Overly attached male IRN

[Koni]

I have a ~ 3-year-old male IRN. I've had him for about 2 years now.

His cage about 6 inches away from where I spend most of my day (at my desk). It's been like that since I got him.

At the moment, he's overly attached to me.
Signs:
- He starts [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqUVsWQoNKc"]screeching[/ame] if I'm not around. Sometimes he'll be taking a nap and the moment he sees me leave the room he wakes up and starts shaking/flapping his wings and moving around till I get back. The only time I can leave without him noticing is when he's in deep sleep.
- If he's out of the cage he instantly flies away with me if I leave the room.
- If I'm not at home for longer periods of time he's just too stressed.
- He's used to the people that live with me, but when other strangers come in he's afraid of them. I guess he's not a people-bird and I can get him used to strangers by gradually introducing them, letting them give him treats?

I know it's cute and all and I appreciate it, honestly, it's fun most of the time since he trusts me. It starts NOT to get fun the moment I need to leave or go somewhere.

What can and should I do? I want to gradually make him used to me not being around. So maybe short periods of "alone time"?

Also, how do I know if this behavior is just attention-seeking and not actual stress? Maybe he thinks "oh, if I screech he comes back so I'll keep screeching and moving around till he gets back"? I don't want to encourage this behavior, but I also don't want for him to be stressed all the time. How do I know what kind of behavior is this and if it's really affecting him?

He's the only parrot I have right now. I have thought about getting another IRN (female) so he can partner up with her, but sadly I don't have enough room and can't do that properly at the moment.

Of course, other people that live with me try to play with him as much as possible.

What are my other options? I'm open to any ideas. I haven't added any mirrors in the cage and I avoid letting my IRN play with mirrors, and I don't know if I should start doing that. It just seems to unnatural and unfair to trick my parrot into thinking he has another parrot with him.

Should I give him treats before I leave? But maybe that will encourage him to not let me leave so I keep giving him treats.

Again, I'm open to any ideas and as much advice as possible.

Thanks!

 

[LordTriggs]

take a deep breath

it sounds like he's trained you pretty well to come when he calls for you. Have you tried replying when he calls? Some people here do that and it calms them down a lot.

I would personally keep away from using mirrors as they can sometimes have detrimental effects on a bird's behavior. Slowly introducing people is the right way to do it unfortunately very few birds are people animals just due to us being predators and them being prey so there's a biological element to their fear.

Definitely stick away from the idea of "getting another for them" It almost always goes wrong in some way ending up with everyone being worse off.

Personally I would go with a reply back when you're just moving to a different room quickly and for when you're going out telling him you are gonna be gone for a while, they do get the gist of what it means pretty quickly. Just remember he wont stop overnight and it will be gradual