Tielfan! When did you get a "Buster"? Tell me about him or her! My Buster will play the blinking game for hours. She loves it. I didn't call it "blinking game" until I read about it in one of our books, but was taught this game long ago by one of the breeders I worked for in New Mexico. It calms birds and gives them the sense of mutual trust, a kind of "I trust you enough to close my eyes around you, do you trust me that much?" thing. She loves to play hide and seek as well. I see it as a variation on the blinking game but more fun for us as Kent and I get to be silly with Buster.

Learning to be non-threatening to another animal is very hard for humans. Our "humanity" is expressed in all sorts of very aggresive behaviors and stances. We walk upright, with our chests out and our heads held high. Only dominant, alpha animals take this type of posture. We smile, which most animals interpret as aggression. We are taught to make and hold direct eye contact. Most animals make initial eye contact then look away. Predators look directly at prey and don't take their eyes away until the catch is made. Sometimes we are very loud at "the wrong time". Buster gets very upset with me when I yell at the tv (usually at Bush or some other Republican) so I have to watch that. Just a few more reasons that animals in our lives is a very good idea.

This is part of what I love about birds - learning to think and behave in different ways and find new levels of patience. And part of the reason that I think I almost enjoy starting with an untamed bird. Winston is only my 2nd untamed bird to work with, but this process of beginning to trust and bond from the very bottom up is very rewarding to me. Just last night I was thinking of how far along Jerry has come, he's as sweet and tame and docile as ever. The process that we went through to get where we are today is remarkable to me - this litte, tiny bird has put so much trust in me

I used to be so in awe - probably still am - when little Chickadees would land in our hands at a bird feeding area, near here.
When Laker hangs out on one of us or flies to us we are all so pleased. We think he's so brave & smart.

I used the blink on Laker today - he used one eye & then almost fell asleep - that boy takes naps easily.

I won him at the local bird club's February raffle. He's a normal grey male and was 8 months old at the time. He's from the same breeder as Shodu and might possibly be her brother, so when he pitches woo at her I laugh at the Luke and Leia situation. But he's mostly interested in Mims, who has a crush on Vlad who's in love with himself, so it's a soap opera in the making. I have to redo my signature photo to include Buster, but I'm going to be too busy for that for at least a month.

The breeders had been experiencing some problems (including a death in the family) that kept them from working with their birds as much as they usually do. Buster was handfed and played with as a baby but hadn't had much recent handling, so it's taking a while to get him back into "I love humans" mode. But progress is being made!

Here's Buster:

Have you tried offering him something that he DOES recognize as food? Take his food cup out of the cage for a couple of hours then offer him a palmful of his regular food. You never know, he might go for it!

I haven't tried that, but I will, thanks.

As of today, though, I have gotten him to eat some millet! I hung a small sprig in his cage and for almost 3 days it went untouched. I came home from work today and he ate some I hung a fresh piece in this evening and he's already eaten some!

I know this is an old thread, but I just wanted to share something. Last week I went in to a bird store after work just to "look" at some baby greys. I was in there about a month ago and at that time the owner had a pair of 4 week old CAGs that she bred herself, so I stopped back to see how they were doing. I was disappointed to see that their wings were already clipped at 8 weeks of age. Anyway, I went to the bird room to look around, and I passed an adult grey in a cage by itself. I don't know if she was boarding it, or what; but someone was talking to it, and the bird seemed frightened. On my way out, I stopped to look at it, and it was still somewhat uneasy, and I remembered this thread. I began talking softly to it, but only made brief eye contact and would look away. Well the bird calmed down within a minute, and after about 5 minutes of talking softly, it was at the front of the cage lifting its foot as if it wanted to step up! I was amazed!!!

How sweet!

Winston and I play this blinking game every night and it's very much a bonding thing. For example, last night he was a brave little boy and he ventured out onto his playgym for the first time. As he sat there at first and looked over at me I began to slowly wink at him as if to say "it's ok, you can still trust me even though you're outside of your comfort zone." And soon he was warbling and preening away while out on his gym

It's amazing how the subtle things can make such a big difference

That's the sad thing about pet stores - all the ignorance of the public. It is also a great opportunity to help people too.

The last time i went to the pet store i must have talked to 3 different people who were looking at the birds. Not one had any idea of what they were looking at or how to behave. I talked about the different needs of the birds & why they were doing what they were doing - pointing out that the body language is so important.

Sometimes i think i should volunteer at these stores - or maybe they'd run me off.