If my Umbrella Cockatoo (almost 11) screams for attention and I am in the room (but busy with something), I stop what I am doing, walk away--don't even look at her and leave the room completely (sometimes I actually go outside). Then, I don't return until she has quiet for a specific period of time. I started with 15 seconds (had to be quiet for 15 s before I would come back..so I counted to 15 from the time she got quiet and if she screamed after 10 seconds, I started over again until there was a solid, uninterrupted 15 seconds of silence). After 15 s of silence, I walked back in, approached her and said in a whispered tone, "thanks for getting quiet, that was too loud. We have to be quiet" (while putting a quiet sign to my lips). Once she understood that screaming= loss of attention, I began to increase the amount of quiet time required before I would return.
If she screams and I am out of sight/in the bathroom, I don't return until she is quiet...This takes time. Sometimes she would go on for a really really long time. You and everyone else will just have to wait it out. Do not acknowledge the undesired behavior by making eye contact or anything.
On a daily basis, I tell mine my bird what I am doing before I do it and that tends to prevent a lot of screaming-also, an eating bird cannot scream easily.. Back to telling my bird what I am doing-I use the same words every time ("taking out the trash" *show her bags* "be right back") or ("going to work *show bag*, be a good quiet girl, see you this afternoon" or "going to the bathroom").
Sometimes I will say things to her from the other room **BEFORE SHE SCREAMS** so that she knows where I am and that seems to decrease her contact calling. I try not to do this all the time though because I don't want her to be uncomfortable with silence in my absence and in a way, talking room-to-room is the human equivalent of a contact call...so I don't do it all the time...Mostly in the early morning if people are sleeping and I can't afford a scream-fest.
At night, I also play her favorite music and allow her to get really loud as long as it is in-context. If she screams a bunch of random stuff while I am dancing with her, that is fine---that is just her being excited and getting it out of her system. What I do not want is for her to think that screaming will bring me back to her if I am busy or elsewhere.
NOTE:, my bird does have a special scream that she makes when hurt or scared and I do NOT ignore these. I will go over and comfort her because she only does it on rare occasions, and contextually, it is easy to see that it is not to get my attention.
Finally, if you ignore your screaming bird when it screams, try finding an alternative phrase or word that doesn't annoy you as much and provide attention for that. Mine says "Hello my big bird" or "I love you big bird" because I give her attention when she does. Now, she often uses this behavior as an alternative to screaming and that is our compromise.
