What weird games your parrots like to play with you?

[veimar]

Hi,
I just wanted to start this thread about games your parrots like to play with you - the games that THEY initiate.
I started thinking about this after Coco, my lovebird, invented a really weird game with me. She loves to open the kitchen cabinets and to go inside, and she gets overly protective and bitey about that area. So I have to remove her with a thick towel which she would bite like crazy. I usually cuddle with her in the towel a bit because she is so cute when she bites it and makes some funny noises along. Anyway, one day I noticed that she doesn't really want to get out of the towel and enjoys playing in it and biting it! I put the towel on the table, and she burrowed right back into it! She dragged the towel to me showing that she wanted me to pick her up in it. I know it's something hormonal, but she is having so much fun with it! Now she is flying to me as soon as she sees me using the towel and jumps right on it! LOL Or she just flies to the towel, messes with it and chirps at me. I really have to watch my fingers though. Once she almost bit my finger, freaked out and flew away. She doesn't really bite and was probably very scared that she could have hurt me.
So now we have a new *towel* game we both enjoy! Hope it helps against her cabinet addiction. I try to take a video.
Do you have funny games your fids like to play with you? Please post pics and videos!

 

[Dopey]

I don't have those kind of games. UNLESS that is what Jingle is trying to play with me now at night. When it's time to go to bed he will run to the back of Yeti's cage and do the Macaw bob. Then when I get something to cover him up with he starts running all over the top of the cage and screaming. Like I'm killing him. It is funny but it makes me mad. Then once I catch him...he immediately calms down...says "Watch ya doing" and goes right into his cage. Hmmm - maybe it is a game to him. Probably not though.

Yeti - the too loves to play peek a boo but again it's on her terms. She will try it quietly for a couple of minutes but if I'm not paying attention she will scream and then act like she did nothing. She has no problem going into her cage when it's time to go to bed.

Nothing as fun as yours but it is still fun.

 

[Christinenc2000]

Great Topic . Peek a boo is all BB likes so far. I am trying to teach him to play ball but all he will do so far is run after it LOL

 

[Kiwibird]

Kiwi likes to play the "whistle" game with me. He makes the first half of the "wolf whistle" and expects me to make the second half back to him. He can whistle extremely loudly too! He typically starts it up when we're in the car or he's in the shower (i.e. when he's REALLY happy). You can just watch those little eyes pin when he makes/you make the noise and he puffs up and gets all happy about it, the adorable beast

 

[Allee]

Very cute idea for a thread. Love the photo of Coco wrapped in her purple towel.

Zeke, my male quaker made up a game right after he joined our flock. He was super shy and afraid of close human contact, but he would untie multiple knots in leather strips, I would tie them all back daily. We still play the knot game long after he got past his fear of human interaction.

Harry likes word games and training exercises.

Poppy made up a version of fetch, she will throw her ball over her head and wait for me to fetch it.

My tiel flies to the floor and waits for me to fetch her and return her to her playstand.

 

[jasper19]

Angle is molting at the moment, not a hard one, but i do see pins on her neck already start to open up and she is losing her longer wing feathers.

Well when a wing feather falls out, she will grab it. I take it from her and kind of swoosh it around trying to touch her in different places. She has a great time attacking the feather, laughing, rolling onto her back...its pretty cute.

 

[Puck]

Sammy my Quaker loves tug-o-war with paper towels. He will go nuts tugging it, throwing his head around, squawking like a mad man... then if I let go he looks at me like "Why you stoppin'? I not finished yet."

 

[IRNMom]

My lovebird, Petri, likes to play "catch" with a puffy pom pom ball that 's bigger than her head. She holds it with her beak, bounces her head up and down a few times, then lets it go toward me. She waits for me to grab it and toss it back toward her, runs to get it quick and repeat. She loves it! It's so cute!

 

[Scott]

"Chase the Birdie!" Initiated exclusively by my Goffins, they either fast-walk, fly, or begin twirling in place! I half-heartedly attempt to catch them and they respond by continued evasive movements. Eventually one or both give up and engage in a cuddle session! Such fun!!

