Screeching at wild birds

[Tiara]

Hi Guys,

I have an Alexandrine, shes about 3.5 years old.

A bit of background:
Thanks to bird tricks shes on a training diet, knows a bunch of tricks, heaps of words, and does not screech at me anymore for attention. She's not so good with up as I forced her training too fast for a while and shes scared of hands now, but I know i just need to take a step back and let the training go at her own pace. This part of parrot ownership is great and I'm learning lots and happy to work on it.

The Problem:
Between 6-8am, and 5.30-7.30pm she goes absolutely off her nut screeching at the birds outside. It happens everyday like clockwork. I've tried distracting her with toys, her favorite foods, or even treats like millet and sunflower which she absolutely loves. It's driving my household nuts.

I also tried covering her cage when she screeches but she really hates it and so I feel terrible. I was told not to leave the cover on for more than 5-10 minutes and to take it off when she quietens down but as soon as I do, the next flock of birds over the house sets her off again which will be a matter of minutes during those hours.

Please help me! I'll try any suggestions you can come up with and post progress.

Here's a picture of my cutiepie waving "Hi"

 

[Flboy]

My JoJo does that too, but not in the am. He is calling to the flock! You can try a sleeping cage and have it in a large walk in closet? Would be quieter and darker. My wife's Bongo has always slept this way.

 

[Christinenc2000]

My Macaw does that at sunset . We have some birds that roost close to the house. I close the blinds next to his cage just before sunset. Limit his view and that has stopped it. Well unless I forget then it's LOUD until the sun sets. It's funny watching the birds outside react to his flock call. You can see them looking around like where the heck did he come from LOL

 

[Tiara]

Thanks for the replies

Flboy, I have tried putting him to sleep early before the birds come out but this meant I didn't really get to see him much. Technically it did work but I feel his quality of life suffered so this is a last resort for me. Thanks for the idea though at least I have a back up plan

Christinenc2000, Thanks for the feedback. Closing the blinds doesn't work, he seems to be going off the sound and not the sight as the tree is on the opposite side of the house.

Thanks for the information so far, please add any other ideas/suggestions for me to try. I'm really hoping I can find a solution.

 

[Kiwibird]

My amazon also gets noisy in the mornings and evening. It's pretty normal for parrots to flock call at those times, though *normally* they only vocalize for a couple minutes. You're describing a bird screaming for a few hours straight or she screams for a few minutes at some point in those time frames? Screeching for a few minutes is normal and you can't really do anything about it. Screaming for several hours straight is a behavioral issue that stemmed from a natural behavior. If it's the sound that sets her off, have you tried turning up the TV or radio with something other than flock calling wild birds?

 

[Tiara]

Hi Kiwibird, thanks for replying

Good question. She pretty much replicates the birds outside. They will make noise for like 15 minutes straight so she will. Then they will be quieter and so will she. It's only after they fly away around 9am that she calms down. So I feel its the normal flock call but I will pay attention tomorrow morning and confirm that.

I have tried music before but it wasn't very loud. Tomorrow afternoon when i get back I will try shutting the doors and windows and playing music. I'll let you know how I go Many thanks for the suggestion, I'm very hopeful now that I actually have something to try

 

[Tiara]

Hi
This morning I paid closer attention to her screeching pattern. I lifted her sleeping cover at 6.25am, within a minute she woke up enough to start responding to the noise outside.
1 minute screech
1 minute quiet
15 seconds screech
15 seconds quiet
4 minutes screech
1 minute quiet
Rinse and repeat for the next 20 minutes before I had to go to work. I do know though that a similar pattern continues for the next hour or so.

Does this sound like a normal flock call or is it more than usual?
Shes not interested in training or food when this happens.

Will try the music in the evening when I get back from work.

 

[Tiara]

Hi!

I tried the music this morning. it seemed to set her off more.
I don't know if she was just calling because she knows they are there even though she can't hear them, or if she can hear them still because her hearing is better than mine but feels she needs to screech louder now because of the music.

Another note is last night I came back an hour later than usual. The birds had already left at this time, so when I went to train her she was a sweet little angel. Even went up a lot and asked for lots of kisses<3 it was so nice, but that doesn't happen at all if the birds are around. When that happens she just clings to the side of her cage screeching horribly and ignoring me.

Thanks for your help so far, does anyone have new suggestions or maybe feedback on what I could change with the music technique?

 

[Tiara]

For the last few days I've tried some different combinations of using music. Such as closing the blinds/ quiet/medium/loud music etc. Unfortunately none of them seemed to work.

For now I think I just need to work more on making training even more enjoyable to the point that she'd rather train than yell at the hot boy birds outside Even if I do this though, it won't help my housemates once I go to work, but at least its the first step. If anyone has any more ideas or if I find anything that seems to work I'll post back

Thanks