Need advice...concerns sun conure + IRN living together

[Katyo91]

Hi fellow parrot lovers!

Okay so I guess I better give some background. I adopted my birds almost 6 months ago. I have a male indian ringneck parakeet (about 2.5 years old) and a sun conure (sex unknown..was presumed to be male..possibly a little older maybe 3 years old). The lady at the rescue said that they had grown up together, were bonded, and had always shared a cage (it's a large cage no worries with space!) . They've always been very cordial with each other and groom daily and snuggle at night...occasional bickering but nothing to be worried about aggressive-wise. Anyway, recently i've been noticing my IRN male being very "forward" with my sun conure. He's gotten to the point where sometimes he tries to mount my sun conure. Now I know that they are 2 different species and cant copulate. But...should I be concerned about this behavior? Would I need to separate? My IRN had gotten his ring about 2 months ago....is it maybe just a big hormonal wave coming through or something that may go away? Sometimes he seems jealous when I'm with my sun conure and tries to get his attention so that they can put their beaks together (looks like regurging but idk?). Maybe my sun conure is a girl afterall and doesn't seem to mind.

All i wanted was some advice or insight? It's just very awkward and weird to me right now.

 

[SilverSage]

Well, it does seem like they are bonded! How does the conure react to being separated? IRNs dont usually mate for life, so moving the IRN away might be just fine with him, aside from the sexual factor. I don't have a lot of advice to offer here, but I hope someone with more experience chimes in soon!

 

[Katyo91]

haha my sun conure (Pico) is more bonded to me than my IRN (Beaker) it seems. He is a dependent velcro-bird to the max...my IRN on the other hand is fairly independent. Beaker always makes the first move. But my sun conure sure doesnt mind being groomed or even almost-mounted!..looks like he (maybe she?!) likes it/encourages it! I am just so confused by this new behavior! unless theyve been sneaky about it all along and I never noticed? I need to set up a camera while I'm gone lol

 

[SilverSage]

It is likely seasonal and involves Beaker hitting maturity. If the sun is more bonded to you than the IRN, I would separate them into different cages and maybe not have them out at the same time, although you would still need to be careful that no one get their toes bitten that way - landing on an occupied cage.