i found a way to calm herki...when i enter the room, i take a few pumpkin seeds with me and just talk to him calmly for a bit. usually when someone enters the bird room, he gets really excited (and aggressive) and you cannot get anywhere near him without either ferociously attacking his roll of toilet paper or lunging at you.

what i do is just talk to him, say how beautiful he looks and make a amazon parrot purring sound (thats what i think it is, since it kinda soothes him). when he starts to actually look at me with his big eyes, then i know he has calmed and i ask him to wave (his one and only trick he knows....so far) and then i reward him with a lot of drama and a pumpkin seed. oh, and he takes that seed out of my fingers ever so gently!

when i get his attention and i reward him with the "drama" it seems that he just l-o-v-e-s that. there is no furrow in his brow (and he does furrow the top of his eye when he's about to strike...its weird) and he just looks very happy and interested in you. he follows me around...sometimes if i give him the signal to ask him if he wants a scratch, and he wants it, he will maneuver the right side of his body towards me, where i can scratch his wing (and underneath) until he moves away. (by the way, the right side is the side that is undamaged from his car accident).

i have been letting him out more - i place all the birds that are in his room, onto various play areas in the living room, and i let him have free time in that room (all eletrical outlets are covered). he sometimes just stands on his cage...this past weekend he visited 2 other cages. i think he really likes the "freedom" he gets in there.

oh, and just a side note. i have been calling him herki turkey (just because it rhymes and its cute), but now i've stopped doing this and call him either herk or his complete name - herkimer. i don't know why...i just think that its a 'teasing' name to call him herki turkey. call me crazy, but i would be a bit p-o'ed if someone came in my room and kept on teasing me with a name like that.