Quote Originally Posted by Zarafia View Post
But if it is and it is like my bird, the screaming will happen when she sees you approach the mews. My bird knows that she wont get so much as the time of day from me if she isn't on the right perch (and it's not the perch closest to the door). So she does curb her enthusiasm a bit and behave right off.
I realize that screaming is some what of an involuntary behavior in our birds and the operant conditioning we are asking of them is a voluntary behavior. With that being said, the above quote illustrates a point. Your bird is clearly aware of the relationship you have and it's ability to learn something. It screams when it see's you and that association is most likely driven from a food relationship. I wonder what would happen if you fed the bird through a chute or hole in the wall so it never saw you with food in the mews/chamber? Obviously they are aware of sound etc and can hear you coming either way, but if you didn't approach the mews with food for a while, maybe that would help?

What about when they do scream at your sighting, turning and walking away? Not saying it will be easy or quick...but it might work. Birds that scream just to scream, well that's a whole different ball of wax, but each bird is different, might work with some and not with others.