Should Your Parrot Be On Your Shoulder?
When I first became enamored with parrots as a youngster, it was because I imagined having my very own pet bird happily perched on my shoulder, nuzzling my neck and gently talking in my ear. When I finally saved up enough allowance and whatever spare change I could scrounge up, I made sure my big brother followed through on his promise to accompany me to the pet store so I could pick out my bird. I couldn’t have been more excited to bring home Elvis, my cockatiel. Elvis wasn’t close to being hand-tamed but that didn’t stop me from insisting he perch on my shoulder. When I finally got him to actually perch there, he directed his protest at my ear, hissing and then charging at my earlobe; not quite breaking the skin but inflicting an affective pinch. Even though Elvis and I started off on the wrong foot, after I started all over with baby steps like getting him to perch on my hand, we managed to foster a friendship that spanned 21 years. Much of our time together included him contently perched on my shoulder playing with my hair and tickling my neck while I did homework or watched TV. Years later, I adopted a male double yellowed-headed Amazon parrot, Sunshine. But there was no way I was going to offer my shoulder as a perch. It was right after my first bird conference and where I met a woman with a stitched-up nose and swollen lip. She explained that she did something to frighten her macaw, and he reacted by biting into her face. She actually had an appointment for some “minor corrective surgery.” With Elvis, I was OK with the thought of a potential nip if I did something to offend him, because even his fiercest pinch was something I could physically and emotionally get over within a short period of time; I could handle the potential aftermath of an irate, even downright angry cockatiel inflicting his biggest, baddest bite. With Sunshine, however, I knew his bite could involve a band-aid or even stitches. That was the difference for me; an Amazon parrot’s beak packed a much bigger punch, and I didn’t want to risk it.










