What a beauty! He's a survivor for sure!

Welcome to the board, and thank you for taking him in!

In San Diego, we do have quite a population of wild parrots; macaws, conures, amazons. All non-native, of course, but wild nonetheless!

Well at first mine didn't go to the bottom either, until he started dropping things that he really wanted. Now he's down there all time. Plus he's clumsy and falls down too.

I'm not sure I know which cage you're talking about. You will have to take a picture! And I honestly think he'll be fine moving into a new cage. He really sounds like he's adjusting so easily and it sounds like he's having fun!

OK, the shoulder and the top of the cage. Yes Amazons are famous for their dominant behavior, but I honestly think it depends on the bird. Mine is the complete opposite of everything that is said about amazons. You could just wait this one out for a little while. Time will tell with him, and I think you guys are still in your honeymoon period. If after a while you don't see any of the signs, I would let him be.

I swore I would never let my bird sit on my shoulder or play on top of his cage just to avoid issues. But he's proved to be such a sweetheart I now allow it. If I ask him to come down from his cage, he comes down immediately.

Keep the comments and questions coming! I think you've got a great bird there and I'm so into hearing how you two move along! I love the name Nigel too. That is adorable!

Thank you for saving him. Wings a choice, I have clipped and free flighted recall trained, so I truly sit on the fence. With the possible dog problem most probably safer to let him keep his wings since it will give him a sporting chance at escape. His beak is not too bad and he can take care of it himself once he finds out what chewing is all about. Shoulders are a privilege not a right, so as long as he behaves and obeys to get off again, I allow it, but once again a choice. Mostly parrots don't have rank the same way dog packs have rank they are equal in the flock, but ... a parrot will gain entertainment value from getting a reaction out of a person if by pretending to bite the person jumps back, it is a live show to them. A parrot is sort of permanent 2 year old child with the intelligence of a 5 year old. Best is to ignore any negative behavior and reward positive they soon give up on the negative. At his age he has most probably already given up any "bad stuff" he knows a good thing when he experiences it.

Thanks again guys. :-) I've been busy here at work today and not had time to read other threads on here like I wanted to (gosh, don't you hate it when you have to work at work??!!). I'm anxious to look up recipe and toy ideas!!!!

The honeymoon period.... yeah... I was wondering about that. I assume at some point Nigel and I are going to bump heads on something or other. That's ok, as long as I can learn how to deal with the issues that come up in a way that makes sense to him... I don't want to scare or confuse him.

He's already doing a bit of screeching when I leave his sight. I'm wondering if that will calm down or escalate as we bond more... I guess we'll see!! Would you guys suggest I answer him back when he screeches the first couple of times-- "I'm here, Nigel, I haven't left you" to reassure him, and then ignore further screeches, or not answer at all?

Sorry for the non-stop questions...

Lori, don't ever be sorry for asking questions! Believe me, we all have them!

Well since you and Nigel are now a flock, I would answer the screeches. It's his way of calling you if he can't see you. Some people might disagree with it, but I couldn't go with ignoring him.

Mine used to screech too, but we've replaced that with words. Now it's Hello! Hi Ryan! Those are my calls rather than screeching which could be painful! You can replace the screech too, if I can, you can!

Just keep throwing stuff at us in here and we'll give you loads of ideas.

And yep, I hate it when I have to work at work too!

Ok-- so when he calls, I answer back with words, right? I've been saying, "Ok Nigel" in a calm voice when he screeches. Don't get me wrong, his "screech" is nothing like the horror stories I've heard. lol But he can go on and on a bit.

Oh, and he talks human, too... I just can't understand what he's saying yet. The woman I got him from said he never spoke, just screamed at her. (Wonder why huh?!!!) But he mumbles on in this cadence like a human conversation, and throws some definite words around. I'd *like* to think I heard "love you" but that might be wishful thinking. :-)

Questions is the way we all learn. Reassure the first contact call, it will be a tiny little squak or something, the screech comes when you don't answer the polite call. Tell him you will be right back, leave for 20 seconds and say hello again, then make the time longer. If you know how long the time till screech is then easier to contact him before he needs to contact call you. Eventually you can just talk to him out of sight and he wont set up the screech. Whispering may also prevent that contact screech. They don't need constant attention just to know where the flock is.

Angie described that perfectly!

Oh-- here's the cage I have--

Linden Bird Cage - Large Bird Cages at Bird Cages

I use a whistle for a contact call. With Poe a BFA, we taught her to whistle instead of screech for her contact call. She screams once and we whistle so she starts whistling back, and than after a while she whistles first, but if we don't answer....she will revert back to the screech.