Hi all,
Looking for your advice please! My wife's family have a blue fronted amazon (named Raja!) who is around 10 years old. Raja's original parent is my wife's eldest sister (who has now moved away but visits regularly). He is bonded to my wife, her mom and also her two other sisters... so he's definitely used to women! He does not interact with many men (if any at all).
I'm a huge bird lover and was so excited at the prospect of having a bird in the family. I've now been living around Raja for a good 6 months (he's seen me before periodically over the last couple years) and most days it's just my wife, myself and Raja in the house.
It has come to the point now where Raja is totally comfortable around me. He loves getting treats from me, and he will happily take food/treats from my hand (sit and lick my finger for example!) or come over and eat food from my plate if I'm eating! He responds to cue's like saying hi or bye when I leave, loves singing to music I play around the house and will even do tricks on command (like peakaboo!)
However, he is still terrified when it comes to stepping up to me - and he refuses unless his life depends on it! Couple points:
- I am quite tall (6ft4 and he's used to shorter women) - maybe that's intimidating?!
- He'll use me as transport if absolutely desperate; we've almost "forced" him onto my arm and he'll lean to where he wants to go, but won't stay and is scared the whole time (understandable). He's stepped-up out of desperation a handful of times, and each time I've made sure it's as comfortable and reassuring an experience for him as possible - but its only if he's completely desperate
- Currently he's fully flighted but there has been no change between when he's flighted or clipped
It's been months now and no further progress is being made...please help! I can provide a lot more detail if required, let me know