Stubborn

Parrots in general can be stubborn.
Poicephalus are stubborn - mind you, I think it's part of their charm.

I also think I can be more stubborn then them, which is probably why I can deal with them.

Léa has lately developed a fascination with my living room curtains.
The cube hangs somewhat above me when I sit at the computer (a little off to the side so I don't get pooped on). The cube happens to be very close to the curtains.

Léa has taken lately to go on the cube and try to chew my curtains from there. She generally listens when I say a stern "No"..only to go back when she thinks I'm not watching.

Unfortunately for her, she's not the first to have this obsession. Zuri, Shade and Pixel have gone through this before. I have a somewhat oddly developed sixth sense to know when a bird is about to chew on the curtains from that play gym.

Today, she wouldn't stop. She kept going and going.

So I did something I don't think she expected.

I took the cube down (with her still standing on it).

For five minutes after that she kept flying to where the cube was and turning around. She seemed a bit puzzled as to what had just happened.

Eventually she stopped and moved onto something else. She was getting into "trouble" doing things she knows she's not supposed to do (as she would move the moment I saw her and was about to go and move her myself). There was almost an air of defiance in her eyes..but I didn't let that phase me and just proceeded to ignore her.

Well that wasn't fun anymore. She then started to stay put in places I did not want her - this time waiting for me to get her. It was all a game for her I'm sure, but all the attention she got was me telling her no, moving her and going back to ignoring her - not wanting to reinforce the behaviour.

It's only normal for her to push limits. While I can get annoyed, I can take some of it before I have enough and want to put her back in her cage...and she generally is aware of when she gets close to that threshold and changes her attitude and becomes all lovey dovey.

There is no denying she is very smart and stubborn. But I'm just more stubborn and won't let her get her way if it's something I don't agree with.