And if pictures aren't enough, I also have video proof!
I wasn't sure if I should attempt any hand feeding yet, but once I saw the birds were no longer immediately backing away when I put my hand up to the cage, I thought I'd give it a go. The first step to making a human hand inviting: put some MILLET in it. So that's exactly what I did. I started first with Ouiser and Clairee. I ever so slowly lifted the mini door on the front of the cage & put my millet-spray laden hand in there. They backed away a bit, but didn't hiss or show any signs of hostility, so I simply stood there motionless with the millet extended as far away from my fingers as I could get it while still holding it.
The birdies were presented with a dilemma: hmmm...I want seed, but human is holding seed. I could see them both contemplating, then Ouiser very cautiously stretched her neck as far as it could go to maintain maximum distance from me & she took the tiniest nibble from the very tip of the millet. Then she moved a bit closer, ate a little more....
Once Clairee saw her cage mate's bravery, she too decided to test the waters, and before I knew it, both birds were eating from the spray. I very slowly pulled the millet further into my hand until the birds were both at my finger tips nomming away. At one point, it dawned on Clairee that there was a human attached to her seed, and she looked up and hissed and then sort of shrugged like "what the hell" and went back to busting a grub.
My attempt at hand feeding George and Winston went much the same way, except these guys were a little more bold. They made contact with my fingers and didn't flinch. It wasn't intentional contact, of course, just a result of trying to get at the bits of millet spray that wound up between my fingers. Winston made more contact than George simply because of how he was positioned in the cage.
I am so over the moon that they fell for my trick came close enough to eat from my hand. My hope is to do this once a day with less and less millet until I can get them to physically perch on my hand and nibble a few berries from my palm. They need to associate human hands with something good to get them over their fear. This is a huge first step in that direction!
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