Most parrot people are aware of some of the basic body language out companions use to communicate with us. But it’s usually the more negative ones! However, our buddies use a multitude of moves to express lots of emotions, both positive and negative. So, let’s look at a few:
EXCITEMENT/AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIORS
Although most of these activities are associated with aggressive/defensive attitudes in our birds, they can also simply signify any excitement, good or bad – so you have to know your bird, and observe closely to differentiate between aggressive postures that mean “Stay away!” and those that simply mean “I’m over-excited!” even in a good way. (Of course, even with those you need to be careful, as an over-stimulated bird can still act out by biting.)
Eye pinning: The pupils dilate and constrict rapidly, back and forth, indicating excitement and interest. It definitely means you need to pay attention and lookout.
Feather Puffing: The bird fluffs his feathers out all over, but especially the head and neck, and with Cockatoos, the crest is erect. In the wild, birds use this to appear larger and thus be more intimidating to foes.
Tail Fanning: Especially in Amazons, the bird fans his whole tail out (like a mini-horizontal peacock), again, to appear large and “scary.”
Blushing: Bare-faced birds like Macaws, allow you to visually observe the facial redness that accompanies excitement. (Actually, ALL parrots so this – we just can’t see it through the feathers! Some birds blush a light pink, others (Like my Amber), go a deep red. I find babies blush more than adults, as they experience new things in the world.
Head Bowing: The bird, while puffed up, eye-pinning, tail fanning, and blushing, also lowers his head, stretching out his neck. Often accompanied by a “growling” sort of sound, or with African Greys and Cockatiels, it’s more of a “hissing” sound.
Stretching/Wing Spreading: The bird raises up on tiptoes, feathers and crest erect, neck stretched, wings eagle – spread -again, he’s trying to look large and threatening. Often, a highly agitated bird will sway back and forth. “Flash” colors (Bright color accents underwings, crest or tail) are highly visible during this type of posturing – it’s hard to miss, as this type of display is QUITE obvious!
Although aggression behaviors and excitement behaviors are similar, the good observer with a trained eye can readily tell the difference. Work on developing your observation skills, so you’ll know how to best proceed. Of course, a bird coming at you, head-lowered, with an open beak, is hard for ANYONE to misinterpret!
SOLICITOUS BEHAVIORS
These include all the more passive ways a parrot asks for attention. If we ignore these, they can lead to more outright demands, such as screaming, or neurotic behaviors that become obsessive, almost ritualistic, habits such as constant flipping or circling in the cage, or toe-tapping, beak wiping, and odd-looking head movements. The basic solicitous behaviors include the following:
Food Begging: Recently weaned babies often cry and “baby bob” repeatedly. They sit low on the perch, heads turned up, slightly quivering their wings, with heads bobbing rapidly. This needs to be addressed! Often, newly weaned babies revert after moving to their new home. It’s a good idea to continue regular bodyweight checks, as anything over a 10% loss is cause for concern. I don’t believe in time-table weaning, and do not feel it is inappropriate to continue, or re-start, hand feeding of young birds. Ask for guidance on how to best handle it.
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/dkpyql/birds_body_language/
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