Hand-taming a scared lovebird

Question
My wife and I adopted a masked lovebird that had found it's way through a few foster homes after it's original owner had decided she didn't want it anymore. We don't know much about her history, but we had her clipped by an avian grooming expert who said she appears to be 'older', which I'm guessing means anywhere from 5-10, but I really don't know.

She is very non-aggressive, but seems to be deathly afraid of hands/fingers, which makes it very hard to take her out of her cage without her getting stressed out. She will run around until she believes she is trapped, and then she will freeze while you pick her up. She never bites, but will flutter out of your hand if you give her the opportunity and she has no qualms about flapping the 4 or 5 feet back to the floor.

We have been taking her out and spending time with her, and have made small progress but she is still very afraid of our hands/arms (but she will sit on a shoulder if you place her there.) We got her a much more adequate cage and new perches and toys (no mirrors), and she seems to enjoy her time in her cage, but we want her to enjoy her time with us too. Is grabbing her out of her cage detrimental to her rehabilitation? Please advise what we should do or not do to help this sweet bird feel safe and at home with us, so we can shower her with the attention she deserves. Thank you.

Answer
Hi, R,

Yes, grabbing your bird can be detrimental to her "rehabilitation."  The reason being is that a bird has a natural fear of being grabbed around its body because when a predator seeks out a bird as prey, the predator's instinct is to prevent the bird from flying away.  Therefore, the predator will land on a bird's back or somehow take action to prevent the bird from flying.  Many parrots, even tame parrots, do not like to be petted on the head/back for this very reason.  

Your goal with your bird is to not do anything to frighten/scare the bird.  You need to build trust with your bird.  Allow your bird to come out of its cage on its own before trying to interact with s/he.  If/when you try to catch/grab your bird when it is inside its cage, you are invading the only secure area in the world your bird has.  Its cage is its safety zone, it's personal territory, its home.  A bird needs to have a place where it can feel safe and secure.  Otherwise, s/he will always be under stress (and stress can be detrimental to a bird's health).  I'm surprised your bird hasn't bitten you yet if you "corner" your bird in its cage trying to bring s/he out.  Keep your bird's flight feathers trimmed so the bird cannot get away from you...this is a control mechanism you have with your bird.  Set boundaries...you must have control over your bird, not your bird controlling you.

Take your time with this bird.  Place its cage in a location where you can open its cage door.  For example, if you watch TV in the living room, place the bird's cage in the living room, open the cage door, proceed to watch TV, and just see what the bird does.  A bird's curiosity will normally bring that bird out of its cage eventually, and the bird will become curious as to what you are doing.  Eventually, your bird will come to you and then you can allow the bird to sit with you in just about whatever scenario you desire.  You can also try to coax the bird out of its cage using its favorite food.  And ALWAYS reward your bird with its favorite treat when it behaves positively, but NEVER reward your bird when it behaves badly.  Think of your bird as a 2-year old child and go from there.  You might want to invest/build some type of play stand that you can move from room to room.  When you are in the kitchen, take the bird with you to the kitchen.  Give it "tastes" of whatever it is you might be cooking for dinner.  I have found in the many years of raising parrots that you can get to them using food as persuasion!  

Visit my website for more general information about dealing with parrots:  http://www.angelfire.com/falcon/birdinfo/index.html  Birdchannel.com is also a good website.

Chrys