my senegal parrot Hugh and his behavior to men

Question
on 03/09/2005 me and the family went on a 3 day trip to Disneyland and I had my father-in-law come over while we were gone to make sure that Hugh was ok and to let him out of his cage so that he would not be in the cage all day since he is not used to that.Well I got a call from my father-in-law saying that he went to check on Hugh and when he opened the cage to let Hugh out he started freaking out and screaming and flying all over the place so he called to tell me that he was leaving him out of the cage all night to calm down because he was worried he would have a heart attack.Prior to this he would let my father-in-law hold him and pet him with no problem so I would have never thought that it would change while we were gone.Well now he is scared of all men. Even my husband who he was best friends with prior.He liked him better than me before but not anymore.Hugh freaks out and screams and flys away when a man walks anywhere in his eye sight.I am concerned and not sure why after a year of having him he has started this weird behavior.Please help me or refer me to someone who specializes in Poicephalus senegalus(senegal parrots)so I can try and help my poor Hugh before somthing bad happens.Thank you so much for your time in this matter-Melissa

Answer
Hi Melissa,

Unfortunately, this is a little bit more advanced than I'm accustomed to. However, here are some links to people/articles/etc... that will help:


http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww19e.htm

http://www.parrothouse.com/phobicbirds.html

Back issues of Companion parrot Quarterly that deal with phobic behaviors:

http://www.companionparrot.com/content/content22.html (has a GREAT article for your situation!)

http://www.companionparrot.com/content/content54.html

http://www.companionparrot.com/content/content52.html

http://www.positivelyparrots.com/AboutPBehavCounseling.htm

I hope this helps. Good Luck with Hugh and just remember not to give up... it can take lots of time.

-Maggie