Just a snap of the G.O.Z.P.P. (Grouchy ol Zon Perch Potato), his Hormonal Majesty Chico! He's doing fine, we're just awaiting the passing of the Summer Solstice before we try much in the way of handling. I've decreased his F/S lighting by a half hour a day, and leaving him covered a half hour longer in the morning and covering him a half hour earlier at night. Only been doing it for a couple of days, but he seems a bit calmer. Don't have any notions as to how far we'll get. The more I observe him, the more convinced I am that he's never been tamed or handled at all, merely manhandled when someone had to move him.

He's absolutely beautiful (handsome)!! He's in good hands.

Morena

Nate, you have a very handsome bird there. Chico will come around on his own terms............

What a good looking bird! I just wish I could have a whole house full of amazons! Papi was the same way when I got him... It took some time, but were best friends now. With your love and patience, Chico will realize your a friend and he'll come around.

Nate, Chico is truly a handsome young man. And yes, you can almost see the ornery molecules trickling out of his eyes .

My sister has a male DYH named Grumpy. Wanna guess how he got his name? Anyway, when she sent a blood sample for DNA testing she got a print-out from the lab. On the margin the tech had made a note that he'd known several male 'zons who could have been named Grumpy. We got a good laugh out of that -- all the way to the medicine cabinet .

Yep -- the best kind of house .

Wonderful picture! He sure is a cutie despite his hormonal-ness He'll come around in his own time.

Thanks guys, he is a beautiful boy. I'm truly trying to find the correct balance between wanting to start working with him, and being patient enough to allow him time to come to trust me. I ask myself so many questions.....At what point do I know that we've gone as far as we can without me helping him to take the next step? Will he ever be able to really trust? How much of his behavior is (a) hormonal, (b) natural temperament (c) due to past treatment or abuse? Has he ever been tamed or trained at all? There is so much about his past life that I will never be able to know.

It was interesting today. When I got home from work I went to his cage to see if he wanted to be scritched. I do this by standing near, holding my fingers to my lips and making "kissy" noises. If he's receptive, he'll settle on the perch there, and bow his head. If he just keeps strutting around and won't settle, I know now is not the time. I'll go give attention to Quito and Tausi. That usually gets him jealous, and if I approach him again, he'll more than likely want a scritch. Today when I went through the ritual he came over near the bars and lifted one foot quite high and sort of waved it once before putting it down and then settling down for a scritch. Not sure how to read that. It was not accompanied by any other sign that I would interpret as being aggressive, and he seemed calm. Sure would like to think that he was indicating a willingness to step-up, but really don't dare to think that could have been it. We'll see if he repeats the behavior.

Nate, I know all about the questions you're asking yourself because I ask myself those same questions every night regarding Winston. I obviously know that there's a big size difference, age difference, etc. between the two, but we're still working on trust when it comes to handling Winston. Basically, he doesn't want to be held or touched at all - by anyone, even Jerry (outside of beak to beak contact - no preening or anything of the sort though). Yet I can walk up to him and literally have my face an inch or two from his, and we can talk and play the blinking game. As soon as those hands come too close to him, no matter how slowly I move, he gets scared and flies away. And just last night I was telling my husband, who always questions why it's taking him so long to step up, that we know NOTHING about his past. For all we know his first home may have had a child who would walk past his cage and smack the cage or poke their fingers at him through cage bars. He's not a baby and we just don't know where he's coming from.

But he DOES trust us - trusts us to be in his cage and near him in general, just as long as we don't try to touch him. And he does want to be near us. And he eagerly steps up on a plate/bowl of warm veggies that I'm holding in my hand.

And last night was just the tiniest little improvement ever, but Dave and I both noticed it. Every night we do offer our hand and ask him to step up, and he promptly flies away. Last night, Dave offered his hand and - he thought about it. He cocked his head to the side, looked at Dave's hand, and didn't fly away. We could see the wheels turning. Some might not think it's progress, but we both recognized it.

Also yesterday Jerry and I were really playing together, he was all wound up and we played together for awhile and every so often I would peek at Winston out of the corner of my eye and he was watching us the whole time, and at times even quivering his wings - I believe out of wanting to come over and play (we were having fun and whooping it up) but being nervous since I was so hands-on with Jerry.

So yeah, I know the feeling of not wanting to push but at the same time try and make some headway - it will come.