by Pajarita » Sun Jan 10, 2016 11:11 am
I don't blame you for been scared. I am scared of mine, too. And I've gotten real bad bites from them. The last one was a couple of holes in my head when the male flew out to attack me. Male amazons are big, strong, scary birds so don't feel bad about been scared because only a fool would not be.
Now, the trick is to learn their body language so the first thing you need to do is observe him carefully. Look at his eyes, is he pinning them? Look at his tail, is it fanned out? Look at the feathers around his neck and on top of his head, are they standing up of flat? Does he look tense or relaxed?
The other trick is to make sure they are not overly hormonal or even just plain hormonal. Unfortunately, you have not had him so long to know he is not for a fact because you don't know what kind of schedule he was under before coming to your house.
Now, amazons react very favorably to sweet talk. Do you know what phrase was used in his previous home for praise? If you do, use it and, if you don't, use a generic Good Boy and Pretty Bird. Are you using the same name he had before? Because that is VERY important in making them feel comfortable and to get them to like us. Parrots understand and use the concept of names to identify themselves so using the name he know it's his goes a long way toward showing them we want to be their friends. Let's say his name is Charlie, you would say something like: "Hi, Charlie! Awwww, aren't you a pretty bird! Yes, you are! You are such a good boy! Charlie is a good boy!" You know, inane stuff like that but always said in a soft and sweet voice and in a bit of a singsong. Do this for a long time and watch his body language to see what he looks like when he is relaxed and in a good mood and remember the look so you only ask him to step up when he is looking like that (but, again, it's important to make sure he is not hormonal because, when they are, they tend to be quite unpredictable and react in a split second).
In the meantime, use a stick to make him step up and wait until you feel more comfortable with him to use your hand.
And, please, take him to an avian vet asap. You need to know if he is healthy or not. He is a very old bird and he surely has health issues.