Avian Behaviour Basics | Topics

[@thisdogmama]

Nice video! I read a lot about bird behavior before getting my cockatiels, but if a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth a whole lot more. My little flock is pretty harmonious now, but my first bird Luna and I had to go through a little trial and error in figuring out how to communicate. I think the most helpful concept for me, was the idea of permission based training. I have spent most of my life being the "leader of the pack" with my dogs, so this was a really important epiphany. Dogs want a trustworthy leader, birds want a trustworthy friend. Keep up the good work!

[@justkelleydyess1854]

Thank you! I've been thinking of adding a bird to our family and watching videos can get confusing because people will talk about certain things without explaining. I am glad you did this video because it helped me to understand the fluffing of feathers in the correct ways, also with the eye pinning. I feel like we all need to know everything we can about a pet before adding one to our families. Thank you again for sharing your knowledge.

[@TekunoTheSecond]

This is a great video. There were a few things I had read about here that I haven't seen in my birds yet, so it was nice to have the video clips to accompany your dialogue. Thanks for putting in the effort!

[@-TOH-]

why would anyone dislike this video? Not very nice since this is both informative and innocuous.

[@tschluen]

Excellent content. Thank you.

[@astonbean]

I got given a budgie as a surprise birthday gift, I absolutely love him but I really wish I had been able to prepare before hand. Your videos have really helped

[@ALoveForOrcas]

Glad to know beak grinding is comfort and not anxiety. This video was very helpful! Thank you!

[@michellekurtiscole9407]

Excellent job! Really appreciate the time you spent making such a thoughtful, helpful video.

[@chayapatchaiyanun8003]

just got a parrotlet for 5 days. this video is very helpful and your channel is very interesting (especially the training tutorials) :) subscribed!

[@DianeJudithRP]

When I read about this repetitive yawning I read that it's not quite known what exactly that is, but aside from crop adjusting it may be also some kind of pressure equalization, and I think that would explain scratching their ear.

[@mailpooch]

Very insightful, thank you for this talk. i tended to interpret the beak grinding as a kind of growl. i guess i was wrong.

[@OutrunningKarma]

This is the first video I've ever seen by a real KZbinr, that has 0 likes! Amazing job!

[@JB-gb4qi]

Thank you for the information, your videos have been very helpful over the past few months for me and my budgie. I appreciate all the time and effort that you put into making your videos.

[@markportelli970]

Great advice!do you think you could make a video on what to do when you get a new bird?????

[@kiaraluciano9218]

me: *tries to listen/learn more about birds while doing school work* also me: *loses focus on school work and just watches videos*

[@anoero9720]

Wow, great material - you should get many many more views

[@Barakon]

I guess their ears pops like ours do when we blow our nose and crop adjustment clogs it up or increases the pressure whilst scratching decreases it.

[@ujjainimukherjee2267]

Can you please make a video on parrot diet without pellets, I need an all fresh organic diet plan for my conures, there's no avian vet at the country I live in, I have to solely depend upon internet content to have a varied and nutrition diet for them.

[@sharkinawineglass]

thanks foe the beak grinding thing. i had no idea what the heck that was

[@cake3291]

can you do a video on how to discourage hormonal behaviours?

[@aussiepastor4352]

Thank you for this vid. I ave just got a very petite Green Parrotlet. 9 week old hand held. She perched straight away on my hand and feel asleep. Plus she loves her “Bedroom” cage. BTW her name is Mali, which is Serbian for “Little One”.

[@1293jessica]

my parrotlet bows her head all the time for me!

[@puethar]

Thank you for the video! Is it just me or the link of your blog isn't working?

[@meowmeowmeow8043]

my budgie does a weird thing where he sings, he puffs up all his face feathers as big as he can, and then he knocks his beak against a toy or the bar of his cage in jerky motion. why does he do this? i was thinking it was possible he liked the clanging noise from knocking his beak against things, but have you ever seen behavior like that?

[@brittanyouldcott2912]

Meowmeow Meow I have same thing that happens with my cockatiels. It seems to be a hormonal breeding behavior as far as I have read.

[@6luelights2]

Meowmeow Meow k

[@aviaja2008]

So absolutely true to all you said.