 

[Kyoto]

My lovebird sassy used to hop along the cage bottom following my finger. It was so cute

 

[cnyguy]

Ralph likes to play in the silverware drawer in the kitchen, taking spoons out of the drawer and moving them to the top of the cabinet, then returning them to the drawer. Sometimes he'll build odd little structures with the spoons, propping them against the spice rack. He also remembered that there are clean spoons in the dishwasher, so we make several trips back and forth to bring the spoons over to the drawer.

Ralph likes to play tapping games too. He'll tap on something with his beak, and I have to repeat what he did-- the same number of taps, at the same speed, hard taps or soft ones. If I mess up, I get squawked at.

 

[Newbsi]

How do YOU bond/play with your fids?

Birdman had a response that mentioned playing games with the bird.
It made me wonder how others spend time bonding or playing with their birds.
What kind of games or activities do you do with your bird? How did you build trust and bond with your bird?

 

[Dopey]

Re: How do YOU bond/play with your fids?

Some of my birds and I play tug of war. It's a dog toy tied through the cage bars and the bird grabs one end and I grab the other. They can play quite tough sometimes.

With a couple of my birds I play - touch the feet - either in the cage or out of the cage. If they let me touch their feet without biting me they get the "good bird" cooing from me. If they go to bite I just remove my hand. At first I may just get to briefly touch the toe and then I move to the feet.

I talk to my birds every morning and every night. In the morning when I'm taking off the cage covers (I fold my cage covers every morning) I talk to them. I call them by name. When I put their food bowls in and change their water I talk to them and ask them how they are doing. In the evenings when I get home and feed them again I talk to them.

How I handle my birds is usually up to them. I try to touch each of them every day. One that I've had just a little over two months was biting me when I got her. Now she lets me touch her beak, touch her feet, pet her down her back, and scritch her head. She doesn't step up yet but she does look at me and you can tell she's thinking. I hope she's not thinking - I'm going to bite you.

Another one - who now gets handled every day has stopped biting me unexpectedly. He now steps up and sits real sweet on my arm. We played the "step up" game every day. I touch his beak every day. He lets me touch his tail but he does not let me touch his head. But we have made so much progress. He didn't used to let me touch his beak at all.

You just have to work with them. I still have others that need work but I let them lead me when possible.

Most of my birds do not like to play with foot toys. I don't really care about that...my cats seem to like the foot toys that the birds have thrown to the floor.

I hope some of this helps you.

 

[SoCalWendy]

Rio used to hang upside down on her orb and then I would grab her beak or she would grab my finger with her beak to swing herself. sometimes she would grab my clothes as I walked by.. she would swing and/or spin.. She loved it.

Kiwi hates it when I use Kleenex for any reason other then to play with her with it. I can't blow my nose or wipe up her poops, but I can roll it in to a ball or make a tunnel with it so she can hide in it. I also love to do recalls with Kiwi.. She loves to fly, so I will stand on my stairs and call her to fly to me now. Guess thats not weird but its fun.

 

[JerseyWendy]

Here's one game I play with my Sam (he can't get enough of that one)

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yWJ33emL-c"]Sam playing one - YouTube[/ame]

 

[JayBird]

Mochi likes playing pass the ball or soccer as I like to call it. He'll be on the floor or my bed with one of these little cat toys I bought for him to play with and will throw it over to me and then expect me to pass it back to him. He loves it. Sometimes he's trying to almost kick it.

 

[Kyoto]

Kyo likes to play "Rollies" where she will grab my clothes, flip over onto her back and slowly slide down while snapping her beak like she wants to bite XD She will often let me rub her cheeks while doing this and it turns into cuddles. She is so adorable when she's in this mood :3 sometimes she gets carried away and nips.

Also, I got her these super cute fake pencils from a local bird store (since she kept trying to steal my actual pencils) and she likes to hold one of these while doing said behaviour. She also likes to put her whole beak over the tip of my fingers and lick them. It's cute until she gets a bit too rough haha but thank goodness for bite pressure training