Just thought I'd do a show and tell

[Bird woman]

I don't let my fids ride on my shoulder but honestly there always up and around my face. There isn't a parrot alive that won't bite if the situation is misread or the right set of circumstances happens and I don't care how loving they are or how long you've had them. They are just like young children and will lash out for many different reasons. Just playing on the floor with my too's with boxs and paper bags creates enough excitement that I have to watch out when they get worked up. Riki has a big chicken and when I grab it and it makes its gross chicken noises she comes running and attacks it throws it around until she thinks it's dead then the other too's will grab it and it starts all over again. My son has gauges in his ears and it's the first place my birds head when he comes over! BW

[Polarn]

for me it is a convenience, especially now there is only one left. It gives me the possibility to have her tag along in my day to day buisness such as work or going to the store etcetera without me feeling that she gets in the way, part from when she decides to act up.. but the normal shoulder riding for her is between rooms/desks, either shes on the cage in my office and when i walk past it towards the door shell jump on and check out where were going. or when I come in she normally jumps on to get a lift to the office chair. The shoulder riding with this lil pretty much started when I worked in sales of spare parts for trucks where I had to constantly walk away from my desk and into the warehouse to pick up parts, and parts that required both hands to lift. But yeah you get the beak to chin or mouth every now and then, but for me it is worth it for her quality of life being able to tag along quite a bit. But I'm also one who would take in dogs coming from dogfights that were too agressive to go anywhere else and give them time in a normal setting without cages etcetera to see if they adjusted enough to be rehomed. sometimes with warning labels and quite often without. Being able to work with the police on that was extremely rewarding but that too has resulted in some scars along the way.

As I said in some circumbstances you have to think about the willingness to receive a bite because it is next to impossible, but in cerrtain occations for me it is worth the risk in order to benefit the life of the animal (or a kick in some cases) my families farm where I grew up is full of rehomes coming through our doors, mostly via the police and then "retrained". Getting a parrot is one of them circumbstances since it isn't a domesticated animal and as you mentioned with your toos, the trick isn't just watching out for when they get grumpy you also have to watch out for them beeing too happy. I have found this wery true with amazons, who are quite easily driven to excitement (awesome birds tho, one of my favorite species) But Ive found them quite interactive and they just build and build their excitement when playing with toys etcetera.

[liz]

Rainbow can tell me a lot of things. Sometimes he does not have the time to tell me or can't get her words together fast enough before she has to react.

Rainbow was well into his teens when I got her. She came from a home where her humans loved her and treated her like a child. She stayed with me for a week when her humans were moving and enjoyed herself even though I did not let her out of her cage for fear the other critters would harm her. When she was brought back to me she claimed me and my house as hers and gave attitude adjustments to any other critter than did not agree. She taught me how to be her human. I learned from her instead of her learning from me.
Myrtle was only a year old when I got her but she came from a very dark and scary place. Though she would walk to me for help and climb to my shoulder when she jumped off the top of her cage trying to fly I could not touch her until her wings grew back.

They came to me in different ways for different reasons and from very different history. I have no fear of being harmed by them but have been a few times. Unless they can tell me what they are thinking I give them the benefit of the doubt.

Yes Polarn, we do need to tell others of what can happen and has happened to teach the humans how to prevent the problem or deal with the aftermath of it without blaming the bird for what happened.

I kind of like your birds creation of your ear. It is different.