[@stujuststu]

Hi i am loving your videos, very informative and relatable. I was lucky enough to get a baby parrotlet 6 days ago. Barbara, she is nearly 7 weeks old now. I have watched your videos on aggression etc, with my untrained eye she doesn't appear to show the signs but she is persistently biting. Can I be doing something wrong and how do I deal with it. Thanks in advance

[@ILOVEMINECRAFTFUL]

What if you have your bird out but have to leave for whatever reason and need to put him back in their cage but show these signs of aggression? Especially if you have an appointment and don’t have time to be patient for them to feel more comfortable with being put away?

[@biba1baba2buba3]

I have a video of repetitive yawning, tho I've never seen it on the internet, cockatiel crest (at least mine does this) - if it's all the way up he's scared, all the way down aggressive or excited, all in between is happy/relaxed

[@rachelfalls230]

My parakeet is fluffed up a lot? I don't think he's sick, but could that be aggression? It might be because my room Is a bit chilly because it's winter...

[@a_random_m]

I’m not sure if you still have this problem and I’m far from an expert, but I’d say: keep him nice and warm. Also look out for signs of health issues, like sneezing, coughing, loss of appetite, change in vocalisation, being less active... If you do see (some of) these signs, rush to the vet immediately, as birds are extremely good at hiding their sicknesses. That’s how they’re evolved, because otherwise a predator will easily notice a sick bird and attack, or the flock will leave the bird behind (I’m not sure about the last thing, I just read it somewhere so take it with a grain of salt), so if it does show signs, it could already potentially be too late. I’m not sure about aggression, but it might help to see if he always does that, or only if you’re in the room, or maybe he’s living in the cage/room with another bird that he doesn’t like. Seeing as this comment is 4 years old, how is your little birdie now? I just wanted to reply, in case someone stumbled across this comment and had a similar problem. I really hope he’s doing alright!

[@zenamatthews9380]

Really great video!

[@Sky-Child]

Oh dear. My budgies are about 6 weeks old and one regurgitates and feeds the other. I thought they were brothers. Is this breeding behaviour or something else?

[@cake3291]

sometimes when I approach my Indian ring neck with my hand, he wobbles his lower beak side to side if he doesn't want to be touched or step up. have you seen that before? I know it means something bad/leave him alone but I don't quite understand

[@issamylife4444]

My budgie Cella she bites i'm trying to tame her but she bows her head sometimes, what do you think I can do. Any pro tips? :P

[@cjsdogtraining]

when my birds seem to be protecting something they seem to flap their wings and hiss but once we back off they calm down that's just another example if needed also my bird treasure is about 3 months old and loves attention but at her own accord but her parents don't like attention and do a lot more of the behavior as I said before and i think they are getting defensive of their cage but i dont want to take them out of there forcefully how could i start to earn their trust like my bird has trust for me or even just get them to step up on my hand id be happy with just that if they want their space they can have it

[@ferjuca]

Love your videos 🥰

[@coolcatxx2]

My new parrotlett opens his mouth wide and stretches out and wiggles his tongue side to side. Any insights on what that means?

[@n4mal]

I have a young hand-raised pineapple conure who is very comfortable with people. I have a problem with trying to give him a treat or hand him his toy though; he gets VERY aggressive and will bite the hand rather than the toy or food. I want to start target training but am not sure how to give him a treat (he hasn't had millet sprays yet).

[@FlockTalk]

If they stay gripped to the perch and just lunge you can hold the treat at the furthest point that they can reach to hand it to them. When aggressive their muscles tense up and don’t allow them to reach their furthest possible distance, they will have to calm down to stretch out and reach the toy. If they’re flying at you to attack I would designate a zone for reinforcers, perhaps a small dish near the bird where it will not instigate an aggressive response, walk over and plunk a very obvious reinforced in it that they can see and walk away. I would practice that delivery method prior to actually training a trick so they understand that rewards will be placed in that area. Additionally it will be helpful trying to sort out what causes the aggression, are they resource guarding? Do hands moving towards them always cause aggressive responses regardless of items present? Are they scared? Working to solve the root of the problem may be more beneficial that trying to work around it!

