Senegal hates men

[whitejory97]

I bought my 3 year old senegal parrot at a pet store.
He is doing fine. I gave him his own room cause he dont like my other birds. He dont like my son. He will run up and bite him. He will fluff himself all up, put up his wings. And run to me chirping all upset if he gets near him. The petstore said he dont like men. Is this very common with senegals to do this? I had one years ago and never had issues like this

 

[Brdldy58]

I have had two Senegals in the past. The first one was an older bird. I gave him tons of attention, every single day and never was able to get him anything even close to tame. After a year and a half of bloody fingers, I re-homed him with a couple who said they would keep in touch, but I never heard from them again.

I waited a few years and got a hand-fed baby Senegal from a store. He was cute, cuddly, and ADORED me. He tended to be nippy with other people, even though I tried to socialize him. He was not interested in trying to be social with anyone else, including my daughter, who was about 10 at the time. He wasn't overtly nasty with her and he did imitate her voice (He said Mom, Mom, MOM!!! and would laugh maniacally and saying OUCH in her voice when he would bite, but he didn't want any attention from her, other than her talking interactions with him.

Fast forward a few years and I was dating my current husband. He came early for our date and my daughter thought it would be great fun to see the bird draw his blood, so she told him the bird was friendly (!!!!) Imagine her disappointment, when instead of the expected blood bath, the bird ADORED him. I walked into the living room to find the bird on his back on B's hand. From that moment on, the bird LOVED him and hated me. I tried everything, but from that point on, the bird would viciously attack me. I still carry a scar on my nose from him jumping on my shoulder when I was on the telephone and opening a big slice out of my nose. As much as the bird liked him, my husband is not a "bird person." And after the viciousness increased to the scary point, I gave the bird to a friend of mine who had "always wanted a parrot." I warned him of the bird's nature and suggested that he might want to get another type or a baby bird, but he didn't care! He loved the parrot and gave him wonderful care, but neither he or his elderly father were ever able to hold him.
Enter this guy's alcoholic friend. The minute this guy walked in, the bird was all over him. He would put his head down for head scratches, lie on his back on this guy's hand. Every time he came to visit, the bird was in love! Go figure!
So, short answer to all of this and after more research on my part, Senegals tend to gravitate to ONE person, but they can be very fickle. As long as the bird loves you and you are fine with his personality limitations, enjoy him! Please make sure to keep the bird away from your son. In my experience, the attacks became worse, not better. Much better to avoid pain and stitches by keeping them separate.

Good luck with him!
Deborah