He struts across his perch with tail feathers fanned and eyes flashing. He is quiet if I am sitting on the couch but the minute I get up he is all over his cage, pacing and shivering. It seems to be hormonal. What do I do? I love my bird and want to do the right thing so I don’t destroy the relationship.

Leretta@aol.com

As you suggest, your Amazon seems to be exhibiting what many people call "hormonal" behavior. It would be more accurate to call it aggression, exacerbated by hormones in some parrots who become hyper-territorial during breeding season.

The body language you describe - eye pinning, tail fanning, and biting - is typical of an aggressive parrot defending its territory. For some birds, the behavior is temporary and goes away in a few days or weeks. For others, the behavior can last for months.

In the mean time, what do you do about it? First, avoid any situation in which you might get bitten. Not only do you want to save yourself the pain, you want to avoid allowing your bird to make a habit of biting. Nature rewards biting to protect territory by making it a self-reinforcing action. The more often your parrot succeeds in driving you away with a bite, the more motivated he will be to do it again.

If he shows any signs of aggression, leave your Amazon in his cage and begin to work instead on reestablishing your positive relationship with him. When you catch him acting "normal," praise him with "Good!" and hand him a treat not a part of his daily diet. If he shows aggression as you attempt to give him the treat, place it in a food cup instead of handing it to him.

When you’re able to remove him from his cage again without being bitten, try some short training sessions with your bird. Take him out for a short while, making sure the time you spend with him is positive. Put him back before he gets impatient and reward him with a treat.

You might even let him back out when he is finished eating the treat and then put him back into the cage for another treat. This will help him understand that you are not going to lock him away in his cage each time you put him back.

Allow your bird some time to get over his aggression. Be as positive as you can be in every interaction you have with him and I suspect in time he will be back to his old self.

World-renowned animal trainer Steve Martin established one of the first free-flight bird shows in the country at the San Diego Wild Animal Park in 1976. His international consulting company, Natural Encounters, Inc., now helps zoos all over the world train all types of animals using positive reinforcement.

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