Head bobbing

[Artist]

Today, my Senegal started a new behavior that I have never seen her do before. She will puff out her feathers around her neck and bob her head in a weird fashion. her mouth is open while she is doing this. I have not attempted to touch her when she is doing this, but once she is finished, she allows me to rub her. Does anyone know what this is all about?

 

[94lt1]

Head bobbing can be a sign of aggression, my amazon and my scarlet macaw have both done it when I first got them..

The plucking thing.... my scarlet did that too... first thing you should do is have them checked by a vet to make sure the plucking isn't because of a medical condition..

But it could be that your bird is bored. How much do you interact with him? Is he in the cage a lot?


I should also add that my amazon shadow boxes in a fashion similar to this..but doesn't pluck.

 

[Artist]

No, my parrot is not plucking! I said that she puffs up her feathers. she is doing all of this while she is interacting with me. All three times that she did the head bobbing, she was on my hand at the time. I work from my home, so she gets lots of interaction throughout the day. she does not always want me to rub her, but when she does, she becomes very affectionate and allows me to touch her all over. when I am present, she does not let my husband rub her, but she is very willing to let him rub her when I am out of the house. I was just curious about the head bobbing thing, because today was the first time she has done this since I got her about 6 weeks ago.

 

[94lt1]

I'm sorry.. lol. I saw puff as pluck.. my apologies

It sounds like you both need to socialize with the bird.. its gonna be tough but if you're not careful you could have an avian love triangle on your hands

I learned the hard way about this with my scarlet macaw.. he bonded to my wife almost instantly once he decoded to give her a chance. And I had been working with him for nearly a year at that point..so I was hurt(pride) and pushed.. bad idea..

Its a tough situation, but you'll both need to work with the bird...


Of course I could be way wrong and it could be a matter of the bird just being excited too

 

[lpolliard]

Head bobbing could be a sign of aggression. Head held low and tail feathers flared and/or head feathers raised, eyes pinning. It could also be a sign of affection. A residual from weaning. As in feed me mommy.

 

[MonicaMc]

Considering the age of the senegal, I would say it's a mate/sexual thing.

Artist, after your senegal does this behavior, is there anything in her mouth? Does it ever look like she's eating something? I'm asking because it sounds like regurgitation to me, not aggression (although it could be that, too!).

 

[Zuzu]

It Def sounds like regurgitation. if she is only doing it for you and not your husband, then she has chosen you as her mate. trust me don't accept it with your mouth, tastes nasty, mine got me when i wasn't paying attention. but if your eating and she takes some of your food from you by offer or from your mouth, she's realizes you accepted her. you have to let your husband interact with her more, otherwise she will become nasty towards him if shes around and he goes to love on you. With our Zuzu my wife got him for me for our anniversary, but we both interact with him alot so therefore he's not attached to just one, but will regurge for both of us. if you don't want her to do it, when she does, just put her in the cage and walk away for 10-15 mins.