Mockinbirdiva
Cruising the avenue
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Do your females start to cluck as well? Not as in a 'chicken cluck'. Vocals are tough to describe though I do know it's invitational mating clucking. She will do this when she leans forward and flattens her back out with her feathers pressed tight. At other times she has another 'calling' vocalization. I don't see Henry react to it at all. He's not driven at all to visit her ( aren't I lucky). I don't know if female napes may have that same vocal, if they do it's probably very similar. I would describe Lola as being in her sweeter mode, inviting head scratches, enjoying them when it's not hormone related. Yet still, a minute after that I walk past her and she'll lurch to bite. I take that as 'I will because I can... you're in my space and I don't like you walking past me right now'. She definitely has her Piffy moments, lunge to bite when I close her door at night, lunge at a hand held perch when she doesn't want to step up in certain moment yet will step up willingly and politely other times. I do not hand her a treat very often, it goes in her cup. That was one bite I learned to not hand over small items. To this day, neither one like to be handed a treat and will always drop it instead. Maybe because I'm looking at them when I do.. I'm not going to avert my eyes and put treat in front of that beak. I can hand over a sugar snap pea to Henry ( Lola isn't interested in them), he loves them. He gladly accepts those white cookie pop sticks because he loves to shred them.. He likes one inch square wood blocks and 2 inch cut ( 1 inch thick) poplar dowels... he will not accept a 6 inch long piece. He might take it but he will drop it and give me the pin eye. Any other object is out of the question. He's not curious about new stuff... he's furious about it. I put those on the floor for him to attack and kill. Some things the big green goober is terrified of. I have to agree with your mom... a chomp can hurt up to three hours! One time Henry got my pointing finger on my right hand and pierced it. Bled a ton. He didn't let go either. Thank goodness he was in his cage. I had no feeling in that finger for more than two months and lucky it finally came back. That was a very painful bite.That is what I see from my females too. Diva will sometimes bite after I stop scratching her. She gets so into having her nares rubbed sometimes that when I stop she's over stimulated and bites. I know its coming, so I just wobble my hand to disrupt her balance and put her down. 10 seconds later, she can step up again and be fine. Of course, if my dog is close by (as he always is) that bite or attempted bite might be a little more serious. I rarely get bit (what I consider a bite), but since the subject came up, a prospective owner needs to know it happens. I suspect long time hot 3 amazon owners have a different definition of what hurts that others. One of my baby amazons reached down and gave my mom a playful chomp a few years ago. No bleeding or bruising but she said she could still feel it 30 minutes later. I saw it happen and to me that is a normal part of life sometimes with a parrot and I forget it happened immediately. For the uninitiated, they can be hyper aware of the discomfort. In the course of a day, I get minor chomps that can be kind of painful I suppose. I also prevent many more bites from happening. The intention and opportunity was there, but I know the bird and didn't give them a chance.