Odd behavior (I think) from male Eclectus

[m3retired]

Hi, new here.

I have a 6 year old male ekkie that I adopted about a month ago. He is very tame, talks and whistles, easily handled, and very, very gentle. BUT...when he is sitting with me he prefers to sit on the back of my hand, and then pulls on my fingers with one foot, and kind of hunches over my hand.......I think he's trying to mate with my hand.

I've searched many of the ekkie websites, and haven't found ANYTHING describing this kind of behavior. When he does it, I immediately put him back in his cage, but if I'm misinterpreting his behavior, and if he's actually trying to play, I'll feel bad.

I don't stroke his feet, or his back, or anything that could make him hormonal.....thoughts, anyone?

 

[Auggie's Dad]

From the description I'd say your assessment is right.

:smile015: It's Love! :smile015:

Parrots are very sexually active and show none of the shame we associate with that. Not that I take it lightly or think that people should not be careful - but we humans tend to have a very disturbing view of sex almost to the point of criminalizing natural urges. Parrots are not nearly so repressed - they are quite in touch with nature and choose to show it often.

 

[m3retired]

Thanks for the quick reply. Yeah, that's what I thought--especially since his behavior towards hubby and my grown sons is a little different. He's not aggressive with them, but as an example, when he sits on my forearm, he's mostly content to stay there, occasionally will travel to my shoulder, although I discourage that. (Remember, he came to me as a 6 year old, so he has habits ) But even on my shoulder, he sits quietly.

Now if the guys take him out, he IMMEDIATELY travels to their shoulder (know what that means!) and sits much closer to their face, and does gently, very gently, grab their cheek, chin, etc. But he has not bitten, or ever even acted like he was going to. I still get concerned because he's so close to their face, y'know?

He also loves to sit on my knee, or on my tummy--does try to regurgitate, but stops when I say "No, Jack". I swear, the next phrase he's going to say is "You're not allowed to do that". LOL!

Still working on getting him interested in toys...the last many months with the previous owner, he was exiled to the garage...and they were still parking their cars in there! Sad, too, because prior to that he was an active member of the family. I'm also slowly changing his diet to a more suitable one, too.

Anyway, like I said, I just wanted to verify that my interpretation was correct. While I don't fault his behavior, I do want to redirect him.

 

[Robyn]

Hello there,
I too have a 9 month old male eclectus and he is also named Jack. My jack does something very very similar. He loves both my husband and myself but tends to want to stay with me more. Im actually glad that he does like my hubby just in case Im ever away for any reason.
If we are sitting on the couch he flies to our hand and gently starts pecking at our fingers and little bites not enough to hurt though. But whilst he is doing this he says " Up, Up ". He wants whoever's hand he is on to get up. My hubby initially went and got him a snack when the first few times he flew to his hand. So by my hubby getting up he knew that if he went himself and said " up, up " , that he is telling us to get him a snack. Thats my guess anyway.
Yesterday he has been trying to get up on top of my head. I let him to see what he would do , because he was saying " up, up ". When he got on top of my head I heard him say " Im higher". I have no idea where he got it from or why he wants to be high up. We dont have any problem with him and any form of dominance. But when you wrote that he was picking at your fingers with his foot , just had to tell you what my jack does. Very similar but guessing mine just wants a snack.

Robyn

 

[parrotqueen]

I agree with AD, it's most likely love. But most of us (including myself), tend to look at it the wrong way.

Sunshine does almost the exact same thing, so it's perfectly normal. Don't worry about it too much.

 

[antoinette]

Hi there M3retired, welcome to a great friendly forum.
Happy AD was able to assist you with great advise.
I guess :smile015: is in the air