My Amazon is scared of me??

Question
hi,
ok i bought my Yellow headed amazon about 4 month ago for the first 2 weeks he was great and isnt scared me.. so i played with him and what not.. but like after that he was getting scared of me more and more and never bites what so ever.. but flies and runs away hides under the car under the couch etc... he has developed a breathing problem which i never seen before.. like basically u can hear him breathing alil hard when he is scared or when i approach him... he wont take food directly but i put him next to him when i leave he will eat them like when i give him a cracker or a grape etc.. it is very hard for me to take him out of his cage as he tries to run away from my hand... but other times he steps out with fear and always tries to fly away.. what should i do to calm him down and not let him fear me.. by the way he talks and he is 2 years old. thank you..

Answer
Hi, Alex.  Thanks for posting!

Your post is a bit difficult to understand, but sounds to me like you might have made your YHA afraid of you if s/he was OK the first 2 weeks, then scared after that!  Does this bird breathe heavily only when he is scared (and how do you know when he's scared and when he isn't) or does he have breathing difficulty all the time?  If all the time, you need to get this bird to an avian veterinarian immediately (not a dog/cat vet, but an exotic animal vet knowledgeable on how to treat birds).  Parrots will breathe heavily when they get winded/out of breath and/or if they are overweight and being chased or running around without catching their breath.  

You need to determine what you've done to make this bird afraid of you and reverse this.  In other words, you have to do whatever you need to in order to gain this bird's trust.  You also need to learn as much as you can about parrots in general, but specifically amazons, so you can tame him/retrain him.  My website has lots of information you might be able to use:

http://www.angelfire.com/falcon/birdinfo/index.html

You should start off by learning what you can about parrots and amazons specifically.  Don't attempt to take your parrot out of his cage...let the bird come out on his own.  You'll have to work slowly with this bird until his fear subsides and don't force this bird to do anything.  You need to gain his trust first, then move on to other things.  This means you need for this bird not to fear you so you can interact with him.  For example, if you watch TV in the evenings, place the bird's cage in the room you watch TV in, open his cage door, and let the bird come out on his own.  Do this every chance you get.  Talk with the bird, etc., but don't try to get the bird up on your finger/hand, don't approach the bird, etc.  Let him come to you when he's ready.  You have to start with the basics and work up to bigger things when the bird is ready.  Your concern right now is why is this bird afraid of me and what can I do to turn this fear around.  If you can answer the first part of this question, the second part will come easily.

I wouldn't recommend taking this bird outside as you might lose him since he's afraid of you (he will flee from you instead of to you).  

Come back with any questions.

Chrys