Funny head bobbing and dragging beak?

[brittish]

My Green Cheek Conure has started to bob his head up and down. It's amusing to see, but what does it mean? He sort of stretches his neck out and low and bobs his head, to where his beak taps the ground-or your finger. If I stick my finger out and move it up and down infront of him, he does it too.

He also likes to run along the back of my couch with his beak touching. It is odd, but odd seems to be second nature to a GCC. Lol

 

[aliray]

all of my parrots do the head bobbing which we named the happy dance .we just clap and applaud and tell them to do the happy dance. they seem to do it when their happy and excited and none of my three are old enough to be hormonal. all three also run their beaks across the tops of their cages and along furniture. my guess is it's normal and feels good

 

[AFP520]

Beaks have nerves in them, so I look at it like, why use your hands to scratch a spot on your back when you can do it against a wall and cover a big area? Same principles for a beak. They also run it along something to clean it off, explains why I have tons of dried food on my shirt

 

[MonicaMc]

Pretty typical behavior for most conures!

My cherry head never ran his beak along anything, then again he never ran, either.. but he would slowly stretch up his head, then bring his head down quickly to his feet or lower and sometimes make a "tch tch tch" noise. He never did any other kind of head bob - not even the typical conure head bob, but then, he wasn't a typical conure.

Charlie on the other hand does the typical head bob, sometimes bangs his beak against the cage bars (and I'll imitate him). He's only run his beak against something before, once... which was on top of an old CRT screen tv. I can't recall him doing it to anything else since then, and the TV we have now is a flat screen which he hasn't been allowed on.


I've heard of one bird that enjoyed putting his beak against the wall as his owner walked up the stairs!

 

[WindyRed]

I've noticed that conures will put their beaks down on slippery or shiny surfaces that they're walking on. I've theorized (in my own little mind) that they either can't tell if it's a solid surface and use their beaks to be sure it is, or they're using their beak as a "training wheel" to help them keep their balance. I see mine do it on our old bathroom counter all the time, and at the store where I worked they would do it on the glass check-out counter.

 

[strasia93]

Our two GCCs run and play often dragging (pushing) their beaks on the sheet that is around their play gym, the table cloth, and the tile. I think it just feels good, they are always playing having fun when they do that. They do also tap things with their beaks and the head bobbing too. Just normal conure stuff. Fun happy birds!

 

[DebsFlock]

Scooter likes to play the "Hey Scoo!" game, where you bob your head up and down and say "Hey Scoo!" and then he does the same. It's a variant, I think, on the head bobbing that's more natrual.

I suspect the beak tapping and dragging are "this is mine!" behaviors. Scooter loves to play under cage paper on his playtop, and every once in a while he spends time dragging his beak all over the suface under the paper, sort of like a landscape guy wheeling out a yard! Scotty, who isn't a conure, definitely beak-bangs when he wants to say "I claim this!" it's both a claim and a bit of warning.

 

[brittish]

Good to hear that the head bobbing is a normal act with the conures. I was concerned it might have been some kind of dominant, aggressive behavior. I was doubtful since he is a sweetie to me, except for the occasional attacks towards my full grown police trained German Shepherd lol. Quite the brave birds.

I always assumed him dragging his beak on the couch was a sort of "mine" behavior too . He acts like the back of the couch is his royal thrown and he us mere humans are not worthy of such things. His personality is almost egotistical, like he knows how much I adore him. Lol

 

[DebsFlock]

Sometimes I call Scooter a "little green Napoleon". They are brash little guys!