It
is early spring, and already it has begun. The phone
rings and it is my client Mary. She has a two year old
domestic-bred African grey parrot that she purchased
eight months ago. He is her first parrot and she adores
him. Mary's voice is shaking and she is obviously barely
under control as she says, "Liz, something is terribly
wrong with Alfred and I'm really upset! He's gone crazy
or something!"
Thanking fate
for my previous experience as a crisis counselor, I
manage to get her quieted down enough to get a somewhat
coherent story. Alfred, normally a gentle and loving
bird, had suddenly lashed out at her that morning and
had actually drawn blood. I question her carefully about
his physical health and find he had just been to her
avian veterinarian last week for a routine check-up and
everything was fine.
So I ask her a
number of questions regarding Alfred's recent noise
level (louder than usual?), his play behaviors (rougher
than usual with his beak?), and his attitude towards
Mary (more possessive?) As I suspected, all the answers
are affirmatives. Sweet little Alfred is growing up, and
the spring nesting season has begun.
A
Lover's Triangle
In the twenty-three
years that I have cohabited with Sam, my female blue and
gold macaw, I do not remember really noticing spring
behavior until my future husband David appeared in our
lives -- and he was also the one who identified her
behavior for what it was. After having me to herself for
many years, Sam was now having to share me with another,
and the adjustment had not been fun for any of us.
However, David had kept his temper with her bluffs and
displays, and life had gradually settled down.
Then one
morning in late winter, she was playing on the kitchen
floor when he came in for breakfast. Without a second's
hesitation, she viciously attacked his feet.
Fortunately for him (and her), he was wearing steel-toed
boots at the time, so he was uninjured. However, his
comment was illuminating: "She is normally more
intelligent than that -- her behavior must be hormonal."
Nonverbal Insults
As it turned out, he was quite correct about the
cause for her lack of control -- once a year she gets
wretched for a month or two. I generally first focus on
her behavior change when she suddenly is attached to my
body whenever she is out of her cage. Normally an
affectionate friend, Sam is also quite capable of
amusing herself for hours at a time, playing and talking
to herself on her "tree" (fancy name for a 2x4 with a
perch attached and hanging toys) in front of the living
room window. But when hormones begin raging, she appears
to be partially composed of velcro and I have great
difficulty separating her from my person. She also
cannot seem to stay out of trouble for more than, say,
15-20 seconds at a time -- I turn my back and she's
gotten into the clean laundry and shredded a couple of
David's shirts and my new skirt.
However, by far
the worst part of her nesting seasons has been manifest
in her behavior towards David. In normal times, she
dislikes him intensely but confines her animosity to
saying extremely rude things with her body language.
(Trust me on this -- you live with a parrot for long,
and you know very well when they are insulting someone
nonverbally) But during nesting season, she can be much
more actively aggressive, so her times out of the cage
when he is home must be CLOSELY supervised.
Normal Cycles
Generally speaking, spring behavior happens once a
year in the life of a sexually mature parrot. Also
called nesting or hormonal behavior, it is a normal
rhythm of nature, and there is nothing you or
your parrot can do about it except wait it out. But you
can be aware and understanding, and alert to the
possible changes - in hopes of minimizing the negative
side effects wherever possible.
As a rule, any
abrupt and dramatic behavior change in a mature parrot
that is NOT evidence of a medical problem developing,
can safely be classed as nesting behavior. (NOTE: If you
are not sure about your parrot's behavior, make an
appointment with your avian vet.) Parrots cannot control
this hormonal stuff, any more than I can control my own
moods during times of raging PMS (other than to keep my
mouth shut).
Bad and Good Changes and
"Characteristic" Behaviors
Other possible behaviors or behavior changes include
one or more (or none) of the following (and this list is
far from complete):
-
Flat backing
-- aviculturist term for the submissive posture of
some female parrots, with or without accompanying
wing shivering and/or clucking. Some birds may also
revert to baby-like behaviors, begging to be hand
fed by their favorite person.
-
Strutting with tail feathers fanned, neck feathers
up and eyes flashing wildly
-- This is often (but not always accurately) defined
as male behavior and is seen other times of the year
as well -- especially when meeting new people. This
is probably normal territorial behavior that becomes
more frequent and dramatic during nesting time.
Don't reach for this bird unless your really want to
check your normal healing time.
-
Nest-making
-- manifests in minor ways, such as burrowing in
fabric or sofa pillows, or major ways -- in the
absolute destruction of anything and everything the
bird touches. The latter is (of course) what Sam
does. This is not necessarily a female trait, since
in many species (i.e. many larger cockatoos) the
male is the primary nest builder. This behavior goes
above and beyond the "normal" destructiveness of
parrots.
Some years, I
have given Sam with a large cardboard box to shred in
her cage, which seems to ease the biological pressures
on her -- after all, she simply wants to make a nest.
However, being allowed a nest box of a sort also
encourages Sam to lay eggs. These eggs are infertile, of
course -- she's my only bird and it takes two, as
they say. But there isn’t any point to her egg laying so
I don't give her a box, anymore. I especially
would not recommend giving nest-like boxes to birds like
cockatiels, whose hens can be prone to obsessive egg
laying cycles that can become life threatening.
