We got a harlequin macaw a few weeks ago. After being a bit timid for a few days, he has become very friendly almost all the time - we can feed him out of open hand, he makes cooing and chuckling noises, does a lot of dancing and head bobbing and replies to a few of our attempts to teach him words. He comes down from his cage and walks around to where we are sitting watching TV or reading out on the patio. He climbs up on a patio chair next to us sometimes. He doesn't screech very much, and when he does it is clearly because we haven't spoken to him for more than an hour or he is hungry.
But during the last week he developed an aggressive behavior at certain times, when I walk near him when he is on the floor or in his cage. He will quickly drop down from his cage to the floor, run to me and attempt to peck or bite at my feet. If I walk away, he tries to bite my heels. If I stand still, he bites the toe of my shoe very hard. When I am wearing an old pair of tennis shoes or leather slippers, I have calmly let him bite the toes of these, since my own toes were farther back in the shoe and he wasn't actually hurting my toe. Couple times I was in stocking feet and then I had to pick up the slipper and gently fend him off with it. More than once after he did this, I have knelt down and spoken to him in soft voice - he stops the biting and seems to listen, but as soon as I move again, he is back to chasing me for a bite.
He gets plenty of attention - usually either me or my wife is home and near to him all day with very frequent verbal interaction and hand feeding.
Hope someone here can help us deal with this unwanted behavior in a bird that we have really come to love.
But during the last week he developed an aggressive behavior at certain times, when I walk near him when he is on the floor or in his cage. He will quickly drop down from his cage to the floor, run to me and attempt to peck or bite at my feet. If I walk away, he tries to bite my heels. If I stand still, he bites the toe of my shoe very hard. When I am wearing an old pair of tennis shoes or leather slippers, I have calmly let him bite the toes of these, since my own toes were farther back in the shoe and he wasn't actually hurting my toe. Couple times I was in stocking feet and then I had to pick up the slipper and gently fend him off with it. More than once after he did this, I have knelt down and spoken to him in soft voice - he stops the biting and seems to listen, but as soon as I move again, he is back to chasing me for a bite.
He gets plenty of attention - usually either me or my wife is home and near to him all day with very frequent verbal interaction and hand feeding.
Hope someone here can help us deal with this unwanted behavior in a bird that we have really come to love.