Senegal fears

[Chris&Akilah]

Well people weren't kidding when they said Senegals have strong flight/fight responses. Everyday I find something new that freaks Akilah right out. Sometimes it's rather annoying, for example when she is on my desk, then decides to have a good flap and gets papers blowing...which scares her and she just goes careening off the desk, into my face, etc. Things that roll scare her too. She will be happily sitting there eating a nutri-berry or round nut, but if she drops it and it rolls...AHHHH FLY AWAY!!! Most dangerous of all are when I am taking her on walks around the house on my shoulder, and something spooks her and she just drops to the floor...not good with 2 cats and a dog around.

So what is the appropriate way to react after one of these episodes? Should I comfort her or just pretend that nothing happened? Should the scary object be put away, or slowly introduced to make it "less scary"...some items she just won't go near and they make great 'sentinels' for things I want her to stay away from, like my laptop. Putting a shiny christmas-tree ornament on the keyboard keeps her well away. But I don't know if that's really a good idea or if it's going to give her more of a complex. Anyway, just wanted to get an idea of how everyone deals with this trait. Are all poicephalus species like this?

[Michael]

You need to preemptively desensitize your Senegal Parrot under controlled circumstances. Check out my harness training article on this forum and towel taming article on my blog for the techniques involved. Then start getting your parrot used to various objects using these techniques.