What does this mean, I feel like he is regressing.

[Saki]

Hello all, first post on my end but I want to thank you all for you threads, I have used this forum for a lot of questions I have had as a first time parrot owner and you all have been very helpful!

My wife and I have just gotten a 9month old sun conure and have had him for about a week and a half. Until the last couple of days he has been awesome and he has making progress every day. He had been facing me, letting me stroke his beak, he has been afraid of hands since since we got him but we have been hand feeding him and we have been making strides at fixing that problem.

Now he won't face me and all he does is face away from me, lean forward and flutter his wings. He's not trying to bite me, I can put my hand near him and hold it there but I can't tell what this means and I feel like I'm back at square one. If anyone has an idea of what's going on I'd appreciate some insight.

There's a video of him below leaning forward and fluttering. He does this non-stop even if I am across the room, no where near him.

Thanks

 

[wrench13]

Welcome and be welcomed.

So a week and a half is just a tiny drop in the bucket of time for a new parrot to open up and feel comfortable and at home. It can take a few weeks to a few months for that to happen. Parrots rate of acceptance to new things is GLACIAL when compared to our quick monkey brains. Remember - always proceed at your parrots rate of change and acceptance and not at the rate of your own expectations. Parrot ownership is like a marathon - slow and steady wins! As far as training sessions go, I would keep these to about 15-20 minutes at a time. Try to establish a set time for training sessions - he will come to understand that its time to learn new stuff. Once you establish this, I think you will be amazed at how quickly they learn things. My Salty is at the point where, when its training time, he picks up new tricks and stuff in 1 or 2 tries. CHeck out some of his trick training session videos ( link below in my signature).

As far as the actual actions you show in the videos, the wing fluttering is an unknown to me, however parrots can and do show their dislike of something by turning their back to you or someone else. Its not the only reason they do it and it does NOT mean they now hate or dislike yu - its more of a 'I dont really care for this at the moment'. My Salty does this all the time when, for example, he has had enough of a scratching session, or he is not crazy about the music we are listening to or singing with. Dont take it personally.

 

[Saki]

Thanks for the reply!

We are absolutely in no rush in getting him used to his new home and I'm under no illusion that this will be a quick thing. This new behavior with the lean and wings is just a new development and we can't make heads or tails of what he is trying to tell us with it. He doesn't want to be left alone, if we leave the room he goes berserk, but when we are in the room with him he does that and squawks a crazy amount.

 

[Saki]

We were interacting with him and doing some "up" training and found a way to move him without freaking out. We are starting to think he was just getting stir crazy on and in his cage. It's looking like the wing beating was his way of calling for a taxi!