Yes it's the little things that can much up the whole meaning of the sentence.
Missy was taught to fly by me as I reared her from 5 weeks. Gracie never learnt to fly before she was clipped. Missy is now clipped too. I had to. I had no control over her at all and she was getting into everything, all my artwork, and destroying it and no matter how much I trained her she just wouldn't stop. Since clipping her (and she can still fly - it just takes more effort now) we have become even closer. She will let me give her head scritches and everything now.
It's the middle of winter here so it can't be hormonal - Heaven help me when that comes. I am still hoping it will settle but I do worry for Gracie.
She comes to me on her own will, but still insists on nipping me. Makes no sense. The photo shows how she tells me she wants me to bring her down to me. Right between me and the computer screen. Of course she can climb down the back of the computer screen as I have a cloth draped over the vent to stop bird stuff from getting in. Or she can go further across to the side play gym and climb down that to me. Funnily Missy now does that too....
I often say my parrots are "cats with wings" -- they are exceptional at getting in the middle of whatever I am focusing on, to redirect my focus onto them instead when they want my attention.
Bongo's favorite target is my laptop and Ipad.
As for the flying over and nipping you -- It might not make sense to you currently, but I am a firm believer that there is always a reason for any given behavior, whether it's a good reason or not, it makes sense to the bird performing the action.
Bongo was surrendered to me largely because her previous owner knew he wasn't giving her what she needed, and because she had bitten his ear. Just ran up his arm one day and started chomping him "out of the blue." And that was it for them, he lost trust, and she lost trust in him because he grabbed her off his shoulder forcefully, and likely threw her away. She was traumatized from fingers and hands over her head for months until I worked her through it.
I wish I could cite where I saw it, and I believe it may have even been from someone on this forum -- but I read somewhere about parrot behavior in the wild, where if their mate is not running away from danger, they will bite them to tell them to flee.
In Bongo's case -- I suspect that was what happened there with her past owner. She has bitten my ear twice, the same pattern of behavior. The only difference is I was able to figure out what triggered it, and figure out what she was trying to tell me, and then I was able to respond to teach her she didn't have to be afraid of what she was scared of.
The first time -- I had put a hat on. Bongo was terrified of the hat. Screaming at it didn't make the hat run away from my head. Screaming at me didn't make me realize the 'danger' and run away from the hat attached to my head.
So she ran up my arm and bit the hat -- and it didn't move, of course, being a fearless hat, so then she began immediately biting my neck to tell ME to run away. It all happened in a matter of seconds, and I ended up with some bruises and welts from it. I took time to desensitize her and get her used to hats.
She did the same behavior again months later when I cut my hair from long to short, and the difference freaked her out. Since I worked her through those two 'episodes,' she is now well beyond that.
I can't tell you why your bird is nipping you without knowing a lot more about the situaitons in which it happens, but I can tell you, there's definitely a reason for it somewhere, and with enough patience and observation, you should be able to figure it out so you can re-teach her a healthier way to communicate to you whatever it is she is trying to get across.
Bongo sometimes nips me because she literally isn't aware of how strong her beak is and how fragile my skin is sometimes, or if she's distracted and forgets. My girl began as a super big biter though, which is largely where I think that behavior has come from. I had to teach her how to be gentle in her nips so she wasn't bruising me or breaking skin. Now, she can nip me gently to tell me if she doesn't like something.
