# Gregory bit someone - HARD!



## Dressagebird (Feb 3, 2016)

So my little boy Gregory is only about 14 weeks old now. I take him to work with me most days, it's my own quiet business and I put him in my tiny office when I'm out of the room and then come back and hang out with him while I'm sending emails and making calls.

Gregory has never bitten before this, just little nibblesand his little cranky 'scratch me more' noise that they do. 

So today I came back into the room and Gregory hopped onto my shoulder, then there was a knock on the door. It was this creepy guy who I hate talking to but can't really avoid. So towards the end of our two minute conversation, me standing in the doorway with Gregory on my shoulder, he notices the bird and says something like 'oh, birdie, does he bite?' 
I only had the time to say 'oh, maybe don't-' when he reached out his hand towards Gregory, who lept onto this guys hand and LATCHED on HARD to the skin between the thumb and first finger, drawing more blood than I thought there'd be. I had to pull Gregory off his hand and returned him to his travel cage. 

So, what do you guys think?? I don't let people I don't know touch Gregory, I don't want them wiping their dirty hands all over him, but he's used to meeting new people and he's never been aggressive, just hesitant sometimes. I have noticed that he seems to be moulting and having new feathers come in, is that puberty time?? He has been bending forward and lifting his wings up, I think that's a male behaviour?
Or could he have picked up subtly on my body language and tone of voice that I hate this guy? I don't normally hate anyone but this guy is super weird, he paid me to teach his children for two terms and then offered me money for photos of me doing... Things. Eew. I don't normally have to talk to him though. Maybe once a month for two minutes or so. So could Gregory have been trying to protect me? It was like a switch was flipped and he became one of the raptors from Jurassic park.

So it only just happened. Gregory is still in his cage having some seed, acting normally. He actually seems quite happy with himself, and he wasn't injured during his attack. Apart from returning him to his cage suddenly I haven't treated him differently at all or told him he's a 'bad bird' 
Creepy guy accused me of having a 'dangerous animal' and stormed off. I kind of wanted to laugh. I hope he never comes back.


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## arnabsri (Jul 22, 2015)

Hi Dressagebird,
I literally laughed reading your post on what Gregory did to the creepy guy.. May be gregory sensed your body language so he bit him hard so that he doesnot come again!!

Seriously this post made my day...


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## Dislian (Sep 5, 2015)

He is the best defensor you can have haha Maybe he is a little bit upset with the molt, I'm not sure. But good for that bad man hahaha


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## Rumz (Mar 14, 2016)

Hang on hang on..he offered you money for photos of you doing....what!? Dude sue him for sexual harassment and file a no contact order! That's messed up!

As far as the bird goes he probably queued off that this guy was someone you didn't like.


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## shaenne (Apr 19, 2014)

A grown *** man should know better than to reach for a strange animal before even waiting for the answer to the "does he bite?" question. I mean who does that -_- You can expect any animal to be "dangerous" if it suddenly has massive man hands coming towards it, that's just creepy.


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## littletiel (May 15, 2011)

There have been situations when I told people how cuddly my boy is and that he is almost like a kitten , and when they visited luckily (for them) he was in the cage because he just growled and hissed at them...


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## Dressagebird (Feb 3, 2016)

Rumz said:


> Hang on hang on..he offered you money for photos of you doing....what!? Dude sue him for sexual harassment and file a no contact order! That's messed up!
> 
> As far as the bird goes he probably queued off that this guy was someone you didn't like.


Yeah, although I love teaching his kids, they're great, and I normally just speak to his wife, so it's rarely an issue.


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## TamaMoo (Jan 12, 2014)

Way to go Gregory! I think he is quite the hero.


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## Rumz (Mar 14, 2016)

Dressagebird said:


> Yeah, although I love teaching his kids, they're great, and I normally just speak to his wife, so it's rarely an issue.


That's a worse fate than going to the police


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## Janalee (Jul 25, 2012)

*Gregory*

I think I would have bitten him too! What a creep. I think animals can sense when we are not comfortable with someone. Please be careful around this guy, okay? He does sound like someone to avoid! Way to go Gregory!


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

I definitely believe that they can sense emotion in the air as well as a person's general energy, and they definitely do react accordingly. I think the guy deserved to be bitten!  Way to go, Gregory!


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## Fluff (Feb 25, 2016)

Now you just need a bigger bird...


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## Dressagebird (Feb 3, 2016)

Thanks for the replies guys. At first I was worried that I'd been asking a bit too much of him but he seems so happy in his little harness on my shoulder, he sings and whistles at the world. We went to the farmers market on the weekend and got a lot of attention. After an hour of singing and helping me finish my veggie smoothie and shopping and getting attention Gregory closed his eyes and had a snoozie on my shoulder. I definitely know that he loves me and trusts me if he's happy to be on my shoulder or hand (or cleavage, that's another fave spot) in a crowded area and be that relaxed and happy. 
Although I was disturbed that around 20 different people came up to me in that hour and said 'I used to have one of those but it didn't like me and the first time we went outside it wouldn't stay on my shoulder and flew away'. Like, are you serious? I'm supposed to feel sorry for you because your stupidity probably let an animal starve to death slowly?? Anyway, that's a rant for another time. 
I definitely think that 'prey animals' feed off our body language more than some animals might and often have a deeper empathy. I have a story about falling off my horse and lying unconscious. My dad was way up at the house and could see my horse stomping on something, from the angle it looked like the horse was killing me, he ran down and was relieved to see the horse standing a few feet away, but on closer inspection he found a huge King brown snake that was now dead and mangled lying a few feet from me. 
The same thing has happened with our local magpies (they suck at building nests, every year at least one of the babies falls and we end up either sharing custody or nailing an ice cream dish with holes in it as far up as we can reach to give the baby back). One day my dad was spraying the property for weeds and was cranky because the magpies kept swooping him, but when he turned around they were trying to tell him about this huge snake that was coming towards him. People say 'they won't bother you if you don't bother them', but sometimes I think 'bothering them' is merely a matter of being in the same square kilometre as them, lol. 
They might seem like slightly outlandish stories but I swear they are true. Anyway,
Lots of love from Gregory and I. Xxoo


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