MikeSearson

The only thing that's changed is the Christmas stuff, but that's 2 rooms away. One row of lights is visible on a mantle 60 feet from his cage and we even turned them off to see if that would help. He lets me pet him and pick him up now but if I pick him up and he sees a hand move toward him to pet him he acts like he's about to get hit, freaks out, etc. I've had him since he was a baby and no one has ever tried to hit him nor has he seen anyone hit anything else. Sometimes I think it was easier when I kept snakes!

Not sure. Now he's doing the same to me....I approach the cage and he starts climbing to the other side to get away from me, shrieking the whole time, falling off his perch, etc. He won't even take a nut from me. He's not growling or biting, just running like he's afraid and shrieking. I don't think he's playing a game or anything. He's acting scared. Up until yesterday he was a totally loving bird, now he's acting like we're planning to cook him for Thanksgiving dinner.

I have kept parrots most of my adult life. I've had Lovebirds, a Quaker, a Sun Conure, and a Senegal. I lost the Quaker to "teflon poisoning" about 18 years ago and my Senegal was stolen from me 10-11 years ago. Then as now, I always wanted a Grey. Well, to be honest...a large parrot such as a Macaw or a Cockatoo. I had worked with them in the past, but never owned one. When my job transferred me 2 years ago, i vowed to get one of the birds I had always wanted. We have a good Parrot shop close to us. They don't exactly sell birds, though: cages, supplies, food, and they offer boarding. However they do take baby birds on consignment from time to time and act as a broker for local Breeders. I began visiting the store with my wife to try to win her over to a macaw or a Cockatoo...but she was a bit intimidated by their size (except one of the store birds: a Hyacinth macaw...biggest one, go figure). A coworker had told her all about Greys and I had always liked Greys, myself. The only bird species I really wanted nothing to do with were the Amazons. So we decided on a Grey. When the store got a batch of babies in, they were already spoken for, but one. He was kind of a runt, and I spent every day visiting him and bonding with him for 4-5 months until we could bring him home. We named him "Mumbles" because of his habit of mumbling and his resemblance to the penguin from Happy Feet. He says about 50 words and phrases:"I Love You", "Are you a good bird?" "Are you a good boy", "I'm a bad bird", "Good morning, mumbles", "Wanna go outside" "How bout that?", "Gimme a kiss", etc. He's a great bird and I never regret getting him, even though he's going through some behavioral problems right now with my wife.

Thanks for all the advice! He's not even trying to bite just growling and running away (falling to the floor, acting spooked, etc) The thing is, he has gone to her in the past, but the past two days growls and acts like he's afraid, he won't even take treats from her now. I guess I'm just trying to figure out "WHY"? It's not as if she was mean to him (she does love him and is actually very hurt by his actions). I think i'll have her be the "rescuer" at the next "trim".

Both of us take him in, together. Of course when he's done he comes back to me right away. When i'm not around he'll go to my wife and be affectionate, etc. If I come in the room though, he'll abandon her or try to bite her to go to me.

I have a Grey that is about a year-old. While I didn't handfeed him, I spent a few hours every day with him as he was being handfed to bond with him. (he still does the head bob like he's being handfed and makes noises he made as a baby when I hold him). We named him "Mumbles" and he's a decent talker for his age. He says about 50 different words or phrases, mimics the wild birds, etc and loves attacking his toys, hanging upside-down, etc. He has always favored me over my wife(even though he's "her bird"), a few months ago he would try to bite her whenever she came near him, but he stopped that and would let her pet him, etc. The first time I heard him growl was a few months ago...the grandkids came to visit and he wanted no part of them. The second time was the last time he had his wings/nails clipped. He was PISSED! Last week my in-laws came to visit and he was ok with them, but my wife's sister wore a scarf that made him growl...we think because he thought it was a towel (Bird store owner puts a towel around the burds to clip them). Yesterday afternoon my wife cleaned his cage and he started growling at her, she just pulled the tray and changed the paper. She thought it was the sweatshirt she was wearing, similar to the bird store owner's shirt with a UNR logo, she changed it and he stopped growling but was acting wary. But last night it was worse...growling at her, running away from her. He's fine with me, but I've never seen a bird act like this before. The only other change in the house is the Christmas lights...could they be causing this behavior?