[@alliciade1121]

When my bird is in his cage, he is fine with my finger petting his head, but when I ask him to step up, he runs away from my hand. Is there a reason for this? Possibly hurty feet?

[@chriskowalski7038]

I can't get over how comfortable your birds are around you..I've had by 5 budgies for over a year and although they like to fly around me they won't step up or land on me...I really don't think they fear me although l could be wrong...

[@HollyHummingbirdriver]

My cockatiel dose that from the first video all of it. Where we got her they where little kids who pulled her tail feathers. She was on a Milet based diet she was served milet as normal food. I leave her be when she tries to bite.

[@pigeonincognito]

oh my! that was an absolute horrible diet! millet is very fatty and your bird was either having territorial issues based on obsession, or internal problems leading to aggression.

[@zaccwalker3098]

One of my local pet stores had the weirdest Senegal. It will look at. Me and pin its eyes and puff up the back of its neck. Then walk to the edge of the cage and raise one leg like it wants to step up. (This bird is clipped and they keep its cage open. It is the owners pet and not in the main part of the store) then it will step up on me, walk to my shoulder then start purring and talking. It is the weirdest thing.

[@lilmisspeace]

How do I discourage undesirable behaviour please??

[@emmavanness7451]

Don't punish your parrots, most of the time they can't make the connection right away that they got punished /because/ of the undesirable behavior. Punishment can also lead to a horrible bond between the parrot and it's owner. Instead, for example, if your bird screams for attention, whistle a tune and try to get your parrot to sing with you. Reward it if it does choose to whistle instead of scream. This shows the bird that whistling is more effective in getting your attention and it is more rewarding. As a result, your parrot will slowly transition from screaming to singing. If your bird is screaming for attention and you get up to cover it's cage or spray it with watch, guess what you've just done? You've given your bird attention, exactly what it wanted. It will stop screaming for the moment, but it is a very short term solution, and as mentioned before, causes a bad relationship between you and your parrot. Ignore bad behaviors, reward good ones; replace these unwanted traits with wanted ones. Hope this helps!

[@Vohasiiv]

I just got a turquoise pied parrotlet and so far all he wants to do is sleep on my shoulder or cuddle up to my face. I think I'm going to name him Borealis (Bo for short) because his colors remind me of the northern lights.

[@Animefreakfan006]

what if my bird is in a area he is not supposed to be and are repersenting some aggressive behaviours. like whenever he is on my desk he begins to chew everything and run all over my keyboard. since i try to teach him that he is not supposed to chew things and run over my computer, i try to get him away and onto my cupboard and ignore him to show him that he did something wrong and is immediatly taken away from the area for that. i do this once or twice (and he does step up without any fight) and about the fith time or so, he know he's doing something wrong and gets aggressive and bites. When i manage to get him away from the thing he chews (he loves chewing my cord and blue tack which is bad...sometimes he even get aggressive straight away (on my first try to get him away) when i try to take him away from my cords/comp/whatever he is interested in) and put him on my cupboard, do i continue to ignore him and then bring him back to my desk and keep doing so until he learns what he is doing wrong? will he learn and how long do i ignore him for before i bring him back to my desk? Also, how do you get a bird that does not want to go in their cage (unless lured in with food) without getting bitten. Sometimes, my bird has not finished half an apple and is hungry but still refuses to go in his cage unless given a new apple...when i somehow manange to get him in his cage, before he gets off of my hand and onto the perch, he bites and bites which obviously, this isn't what he wants... thank you in advance!!

[@daysgoneby9795]

I have a porrotlet and she bows her head when she wants me to scratch it

[@leiasart4610]

I always feel bad about getting a bird without any first hand experience, but birds just aren't a big thing in my country. I've literally never seen a cockatiel in real life. People only have finches and budgies and canaries in disgustingly small cages and rescues very rarely have any birds at all

[@sarafarrell948]

When my bird is aggressive she runs toward she object that is making her aggressive

[@anneliebergstrom8477]

What kind of little birds you have? The little ones seems like me last birds......

[@XWhoaXAngieX]

Annelie Bergström they're parakeets

[@seraani8134]

Angelina Matthews *parrotlets