HAWK

I have been trying to get Beignet to allow me to touch her wing. She doesn't hesitate to let me do this if she is on my hand, but she doesn't like it if in or on her cage. She has been taught "gentle no", so doesn't bite to make me stop, but it has been clear to me that she really isn't ready to pursue this avenue of training. I'm willing to go at her pace. She has become much more cuddle with head scratches and face cuddles. One thing at a time is really best for her.

Beignet has been screaming with regularity since a few days before Thanksgiving. She saw the hawk that we captured and sent to the Audubon Society (it died after several weeks) and that began the screaming episodes. She has a genuine fear of predators. It has been a hard time for six weeks listening to her go through screaming attacks and ignoring them. Many times I want to say "Enough already!!!), but I'm doing my best to be a good parrot Mom and ignore the things I don't like. We praise her over and over if she sings something pretty, so that she can get the message "Scream, no attention; sing pretty, lots of attention". I did take time with her after we captured the hawk and we realized that the screaming had been about the hawk sitting on our deck. I explained to her that it made her afraid (using her hand signal for afraid), but that it had gone bye bye and wouldn't come back. When explaining things to her and using sign language, she is very attentive and I'm able to tell if she "gets" the message or not. She knows the hawk is gone, but she still has fears. The do circle high in the sky outside the three tiers (19 feet) of window and she is able to see them. Having one so close must have been terrifying.