Beak tapping

[Aussie Ben]

Does any one else’s Ekkie (or any parrot for that matter) do this?

When I swing hanging toys gently for him to play with, he comes over and puts his head right in its path and leaves it there so it taps him back and forth on his beak (sometimes even his head the crazy little thing lol). He also does this himself by grabbing toys with his foot and tapping his beak on it every few seconds – for hours sometimes! He does this with many other objects as well. I have had little luck finding info on this behaviour so wondering if it’s unique to my bird or just something that is written about very little.

 

[Spiritbird]

Parrots have sensative beaks and will often seek out something like this. Have you massaged his beak as part of playtime? They usually love this.

 

[Aussie Ben]

He does occasionally tap my fingers or my nose so this would make sense. He does it to many toys but he particularly loves doing it to bells - I think he likes the sound

 

[Birdamor]

I've never seen this behavior in ekkies so I cannot help you there but it bothers me that he does it for hours. I've never seen a single parrot do the same thing for hours at a time except for abnormal behaviors like toe tapping, wing flipping, plucking, etc.

 

[Aussie Ben]

I might try and upload some video at some stage. Its actually very cute and funny to watch, Its not so much the length of time anymore (he hasn't done it for 'hours' for a long time) but just the amount that he does it that made me curious. He has always done it so I just thought it was a funny little thing he did but was never sure why. I thought it might be something to do with displaying affection as I have noticed he often does it before regurgitating food for someone, which he sometimes does. (I usually pass on his generous offer, its not quite my taste lol ).

 

[carbn8]

we Just got a senegal and it knocks its beak alot. but i have seen alot of videos of senegals doing this. they seem to do it pretty hard and I thought it was more of a dominace thing.

 

[Raffie81]

Hi there. My female eccy head buts her cage with her beak. She is a very tame bird. Someone too me she may need to breed. But someone else told me once she breeds she will always need to breed and she may not come back as tame as she is now. Will she be able to breed once. And will this help the beak head butts. Thanx