Hey! No Beakin'!

[KevinT]

Of our two birds, Tyrael, our 8 y.o. Senegal, seems to enjoy and/or need his sleep more than our two year old African Grey, Zeus, who has only been with us for five months. Tyrael the Senegal fluffs up and makes happy noises when he goes into his sleeping cage at night. He yawns more in the evening, too. He's also "not much of a morning person", as he demonstrated this morning.

I got both birds out of their sleeping cages, after first giving Tyrael his obligatory head rub. He always wants us to rub his head and neck before he steps up in the morning--it's pretty cute, really.

I then headed downstairs with both birds and was having Tyrael step onto his cage when I turned my attention to the Grey, whose cage is just past Tyrael's. That's when I felt Tyrael beaking my thumb. Apparently he didn't want to get off onto his cage just yet.

It was well short of a bite, but I am not crazy about any amount of pressure from a bird's beak--especially since we got our Grey.

I turned my head around and said "Hey, no beakin'!"

Here's what I want to know: How in the world can a bird form a smart alecky grin with a beak?

 

[crimson]

my Sengal Safari does the same thing.

If he hasn't received enough lovin' when first out of the cage, I'll get a stronger clamp on my finger.
He just want more lovin', then he's good for the rest of the day.
when he doesn't get it, I just gently rub his beak and in a low stern voice I say "Enough", then I put him on his perch.
He knows I love him, but he doesn't call the shots either.
I'll come back in 10 minutes later and finish up where we left off, on my terms not his.

 

[KevinT]

I am very happy with how well Tyrael has accepted Zeus into our family. He really doesn't seem to mind the competition for attention...as long as he gets enough, as you say.

This has even led to me having more interaction time with Tyrael. Although both birds prefer my wife and want to spend as much time with her as possible, Tyrael seems more eagler to spend time with me than he did before Zeus came to us.

 

[crimson]

well, I'm happy for you, I sure wish I had a Senegal that liked any bird that I have.
He will eat any of them for lunch, including my gold cap conure Ninja!....but he's new, so they are still getting to know one another, from inside their cages of course ....maybe one day....

funny you should mention that your spending more time Tyrael, I've been doing the same thing with Safari, since I got Ninja, right now I'm more comfortable with Safari. Ninja just wants to stay at the back of the cage when he is out, far far away from me, LOL.....that will change though, he's tame, and just nicely settling in.

 

[JamesC]

Here's what I want to know: How in the world can a bird form a smart alecky grin with a beak?

Does he pose a bit upright, feathers tightly down, head turned a bit sideways with beak slightly open and the pupils of the eyes tiny? That is certainly my Sennie's smart aleck look. I usually get that along with one of his rising whistles or "pbbbbbt!" when he does something silly.

He also uses that as a bit of bravado if he does something embarrassing. Earlier tonight, my blue crown Rosco flew by on his way to the playpen. He likes to swoop in close to me every time trying to prove he is a brave bird. Counting coup, I suppose. Sid saw him coming and leaped straight at him only to go face first into my laptop's screen. *bonk!* Straight into pose he went as if to say, "I meant to do that!"

You are fortunate that your Sennie accepts your gray. Seems to be a species trait to not like other birds. I tried everything I could think of to get Sid to accept the blue crowns when I adopted him but to no avail. He will go after them with intent to injure any time they get close. I would like to be able to let him fly but when I let him grow out his feathers he went straight after the blue crowns as soon as he realized that he had enough lift.