we took herki to the vet this past friday to get him dna-sexed. if herki turns out to be female, "she" would possibly be taken to a sanctuary soon, but if he turns out to be indeed a "he", he would be taken to a sanctuary later in the year. (we think he would be happier at a sanctuary where he can spend the rest of his days around other amazons).

at the vet, the vet tech there said that herki was really a great bird. she thought he might have been a bit intimidated by all the activity around the office and kept to the "charmer" personality. we will find out about the results of the test later this week or early next.

i had herki at my workplace for about 30 minutes before we left to go to the vet and he started to put on his charms there. he said "hi" or "okay" to everyone who passed by. he didn't make any of his loud noises (which i was a bit afraid he would start doing). people peeked around to see him, thinking he was a child.

after that day was over and we were driving home, herki was fighting to keep his eyes open. that poor guy probably was exhausted from all the new activity that day. he rarely gets out of the house nowadays. at most, we sometimes roll him out in a cage outside in the backyard to get some fresh air and sunshine.

today, i gave him a shower (he doesn't really care for showers, but doesn't fight it either. he sits there and takes it. after that, i decided to keep him out of his cage (all the other birds were out in the living room anyways) so he had the whole room to himself. I closed the door, but keep coming to see how he was after a few minutes. he kept to the top of his cage. he didn't try to jump at me when i peeked in the door or even when i stepped in to the room, but when i went into the room with the intentions of putting him back into his cage so that we can put our birds back into that room, he knew something was up (or he heard is amazon buddy just outside the door) and he tried to fly at me. i closed the door slightly and he fell a few inches from the door. i just asked him to step up on a stick and i got him easily into his cage.

i have been thinking lately that maybe its not that herki doesn't like humans....i think its because he just recently (i think it has been about a year or a little more) lost his eyesight and is still coming to terms with moving around and seeing things. im thinking maybe i approach him when he doesn't see me and when he does turn his head to see me, i frighten him because of my close proximity to him. and therefore he does what he thinks is his last resort - to fly at me to fight me off. with this in mind, i am making sure he sees me and i move slowly toward him. i will see if this makes a difference and I can gain his trust again. i may try to more often move the other birds out of the room and see if i can interact with herki out of his cage.