Buddy Being Amazon

Last night we took Buddy with us to a friend's home for dinner. She talks about how she had a cockatoo years ago, loved him and would care for other parrots. Her husband loves birds too and he works offshore. Since he was home we took Buddy so they could meet him. Buddy loved all the attention, even let Mindy scratch his head through the bars and made goo goo eyes and sounds at her.

Well a couple of hours later and numerous beers later (husband and I don't drink), she decided to get Buddy out of his cage and put him on her shoulder. The kids came and got me telling me what was happening inside the house. I went in and heard Buddy screaming, got to the cage and she had already pulled him out, was trying to put him on her shoulder, but he flew off, came towards me and made a perfect landing on my shoulder. He had bit her 6 times, two were bleeders, two left beak marks and the remaining two didn't break the skin but left some serious blood blisters. I was so angry, her husband was angry. It took me more than 30 minutes to get Buddy to calm down. He wanted nothing to do with hands, pressed himself against my head and stayed on my shoulder glued to my head. Food seemed to help. I gave him a little piece of hush puppy and he totally focused on food. After hush puppy, corn made him happy but I still had to do some serious coaxing. And here comes our friend back trying again to get him on her hand saying "I'm use to it." I told husband it was time to go while her husband was pulling her away.

So I've now witnessed the aggressive side of Buddy. I called and checked on our friend this morning, spoke to her daughter who said her hand looks bad and she claims it doesn't hurt. Yeah right. I felt so bad last night for Buddy, not her. I don't agree with forcing yourself on an animal in that manner and felt like I was at fault for taking Buddy over there. Husband said it was her fault, she had been warned but since she had been drinking, she wasn't feeling much and decided to be the bird whisperer. Yes that is true. Our nieces and nephews were over and they learned a valuable lesson and I think that made them aware and respect Buddy more.

So for any new Amazon owners like myself, here is an account. I will not take him back over there and if they come here, I'll be putting a lock on the cage.

Oh and last night before all this happened, he was saying "Nicole", over and over. New to us, and one of the kids there was named Nicole. He's talking more and more, love it!

Poor Buddy He probably sensed she was drunk and interpreted it as a threat. Glad she isn't upset about it, as it was her fault. Buddy was just defending himself. Thats why I'm always so cautious with Kiwi and strangers who may try to play with him when my back is turned. I hope Buddy wasn't too traumatized and really hope he isn't pestered by any other strangers...

Holy smokes! That sounds like an awful night for poor Buddy... nothing is worse than someone trying to force attention or interaction with an animal that has no interest. I'm glad you were able to calm him down, though I hope your friends will realize that they shouldn't be trying to interact with a bird without respecting its boundaries first.

And I totally agree with your hubby - it was her fault. Every animal (including us!) has boundaries that need respecting. Birds aren't quite the type of animal you can simply run up to and decide to play with like you might a dog.

Buddy is doing great. This morning he had blueberries and peppers for breakfast. He came out of his cage on his own and visited with me for about an hour. I scratched his head, he preened my hair, tried to drink my coffee, made kissing noises, growled at husband... He's just fine. But it has me thinking is this the kind of attention he's going to receive when I take him out with me? I'm working on his harness training because I want to take him outside for walks, hang outside, etc, but we'll handle it.

I have found that when I take out Shiko in his harness that people are more keen to stare and whisper than to approach and want to handle him.

And, as a general rule of thumb, when people ask I simply let them know that he's not quite confident enough yet but hopefully the next time they see him he will be. Maybe when you take Buddy out on a harness, bring yummy treats so that strangers who do ask to interact can simply hand over a treat, and that way meeting strangers can become something that's positively reinforced rather than something that may leave a sour taste in his mouth. Plus they get to say they met one of the coolest Amazons around!

I have read that Amazons are one person birds, Kiwi kept screaming and lunging at one of my friends before.. now I'm letting him see more friends of mine and let them handle him too.. so he would be more friendly towards others too.. but of course we are not going to force him to do anything