Hawk Heads are very high-spirited, mercurial birds; very active and playful. They seem to have a very well developed "flight or fight" response and can easily "zone out" into an attack mode...somewhat like what happens with amazons from the descriptions. Xena is about 8 yrs old and came to live with me at 3 years of age after living most of her post-weaning life in a very small cage in a pet store and learning how to really intimidate almost all the employees.

Even after 5 years, she is still constantly evolving and learning new things. First she had to lean how to play since she had never had enough room previously and very few toys. She is high-strung, but also very sweet and loves to be cuddled under my chin for head scratches, and flipped over on her back for kisses, but only when SHE feels like it. She is always much more relaxed if the other birds are locked safely away. She talks all the time although she has a very limited repertoire of words...."Parrot", "Hawkhead", "Hi Parrot" and a vast array of trills and natural vocalizations that are very endearing. Of course she can also be very loud when she is in alarm mode. She loves to take spray showers on the top of her cage and is very dramatic and animated.
She certainly deserves a healthy dose of respect and caution. I remember when I first brought her home and took her to work for a visit. A friend came into my office to see her and sat down across the desk from me. Xena took one look at her and climbed off my arm and went running across the desk and nipped her and ran back to me, laughing and cackling like a maniac