Akimi (and some GCC behaviour questions)

[Saerphe]

I think she also liked that it kind of echoes inside. She loves to play 'echo chamber' with different things, and it's hard to get her to play with toys that don't have bells on them.

[Pajarita]

Yes, they do love to hear themselves 'talk'

[Saerphe]

Akimi really shows off her acrobatics in my newest vlog, which is why I'm sharing this here. She's gotten a lot more active these last few weeks - climbing all over, flying down to the floor or on my bed (where she's not allowed to go, so I'm continuously getting up to fetch her), destroying cardboard, burrowing under blankets, and so on.

I've noticed she says a handful more phrases (or possibly she was already saying them and I'm only just now beginning to understand her when she talks). 'Pretty Bird' and 'Pretty Birdie' are by far her favourites, but I've also heard 'Hi Baby!, 'What are you doing?' and something that kind of sounds like 'Thank-you'.

Also she's really trusting me a lot more recently. Only a few weeks ago, she started letting me pet her with more than one finger at a time, and she's only just started letting me grab and hold. It's kind of humbling to think how far we've come together, and how far we still have to go. <3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlQZsSVCwPw

[pukeko]

: D If she were Suk, that behavior would mean "I see a dark and shadowy place which might be a nest! I must hiss-cluck and run up to it and strut beside it!" I say beside because she wasn't actually keen on potential nest sites which she could actually fit inside... no, the shadow under a door was much preferable, or the shadow under the knee of a straight leg than any box or bag, which was actually a bit nice. And if she did run off to flirt with a door the loud hiss-clucking was always a dead giveaway of her location! (bird safe rooms, and she did not chew the doors) That level of intensity of the behavior would mean that spring hormones were already starting, but Suk was calmer after about age five. What does it mean for Akimi? Fun channel, too!

[Saerphe]

What does it mean for Akimi? Fun channel, too!

Thanks! With Akimi it generally means she sees something she wants, or wants to get down and explore - usually the floor. Or that she's trying to get my attention.

So we'd made some excellent strides together over the last three weeks when we had the house to ourselves, but now that my parents are back (and my brother's home for reading week), it seems like we've gone backwards several steps. Akimi screams incessantly, bites harder and more often, and won't let me touch her the way I was able to only a couple weeks ago. She's lost almost all of her interest in exploring. She seems a lot more anxious too, and I have a hard time getting her to settle, especially since she won't let me pet her when she gets agitated. Talking quietly and calmly doesn't help much either.

Literally the day before my parents came back, she was a near-perfect bird. Now she's reverting back to many of the behaviours that were most problematic when I got her.

I'm going to get back into daily trick and flight training (we lapsed a bit while my parents were gone), and try to give her extra options for foraging and play.

The main problem is getting her used to having other people in the house again. This is going to take time as much as anything, I know. It's also hard though, because she doesn't like my parents and gets really agitated around them, and they're nervous around her too. It makes it hard to have them in the same room when Akimi's constantly freaking out at their presence. Even hearing so much as a sneeze, or footsteps upstairs is enough to set off a screaming fit.

Anyone have additional ideas as to how I could help Akimi get back to being comfortable in her environment now that we're back to sharing it with other people? She was doing really, really well, and I hate to see her so anxious and stressed out all the time.

[Wolf]

Try moving her to your room, where she does not have to contend with the humans that she does not like and see if she improves.

[Saerphe]

Try moving her to your room, where she does not have to contend with the humans that she does not like and see if she improves.

We're both in the basement, which is out of the way. The thing is, she can still hear people moving around and that's mostly what she screams at. She spent most of today screaming at my ceiling when she heard people walking around, and then screaming at one of my bedroom walls (shared between mine and my brother's rooms) when she heard my brother talking to some friends on Skype. My brother's going back to school tomorrow morning and won't be home again until at least summer, so I won't have to worry so much about him, but still. :\

[Wolf]

If they are contact call then answering then consistently with a two note whistle will in many case get your bird to whistle for this purpose instead of their contact call or screaming. Another possibility is to use a radio to help with the sound of peoples voices.

[Saerphe]

I was basically right in my earlier post that mostly it would take time. Akimi's essentially back to normal - a little noisier than before (but nothing intolerable), and interestingly a bit more cuddly than before (which I'm not complaining about, haha! ). We were both just frustrated and because of that we weren't communicating very well. Getting back to regular flight training helped a lot too, I think, since she was getting more exercise and had less energy to use to get into trouble.

[Wolf]

Sounds about right. None of the things that I suggested except for the contact calling was intended to do anything more than to help distract her a little so as to ease her transition as much as possible. Birds do not handle change very well and always require time to adjust to them and are normally quite fearful when changes such as a move occur. Same thing when new people come into the picture. They are creatures of habit and truly love routines as this gives them the sense of having some say and control of what happens in their lives because they are able to predict when certain thing are going to occur, things such as Mom is coming home, time for out of cage play dinner time or any of a number of activities that are scheduled to happen at certain times of the day and this helps them to cope with the stresses of living in a human environment.