Grey Fisher
Chin nibbles can progress to bites
 My two-year-old blue-fronted Amazon has bonded with me and will tolerate my wife. Thanks to your most recent column I will attempt acclimating him to the rest of the family using tips suggested. My question has to do with a behavior he has. When I hold him on my finger, he grabs my shirt collar with one foot and he lightly bites my chin with his beak. He does not bite hard enough to hurt, but hard enough to get my attention. Why is he doing this?
-- Gerard Capra
 I would guess it's just one of his ways to get your attention. The first time it happened was perhaps one evening while you were both having some good quality cuddle time together. Parrots who have bonded with their humans will often try to preen them, just as they would in the wild with another bird. My own bird will often "preen" my five o’clock shadow. Unfortunately for me, he occasionally nips the skin!
What happens is that the preening starts off simple enough, and it's just so darned cute we can't help but scratch them or kiss them on the head. Later, when we don't respond as well or as quickly as our birds would like, they have to step up their behavior to get the same reaction. They start "mouthing" us in places like the chin, and before we know it, we get bitten.
In my case, I've decided to keep my face free of all non-razor-inflicted injuries. Now I simply divert my bird's attention to something else to chew on, such as a paper towel. If you allow your bird to continue grooming you, just be sure you aren't reinforcing anything more than gentle touches, and you should have a happy, healthy relationship with your parrot for many years to come!
Grey Fisher is a trainer at the Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia. Previously he was a trainer with Natural Encounters, Inc., a world-renowned organization that helps zoos all over the world train birds and many other types of animals using positive reinforcement.
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