-
Feather picking --
some individuals do a little feather chewing or
picking, usually in small, localized areas of their
bodies like their breast or the tops of their wings.
From my experience, hormone-induced feather chewing
or picking is ONLY seen during spring behavior. It
should not be confused with the more dramatic and
extensive plucking seen as a manifestation of
physical problems such as infections in the feather
follicles, or in allergies.... or as a behavior
problem.
-
Regurgitation of food
-- Ah, Birdie Barf! Parrots will regurgitate food to
feed their mate and their young, so if your parrot
upchucks on you, don't get grossed out -- take it in
the spirit it's offered. It is, after all, a
tremendous compliment. This can happen whenever your
parrot is feeling loving during the year, but it
definitely happens more often in nesting season. By
the way, sexual regurgitation is associated with a
favorite person, toy, etc.. When it occurs without
any obvious stimulus, it may be evidence of a
medical problem. If the human is unsure as to what
is happening, one’s avian vet should be consulted.
-
Masturbation – Notwithstanding whatever
feelings their pet humans might have about this
subject, parrots have no moral hang ups about it at
all -- they just enjoy it! If you're lucky, your
visiting minister or maiden great aunt will not
catch on to what is happening.
And as
previously mentioned, making more noise than usual
and biting harder than usual.
Not All
Bad….
But not all of these seasonal behavior changes are
negative -- a client of mine has an Amazon who becomes a
real snugglebug when in nesting behavior, at which time
he LOVES to be cuddled -- which is the only time all
year that he will accept any human touching at all!
Dealing
With Your Feather Duster's Sexuality
So what is the human to
do with all this unwanted loving behavior? Well, you
can't eliminate it, but there are certain things one can
do to help everyone muddle through this uncomfortable
period.
As they say,
forewarned is forearmed, so mark on your calendar when
spring behavior starts and stops. In this way, you will
be aware BEFORE nesting behavior starts next year and,
you are less likely to be caught off guard. If your
parrot becomes aggressive towards other humans, then do
everyone a favor and leave it in its cage when other
people are around. And NEVER leave it out
unsupervised (but then, you are not supposed to do that,
anyway).
By no means
should the human encourage sexual behaviors, because
that only leads to confusion and frustration for the
parrot. After all, you are NOT going to make babies
together, are you? So avoid doing things like petting
the bird's back, wings or tail feathers. Restrict your
petting to the bird's head so you don't further
stimulate them. If your parrot becomes obsessed with a
particular object or toy, remove it from the bird's
area. If you feel that masturbation is a problem (and it
certainly isn’t for the bird), simply remove the love
object (toy, particular perch, food bowl, mirror, etc.)
and don't return it to the bird until spring behavior
has passed. If the little monster happens to be
masturbating on a part of your anatomy, don't make a
fuss (remember the Drama Reward?). Simply rearrange him
(or you) so it is no longer happening. On the subject of
regurgitation, I'm sure you would just LOVE to share
your loving little bird's food so sweetly offered (oh,
YUCK).... but don't encourage that either.
If the bird's
wings are not clipped, it would probably be a good idea
to do it now -- after all, you can always let the wings
regrow when the bird settles down, if you like. But
since there is often a direct correlation between full
flight and increased aggression, it makes sense to
remove this additional problem when the parrot is
already awash with hormones.
Above all,
don't try to punish the birds for totally natural
behaviors -- you don't want to encourage them, but
what they are doing is not wrong.
Birdie Abuse
(of Humans)
One thing is virtually
guaranteed – increased hormone levels often lead to
increased aggressiveness -- this is documented in many/
most animal species and parrots are no exception. And it
follows that if your parrot is established as dominant
in its relationship with you, you can expect it to try
to tell you how to behave -- and you can expect yourself
and other humans around you to be the recipient of
violence if your behaviors don't measure up to your
bird's exacting standards (following orders is tough
when you don't speak the language). As head of the
flock, your parrot is only doing his/her job. On the
other hand, if you are well established as head of the
flock (thanks to having established a relationship of
loving controls with your feathered friend), then your
parrot (being in a submissive position) will generally
wait for you to show it how to act towards others. In a
nutshell, increased aggression is to be expected -- but
a parrot in a submissive role can be expected to display
less aggression than one that perceives itself to
be head of the flock.
Yearly Fun &
Games
So every year in the
Wilson household, the three of us (four, counting the
cat) suffer through this period and it feels like it
lasts forever. In reality, it lasts one to two months
and we all survive. We all dislike it -- Sam's no
happier than the rest of us -- but we get through it.
Small price, if you ask me, for the remaining ten or
eleven months of the year, when Sam's company is a
constant source of pleasure.
Well...,
most of the time!
This article was
first published in CAGED BIRD HOBBYIST Jan/Feb 1995
issue.
Liz
Wilson, Certified Veterinary Technician, has been
assisting pet bird owners with parrot behavior problems
for over a decade through lectures, phone consultations,
and house calls in the Greater Philadelphia area
