More Dimitri and, darn it, the quarry

This could get a bit boring for non-bird people. I have Tachimedes, the normal male cockatiel, sitting on the CPU singing. I've just sat down after 15 minutes of working with Dimitri, the new Little Corella I wrote of in my last post. Having to work for two and a half days interrupts the training/getting acquainted. Only get to say hello in the morning. He's in bed by the time I get home. Yesterday, however, was a half day and that was most fruitful. I used the Power Pause, found on You Tube. It is a method of gaining the trust of fearful birds. Basically it means when Dimitri shows any sign of nervousness when approached, I stop moving until his body language indicates he has relaxed again. I also incorporate some of the body language I use with horses. I look around with soft eyes, soften my leg joints, move my legs about a bit (without shifting my feet), use my arms in a relaxed low key manner. Most importantly I stop staring. It is so easy to become fixated on gaining his trust, it becomes a competition; fixed hard eyes, fixed hard body - looking exactly what I don't want to look like, a predator. This morning he was taking seeds from me while on his tree perch. Yippee. He freaked a bit when I moved to the other side (is it like horses, that you have to introduce new things to both eyes as each eye is aligned - in a sense - with the two halves of the brain?). Anyway, he threatened to jump which is very bad as he just crashes. He could shatter his breast bone doing that so it's very important that he never has any reason to feel that afraid. I moved as far away as I could and when he was still upset, just left the verandah altogether. Later, I tried again but only asked him to take seeds while I was directly in front of him. That worked much better.
Dimitri has been sitting on his tree while I've been in here. The office is off the verandah, like the short end of an 'L'. He didn't know it existed before as the door has always been shut. Thought I'd let him know there was another room so went out, said g'day, gave him a couple of seeds (no big deal attitude mirrored beautifully by Dimitri) and then returned. He just walked up this end and looked in. I said hello and he left again, too much pressure. Would've been better if I'd just glanced and said nothing. He can roam around the verandah without supervision as it's pretty bird safe, even from his strong beak, but in here he must be supervised as all the computer wiring is on the floor.
We have a new hiccup in that the released Sulphur Crested Cockatoo, Algernon, who's been free for four or five years now?, has taken interest in Dimitri. He hangs off the gutter looking for all the world like a white bat. He has even tried to chew his way through the screen. We are sitting on this problem for the moment. We hope Algernon will recognise that Dimitri is a corella and not a S.C. Cockatoo. If he doesn't then we may have to think about capturing Algernon and re-releasing him at the original release site -- where there are many local cockatoos, unlike here where there are none. The pressure is on Algernon as we approach breeding season.
Just got the very bad news that the company which applied to quarry the mountain has appealed against the decision by council to refuse the application. We are registering as respondents by election to appear in the Planning and Environment court to fight this. So it goes on, as it has since 1993. I'm so tired of it but think there's a reason it's happening now - because we have endured, we have fought it and will continue to do so. There are others who care and who fight but no one has put as much effort and time in it as R. I've done my bit too but he has been phenomenal. Of course, the council will bear the brunt. Most of it is out of our hands. We can only add our voices to those who wish to see the end of this saga. In the grand scheme of the world it is only a little thing - but that remnant vegetation is worth the fight. The word remnant is the key. Lose this piece of endangered habitat and remnant may change to extinct.