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Hello everyone!
Let's start with a little background, shall we?

I got Timber, a black-headed caique, nearly 2 weeks ago, so yes, he is new. He is approx. 5 years old. I have had my quaker since last october, so I'm not entirely new to birds, though obviously, I'm not the most experienced either. He's a rehome, from an un-abusive home situation that had a flock of 13 or so other birds of every shape and size. The woman I got this bird from said that she was having some medical issues that were causing her to reduce the size of her flock, and she felt that Timber would more easily adjust to a new home. I do not know what is going on with this bird.

When I first went to meet him, before I made any decision to get him, he was a hoot. He acted very happy, loved my hair (of course) and just jived really well with both me and my husband. When his owner came to take him back to his cage, he even tried to lean away from her so that he could stay with us. Now he is exibiting some very contradictory behaviors that I just don't understand.

Mainly, he's been biting for blood. The occasions on which this has happened have no precursors for the bite either. Ex. I was giving him a pepper seed through the bars of his cage. He reached for it, but it fell off my finger. I picked it up without a fuss and offered it again. WHAMO!! Another example: while holding him, we will sometimes ask him to hang upside down. Normally, all is fine. After he flips over, very slowly, we put our hand underneath him where he can see it, then slowly raise it so that he is laying on his back on our hand. I was going through this like normal, only this time, he saw my hand underneath him, half let go of my hand in order to bite the one below him. He couldn't reach that one, so he flung himself back up and again, WHAMO! He doesn't get all the way around my finger either. He aims to pinch the skin off, which he nearly did. He'll really only do this to me, and not my husband. Yes, I understand that birds can be quirky like that, but there's more to the story.

The part I don't understand is that when I leave the room, or go out of sight, he'll WHINE and whistle and call for me to come back. This happens whether or not someone else is still in the room with him, including my husband. He'll also run down to the bottom of his cage and stick his head up against the bars, asking me to pet him. If I do go pet him, usually he has no problem with it and seems to really enjoy it. He'll even do this weird thing where he grabs the bars of his cage with his beak, flips around so that is back is against them, takes one foot, grabs the other with it, and starts pumping them up and down really fast. He only does this when we leave.

Lastly, he always is trying to regurgitate for BOTH of us.

After reading my novel, does anyone have any insight on this, or need more info?

Hi
Welcome to the world of caiques! Keep in mind this guy has been in a home where it's unlikely he got the one-on-one attention and affection he should have. If that was the only home he had, no matter what his life was like there, he's still experiencing a feeling of loss and confusion. The only home he knew has been taken away and everything is new and strange. Caiques will test you almost daily, in one way or another, and you will need to learn to read 'birdy body language' like you've never done before. They can go from zero to 60 in 10 seconds and alternate between Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, especially when they're testing the waters.

I would strongly suggest getting Sally Blanchard's 'Companion Parrot Handbook' and read it from cover to cover. It's most helpful with any age caique and will help you better understand why they do all the crazy things they do. It can take anywhere from 4-7 months, minimum, for any bird to adjust to a new situation and patience and persistence is key right now. Don't worry about 'handling' or 'holding' Timber a lot right now. Open his cage door and let him come out on his own. Give him some space and let him begin the process of trusting you both. He's not your Quaker and he will never be. If you don't subscribe to Bird Talk magazine, try to find the current issue. There is a wonderful article by Sally Blanchard that is called, 'Diffusing the Bite' and it offers some wonderful tips and suggestions for dealing with this behavior. You probably have no idea how you may be approaching him and you need to 'slow down' and 'turn down' your own actions and thoughts so he feels and senses 'calm' when you get near.
Now is the time to ask questions and find out absolutely as much as you can to help Timber by learning how to use positive reinforcement for good behavior and structured, loving, consistent discipline for the opposite.

I have a 7 year old black headed caique that I got at 5 months of age. I thought I had a pretty good line on caique behavior and offer suggestions to help others with new caiques, whenever I can HOWEVER, Sally is a friend of mine and asked if I'd care for her own 'Spike le Bec' for a while, while she moved into a new house. Sure I thought, no problem! Welllllllll, I have pulled Sally's book out of the drawer and refreshed my memory every day as Mr. Spike isn't at ALL like my Beaker and given me more bites in the last month than I've had from lots of birds over the last 7 years! All is well however and I've learned more than I thought possible about caiques in general and certainly about Spike.
My point here is just don't hurry Timber. He'll come around eventually, but in the meantime let him know you love him and he'll sense that very soon. Take Sally's suggestion to take him to a 'neutral' room to build trust. Just hang out with him and let him explore that room. I still do that with all my birds from time to time. It's a wonderful way to have extremely important personal, one-on-one time, and to build trust in the process.

Be patient and you will be rewarded with one of the most special, intelligent, fun-loving species that exists. Don't hesitate to post here as things progress but definitely get a copy of Sally's book as soon as you can and you'll discover the entire new world you can give to your birds.
Andrea