Take the cage where you have him into a small room, in case he escapes from you. Notice where he is located in the cage. Turn off the lights and just pick him up and put him where you want. When you turn off the light they become motionless and are easy go pickup without any fuss. No light means total darkness.
Does anyone have experience with doing this with birds that aren't generally hand-socialized? Not that my birds seem to be afraid particularly of my hands, but they are pretty much no-touch birds at the moment.
I think if I grabbed one of my dudes in the dark, 1. I'd need to have a prior arrangement with Siri so I could get the lights turned back on once I'd got the bird in hand, and 2. I think my birds would have a serious cardiac event, if out of nowhere . . . SURPRISE HAND!
But, if the dark has essentially sedating effect on them, it's worth having that as an option.