Lovebird- trouble stepping onto fingers

[djangobug]

I've had my little lovebird Django for about three months, bought from a local pet store. He's fun, intelligent, and very curious with a BIG personality. However, despite him having no problem with and loving all other aspects of his training, he has a lot of trouble stepping onto my fingers.
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I had read the guide on this website a few times over the past few months, and decided that target training was the place to start. I target trained him while he was inside the cage, clicker, millet and all. He picked it up and was having a great time targeting with me within only a few minutes. I taught him to do a few other things as well, such playing with certain toys in the cage on command.
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Stepping up was logically the next step, but I noticed that he was scared of my hands when they entered the cage, which I accounted to the pet store owners probably chasing him around the cage and grabbing him. (I have never, to this day, forced him out, instead I got him out through targeting and treats) Because of this, I trained him to step onto a dowel first, still inside the cage. I had only used positive reinforcement, and getting him onto the dowel was easy with his target stick. He had the command down in just a few minutes. I still practiced with him every day, and soon he looked forward to our sessions, even reaching out his feet eagerly to step up. I knew I should now move on to my hands, so I began training him to get used to my hands being in the cage, using the same clicking-treat method. Now he's to the point of being comfortable with my hands no matter where they are in his cage. He'll even let me pet his chest, wings, and side of his neck, which I reward with clicking and treats as always.
He shows no visual discomfort when my hands are in the cage, though he does tense up a bit when I pet him at first.
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The problem is that even though he is so eager to step onto the dowel, he just WILL NOT step onto my finger. He knows the command, and I even reverted to the basic 'targeting him onto the perch' exercise. He'll reach and reach for the target, but unlike the dowel, will not step onto my finger, instead nudging it away, or when he almost gets to the point of falling on my finger, will bite it hard. He will occasionally beak my finger, which I feel is promising, but always ends up scooting away or trying to nudge, or bite my finger away (I do not cry out or flinch when he does bite. I just calmly wait a few seconds after he is done and remove my hand and treats from his presence until he is begging me for attention and more training again.)
We've gotten as far as me gently nudging his belly with my finger, to which he will just sit there and stare at it. If I nudge a little harder, he nudges me back and scoots hurriedly away, or bites me.
Today he put one foot briefly on my finger, which I thought showed huge promise, so I clicked and gave him massive amounts of praise and treats. He did it once more, and same thing, but after that, he reverted to his usual nudging me away or biting me.
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I guess I'm just looking for some input as to where to go from here. Do I need to just keep working with him? Am I unwittingly training him to dislike my hands in some way? Like I say, he's an otherwise very smart and very eager-to-please bird, and he chirps up happily and scoots to the front of the cage when I enter the room.
Any advice would be very appreciated, thank you, I apologize for the long post, I just want to make sure that I put everything out there!

[shiraartain]

I'm sure others will reply shortly but my sisters' parrots don't like stepping onto fingers either. What they are willing to do is step up onto arms or fists. We work with that, since it isn't a huge loss and it is what the birds are comfortable with

[Wolf]

Well I would not go poking him in the belly to get him to step up at all. Yes, I know that you used the word nudge to indicate that you were being very gentle, but I still would not go that route. You can extend a finger along side the perch stick that you are using and offer the occasional treat to the bird held so that he needs to approach and eventually step on to the finger. If you use any other surface while you interact with your bird while he is out of the cage such as sitting him on a table next to you, you could set him down there and keep your hand close by the bird while you talk to him, watch TV with him or what ever and given time he will start climbing up on his own. I often set my birds on my knee while doing things like working of a piece of jewelry or a woodcarving and place my hand down next to them off and on, eventually they all step up on my fingers of their own volition, it just takes consistently presenting them with the opportunity and the patience to wait on them to decide that it is a good and safe place to be.

[liz]

If that is the only problem you are having with your love bird you are doing good. I have cockatiels who won't step up but will climb on to the back of my hand. When they are out and need to go back they will stand still so I can scoop them up. If you get him to step on something else then just lift him to your shoulder. It gives them a chance for personal contact and bonding without hands. I haven't found one yet who is afraid of faces.