Alexandrine Suddenly Terrified of Me After Four Years

[khaiqha]

So when I woke up today, my Alexandrine was completely scared of me. He did not want to be near me, was extremely scared of my hands, to the point where he would panic fly away from me and make his alarm noise (one he makes when he's caught on something or he thinks someone grabbed him) when I come close to him.

The thing is, he's never been scared of me. Just yesterday everything was normal. Nothing's changed. I've had him for four years. This is a bird that is so bonded to me that he normally panic flies to me to keep him safe. He flies and lands on me in the morning to wake me up. He freaks if I go to the restroom/shower without him. Once during a walk outside he ninjaed out of his carrier and stayed on my shoulder the entire time back to home. I can pet him, snuggle him, etc.

I don't know what's going on. I'm hoping he'll be back to normal when I wake up. My best guesses are as follows:

1) I sleep walked and did something? I've never sleep walked to my knowledge though.

2) He's molting currently. He has been slightly moody during this, but it's been the same every year when he molts. Nothing's been abnormal about his behavior or molt this year.

3) Someone entered my apartment and scared him. My roommate, who my bird likes but rarely, rarely interacts with, said he hasn't interacted with my bird in the last week, and no one's come over. I live in an apartment and sometimes maintenance comes in to inspect things, but I was there when it happened. There's a very remote chance they came back again after when I wasn't home.

4) My bird is just being a bird and I'll never know.

5) Something happened outside that scared my bird? He likes to look out the window when I'm gone. I live on the 3rd floor though, so I doubt anything could even get close to the window.

6) I currently have a blue bandage on my right hand. He's seen me with bandages, casts, crutches, etc on before, and he's never been intimidated by them. If anything he's always interested in anything new on me and tries to chew it apart.


I'm pretty heart broken about this. I've seen my bird get scared of things before but I've never seen him so scared as he is now...of me. I feel like our bond of 4 years just vanished in one night. Anyone have any idea of what's going on?

 

[BIRDIGIRL]

Have you ever worn a Blue bandage before ? Try covering the blue bandage with a colour that he is used of and see what happens...also how long ago is it since you wore a bandage perhaps he has forgotten how it once interested him and now it scares him... Im guessing its the bandage and not you that has him freaked out...mine can do the same thing when I wear colours thry dont like...dont worry just keep the bandaged hand at a safe distance until he gets used to it or cover it with a bandage of the colour that might be acceptable to him. Birds do react to colour sometimes . Things can scare them like even a change of cloths or a colour they are disliking a piece of jewlery or even a blue bandage Hope this proves helpful to you

 

[khaiqha]

Woke up today without the bandage and he is still terrified of me =/

 

[BIRDIGIRL]

If this is a complete turn around in behaviour as you say and nothing has changed that might frighten him in anyway then I think perhaps a visit to your AV might be the next next step to take just to rule out anything physically wrong.

 

[Terry57]

Did you change anything about your appearance? Cut your hair or anything like that?Anything in his vicinity change? It sounds like it happened first thing in the morning, is there anything that could have scared him during the night?
If not, I agree with Mary about having him checked out by a vet just to be on the safe side.

 

[GraciesMom]

Aww I know how you feel... sometimes be the smallest thing. Yesterday morning Gracie kept leaning back as far from me as she could & she has never done that before, matter of fact she is always clamoring for me to get the cage open as soon as she sees me. The culprit was I had on a tank top as soon as I put on a t-shirt she was fine. The same thing happens if my hair is down.. I have long hair & if it's not all pulled back in a pony tail then Gracie's acts like it's not even me & goes into scaredy bird mode. And hats? Forget it!

I usually get my hair cut into a bob this time of year but this year I haven't since I don't know how she'll react.

I do agree with everyone else a vet visit to be safe.

 

[khaiqha]

I'm going try and schedule an appointment this week but this is just not like him. He's never been scared of new things, and now i'm worried a sudden vet trip is gonna traumatize him more.

 

[khaiqha]

Well it's been a month and Bro is 90% back to normal! He's not handshy with me anymore, only with strangers (which is unusual, cause he's really a friendly bird). His curiosity is back thankfully, so now he's much more active and exploring things. The only unusual thing left is that he only wants a bath like once a week now, where as it used to be every other day. I would think a bird that's moulting would want more baths?

Oddly enough, his turning point was when I came from the bird store. I had considered getting a YNA, TAG, or Hawk Head (still might) but it's like he knew somehow.