Light Vs. Dark

[DustyDusky]

I was home from College for Thanksgiving break (Happy Belated Thanksgiving everyone!) and well i caught on to something curious about Dusty which i wanted to see if anyone else has seen or heard of before.

A little back ground:
Dusty does not like men. He hates my father more than any other guy who has ever had the pleasure of meeting my little bundle of joy. When i first got Dusty my little brother was 9/ 10 years old. Back then, Dusty had no problem with my brother. My brother could take him out of the cage and Dusty would step off of me and go to my brother at times. Now my brother is 14years old. and Dusty will only tolerate my brother if i place him on my brother and even then it isnt long before he tries to bite my brother.

What i noticed:
I had taken Dusty downstairs a few days ago and let him run around on the futon while i talked to my brother. Dusty would on occasion bite my brother or hide behind me. Well my mom, not knowing that Dusty was in the room with us decided to walk in and turn off the light as a joke and walk away. Well being that the light was off ( we had a little light from the tv) i looked for Dusty, to find him climbing up on my brother who was at this point laying down. He stood on my brothers chest and started talking to him. My brother, feeling brave even reached up and was able to touch Dusty without him freaking out. However when the light came back on, Dusty went back to attacking my brother after a few moments.

Could this change in behavior be because Dusty didnt realize who he was climbing on? or did the lighting someone calm him down. I did find that Dusty seems a lot calmer while the light was off while exploring.

 

[wildheart]

That is a very interesting discovery. They dont see well in the dark but their smell still stays strong. Maybe he felt comfortable with your brother's smell?

The only way to find out is if you do it again and get the same reaction. Dont know.

 

[DustyDusky]

I forgot to mention that the following day i brought Dusty downstairs and the light was already off and my brother was watching tv. and i sat down next to my brother and my brother talked to Dusty and Dusty came running over to him and started chatting. Again however when the light turned on Dusty tensed up and tried to bite my brother.

 

[wildheart]

Very interesting. Maybe it is the big figure that scares him away from men and when the light is off then he does not see the size?

 

[DustyDusky]

I am not quite sure. this tacit does not work with my father however.

 

[nofearengineer]

I think most (daytime birds anyway) birds have a sort of unspoken agreement that when it's about to get dark, all feuds are forgotten in favor of group safety.

I once watched a bunch of hummingbirds fight over a feeder (they are very, very territorial) They would bicker and chase each other off all day long. Then around dusk, something miraculous would occur. There would be ten hummingbirds sitting around the feeder at the same time, somehow getting along.

I think with them, it is there ravenous appetites for nectar that produced this behavior; during the day, it was advantageous to chase away their rivals, but with nightfall approaching, the need for everyone to get one last big meal to ensure their survival overnight took precedence.

Obviously with a parrot, it isn't a food thing, but I suspect impending darkness has much the same effect. Gandalf, even when he was being aloof, would all of a sudden get very cuddly when he saw me getting ready for bed, flapping his wings, and holding onto my finger with a death grip. I would be very curious to hear more from those of you who have birds that are less than friendly to other members of your family.