying a calm approach with the cage door open. He sits and makes 'open the cage then' eyes at me then just hangs in the doorway so I'll slowly approach with the same hand and perch it somewhere close but out of range of that beak.
He has dropped a few more flights meaning launch day is approaching (still a way to go yet, probably this year) so I'll grab a couple of fresh pics too (his face is yellowing up nicely).
His playful character is coming back now and he's been singing for a while. He is still unsteady on his feet, and very slow and deliberate about moving around, but that WILL improve as he gets his confidence back.
The reason I'm posting this is something that happened earlier. He'd been playing for a while at the bottom of his cage and was slowly climbing back up the cage. He stopped half way and sat staring at me. I was talking to him all this time but he just stopped and seemed to be intent on just listening. So I carefully approached the cage and gently stroked his toes. Every toe, one at a time, still talking and watching him. It never distracted him at all, he was quite happy with the situation. Then, out of the blue he just reached down and started preening my finger.
We were doing this for like 20 minutes and he had every opportunity to get away from me but he didn't want to. It was me that stopped it with a millet bud but OMG tonight we made a breakthrough.
Tomorrow I'll be trying a calm approach with the cage door open. He sits and makes 'open the cage then' eyes at me then just hangs in the doorway so I'll slowly approach with the same hand and perch it somewhere close but out of range of that beak.
He has dropped a few more flights meaning launch day is approaching (still a way to go yet, probably this year) so I'll grab a couple of fresh pics too (his face is yellowing up nicely).