Taming the Bourke
Dee,
I tried a gentle approach with my Rosy Bourke - named Twitter. She was skittish when I got her but we gradually bonded. I used food to get her to come to me. She likes millet spray and hemp seeds, and cooked baby green peas.
I got her as an older handfed bird that was less than fully tame - but she would perch on my finger - for 15 seconds and then fly off back to her cage. This went on for a couple months. But I still worked with her every day - getting her to perch but letting her fly back to her cage. Then I gradually got her to eat from my hands away from her cage.
Then about 2 - 3 months after I got her, we had a breakthrough. I left her cage door open as usual and she flew into the other room and
checked me out - and landed on my leg, while I was watching TV. We did this for a few weeks, and then she started coming to my shoulder and eventually got really tame. Now she wants to come out of her cage whenever she sees me. I still basically just open the cage and let her come to me - but now she comes to me right away and likes to hang out with me - and she explores a little on her own too - but always returns to me to hang out or goes back to her cage when she's tired.
p.s. I got the type of cage where the whole front opens like a big door - I think that is a big help in taming birds because they can come and go easily without dealing with a tiny door to go through.
Some photos...
Here is Twitter just after I got her - luckily, she would perch on my finger for a few seconds - but then would fly off to her cage. She was wing-clipped by the breeder but could fly pretty well when I got her (and I have since let her wing feathers grow back in - I plan to leave her fully-flighted):
Then I got her out in my sunroom, away from her cage, and bribed her with food:
Over time, she just sort of got friendlier on her own. But, I generally let her come of her cage on her own time.
Then about 3 months after I got her, she was suddenly getting much friendlier - here she landed on the head of the contractor renovating my kitchen.