Love junkies

My female Senegal, named Yin, lives with the half-moon conure, La-la  (There-there).  She told me she was scared of that big bird yesterday.  It was the way she was acting.  Not like her usual self.  She seemed uncomfortable in her own skin. 

In the room, her cage is stacked behind Heyoka's.  She's in the back.  He's in the middle.   Then comes the flight cage.  And outside the windows is our driveway.  Wild birds hang out at the feeders.  People and dogs come and go.  There are several windows on the west facing wall beside her and an aquarium on the east side, but the front view is most exciting.  It's where all the action happens.  So she has to "look" through "him" now to see the rest of the world.  She doesn't like that.

I got her out of her cage and fondled her.  She just wanted to escape so I held her close to my heart, clucking.  Then I kissed her chest feathers a few times.  It puts a bird in a vulnerable position to do this.  You'll get your tender nose pinched if you don't have permission.  I did though.  And my intimacy with her signaled that I had her back.

This morning she and La-la stepped out of their cage and jumped on my shoulder while the other half of my body was mostly inside Heyokah's cage petting him.  Holy cow!  I didn't mean for them to get THAT comfortable!  They were putting me in danger !  Luckily they are both so small the macaw didn't care about their proximity, but I've been in similar situations where I got bitten this way.

Holding three parrots (who don't know each other) at once?  That's crazy.  When the first one feels your attention shift to the second one, you're vulnerable.  When the first one doesn't like the other one being so close and you're actually the one in middle, you're begging for trouble with one hand in the tiger's mouth.

Until you teach a bird how to become part human, you get treated like an "other" bird.  Until you become part bird, you can't read the cues right.  It's only later when you both have a lot of familiarity that the subtly is clear.  I don't know if birds become comfortable with the way your mind works, or you just get smoother--better at NOT sending out emotional "spikes".  Electricity.  Chi.  It took me a long time to learn how to pet two birds at once.  Even the ones living in the same cages together didn't like having to share at first.  Come to think of it, I would never attempt to pet two birds at once inside the flight cage.  So I've never tried juggling three parrots at once until today.

I can't remember the last time Yin bit me, but I wonder if this is going to be the first time Heyoka will.  No. 

Yeah!  Everyone is cool.  I think it's mostly because that macaw is a love junky.  Seeing how mild he is makes me brave.  I got him to grasp my finger a few times today while I was really crowding him in the corner with the top half of my body inside the cage with him.  I have to do that to position myself to do a good job preening.  You just can't do it if the angle's not right.  I slipped my hand beneath his toes while I scratched his itchy head.  He is not brave enough to come out on his own yet.  He does not trust me enough to put any weight on my finger.  He does not want to step up.  Refusing to hold my finger tells me right where I stand.   I can preen him, but he'll stand on his own, thank you.

That's fair enough.  I feel the same way.  I'll go down and touch him a lot today.  It's very much like painting a masterpiece.  Getting the light just right.