here is the proof that herkimer allowed my husband to give him a wonderful head scritch. it has taken him almost a whole year to allow one of us to do this to him. its a wonderful breakthrough! in the video, if you listen closely, you can hear herkimer "purring".

BREAKTHROUGH

well, my husband has been doing this for a while, but it has become progressively better!

Herkimer now allows my husband to scratch his head for a rather long time - at least a few minutes! and i have it on camera! i will post it as soon as i can. he just holds on to the side of his cage with his beak and lets the scritching begin! i was taking a few pictures, but then i realized he was also making a kind of purring noise which was just precious, so i had to make a short movie of it.

Herkimer will also occasionally come up to the side of his cage when i ask him if he wants a scritch on his back, and he allows me for a few seconds to do so. it has taken about a year to reach this point, but it was soooooooo worth it!

You think owning a parrot (or two) is for you? Have you ever thought about whether you would be able to take the chatty "contact calls" that happen every morning and every evening? Play the following movie with your sound up all the way. This is in a house with 8 parrots, just after breakfast. (We cover the ground with towels to catch the poop.) Enjoy!

PS: I look forward to these conversations...:-)