Whisper let me rub his head.

After many weeks I feel comfortable again with Whisper. For about a week now he has been strutting on the floor of the cage and comes running at me when I walk by. It's really fun to watch. He comes up to the bars and rubs his beak between the bars and when he stops I usually rub his beak for a few seconds. Yesterday, he let me rub his head. A couple of those times he actually leaned his body into the bars and once he even closed his eyes. I hope this continues.

It seems like it took us a long time to get back to this place where I felt comfortable with him and he was comfortable with me.

He has started trying to give me kisses with his tongue on my finger but I am very careful with that. The last bite hurt and my fingernail is just now getting fully grown out.

That is great Dopey. Love those tongue kisses on the finger. I just started getting those a few weeks ago.
You are doing a great job

I think my Severe wants to give me kisses too but I can't tell. His beak is still getting in the way.

I am so pathetic. I love all of my animals. I don't have to spend a lot of time with them to fall in love with them.

Patches the White Front...well he is still trying to bite me but he's been less aggressive the last two days.

That's great! Sassy is very skittish with me petting her head. She did let me scritch her once a while back when she was molting. She was making a crazy sound too...lol. I can usually touch her wings/back but I don't make a habit of it. She does give me many kisses now!

So glad to hear you're making progress with all of them! Great news!

Excellent progress with Whisper! Those wonderful breakthroughs are so rewarding, especially with the re-homed birds.

4dugnlee said:

That's great! Sassy is very skittish with me petting her head. She did let me scritch her once a while back when she was molting. She was making a crazy sound too...lol. I can usually touch her wings/back but I don't make a habit of it. She does give me many kisses now!

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I am just so afraid of getting bit. It hurts. If it didn't hurt I could care less...well I really don't like the scaring. I haven't even tried to touch Whisper's wings/back but I'm trying to sneak in tummy rubs.

Amanda_Bennett said:

So glad to hear you're making progress with all of them! Great news!

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Thanks. I am so jealous of the relationship that you have with Zilla. I don't need a cuddler I just want one that doesn't bite me so hard.

Allee said:

Excellent progress with Whisper! Those wonderful breakthroughs are so rewarding, especially with the re-homed birds.

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You know me...love those rescues and rehomes. I was back out on Craigslist today but I keep hearing my daughter telling me...no more. And since I have to move in a few months...I need to hold off.

Dopey said:

Amanda_Bennett said:

So glad to hear you're making progress with all of them! Great news!

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Thanks. I am so jealous of the relationship that you have with Zilla. I don't need a cuddler I just want one that doesn't bite me so hard.

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Don't be jealous! Trust me, we have our issues to work though! She would really rather not cuddle much, and she was bite pressure trained before I got her (I had nothing to do with that)

Her issue now is jealousy of EVERYTHING! The cats, Fred the Beta, the phone, anyone I might talk to, everything! She screams like she is trying to make sure she blows everyone's ear drums out as soon as I am paying attention to anyone or anything that isn't her. I have had to close the office door so she can't see me several times and even had to put the cage cover on for a bit yesterday!

She is no angel, and she is very stubborn!

Oh - now I understand. I haven't had to put a cover on Whisper's cage but I have on Patches' cage. Patches could care less about the cover...he hollers any way. I really need to figure out why Patches screams as much as he does. But Whisper is doing better. One bird at a time and all birds at the same time.

Dopey said:

4dugnlee said:

That's great! Sassy is very skittish with me petting her head. She did let me scritch her once a while back when she was molting. She was making a crazy sound too...lol. I can usually touch her wings/back but I don't make a habit of it. She does give me many kisses now!

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I am just so afraid of getting bit. It hurts. If it didn't hurt I could care less...well I really don't like the scaring. I haven't even tried to touch Whisper's wings/back but I'm trying to sneak in tummy rubs.

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I should have clarified that it was MONTHS before I tried kisses with Sassy! No way I would have done it when I first got her..lol:52:

Seems ornery old Whisper is turning into a sweetie (at his own pace of course). I'm sure patches will come around in time too. That Jingle bird sounds like he loved you from Hello

UPDATE - This morning I had all birds out for a while before I went to work. I usually don't but since I wasn't home last evening and I won't be home this evening I felt I needed to give them some time out of their cage. (I try to be a good mom.)

Anyway - I've been more daring in my touching of Whisper in his cage. I touch his stomach, I touch his wings, I really play with his feet and try to massage them a few seconds, and yesterday he let me touch the back of his head and scratch there for a couple of seconds. (Mind you - it isn't long but it is so much longer than before.) I decided that every time I had the birds out I would try to scritch Whisper (you know - without bar protection). If his beak came at me I would stop. Well, this morning he acted like he wanted me to play with him. Had his foot up and would let me touch it but Patches wouldn't let me close to them. Patches kept coming at me with open beak and ready to chomp if I got to close. (They were on separate branches but the same side of the Java tree.) So, smarty Whisper went to the other end of the branch and let me scritch the top of his head for a couple of seconds.

I get so excited over the simplest things with my birds.

Awww..that's great! I know how you feel...I just want to cry whenever I make a breakthrough with my fids! Glad you are making such good progress!

Those little steps forward that mean you are gaining trust are really amazing and heart warming! Congrats on the great progress you are making!

That's wonderful, Mary Lynn! I know what you mean, it sounds like a small thing when you think about it, but those little moments mean so much. I think our birds feel the same way.
My little male quaker was never allowed out of his cage before we got him (about eight years). He had little human contact. It took weeks before he was comfortable outside of his cage, he is still very shy, I can scratch his head and he loves attention, but it's taken more than a year and a lot of work to get there. Step up is so scary for him, he will do it for me but not reliably and not for anyone else. He is finally comfortable with other people in the room.

I didn't realize that it took so long to gain some of these bird's trust. Whisper has come a long way. He is letting me touch his tummy more. The bad thing is that when I'm at work I just want to go home and play with my birds.

Dopey said:

I didn't realize that it took so long to gain some of these bird's trust. Whisper has come a long way. He is letting me touch his tummy more. The bad thing is that when I'm at work I just want to go home and play with my birds.

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I know what you mean.

I wish I lived closer to you. I'd come over and help...