screaming behavior

Question
Hi there!  I have lovely two year old sun conure, Sunny.  I've had her for about 3 months, adopted from a family who couldn't properly care for her.  She's an absolute doll.  However, she's recently developed a screaming habit whenever I leave the room.  This occured after my honeymoon with my husband, we were gone for several weeks and had her stay with the pet sitter so she wouldn't be lonely.  When I brought her home she has taken a while to warm back up to me (she wouldn't come out of her cage/ step up for me, and is only now just coming around when I reward her with a treat for doing so) and her screaming started then. I've been reading up on screaming behavior and lots of places give conflicting advice on how to deal with the problem.  I never yell at her or hurt her in any way for screaming.  I believe it's a contact call, so I will whistle at her from the other room, but she continues screaming.  Loudly.  For a long time.  I read some places that you should ignore them until they stop, and some places that you should NOT ignore them.  I don't mind some screaming every now and again, as this is quite normal for Suns, but Sunny is being quite excessive.  I've tried teaching her to whistle, so she can whistle at me in the other room, but she's not so good at mimicking noises.  Basically, I just try to whistle at her to reassure her that I'm still around and then I don't go back into the room til she stops screaming.  But her screaming still continues for a long, long time, even if I do whistle to her.  She just screams again.  Any other advice?  I'm willing to work with her and take lots of time, I love my bird so much, I want to do what's best for her.  Thanks.

Jillian

Answer
Jillian,
This is a question that a lot of my friends have asked me.  They want to know why their bidrs are screaming, and how they can stop it.
First of all, it sounds like Suns has become attatched to you.  The best thing that you can do is to reassure her that you are not goin to leave her again. One way to do this is to talk to her from the other room instead of whistling aat her.  Your voice may be very calming to her.
Something else that you might want to try is to cover her gage whn she is screaming too much, and after she settles down a bit, uncover her cage.  She will soon learn that too much screaming is unacceptable and not scream as much.  Also, make a tape recording of your voice and play it throut thr day, as this may calm her also.
One other thing to try, give her some new toys...something as simple as a toilet paper or paper towl cardboard might keep her occupied enough to keep her quite for awhile.

Good luck and God Bless.
Dianna