Why is my conure attacking me ?

[Socatze]

I have a serious possibly stupid question. I have a pineapple gc conure that I've had for about 8 years and for the most part he's nice, we get along, I've had him since he was a baby so I've observed his behavior change from being an infant to an adult and some things I understand, others I don't. Some things are very clear - maybe I have a coffee, he sees it and scurries toward me and leans forward kind of vibrating his wings. After doing this many times I once gave him a sip of coffee and he liked it and kinda danced around, then carried on with his toys and foraging dish and whatever else. Like that's obviously interest in something I have and excitement for being involved or introduced to it. Other things I don't get. Maybe I don't know as much a birds as I think I do and someone can help me out here. For the sake of the visual his cage is not higher than me, it's about eye level. When he comes out of his cage he's fine with stepping up if he's at the door/climbing up the bars or he wants to get to his second "gym" cage but when he's of top of his cage and I present my hand in any way he attacks it. I mean literally attack he'll grab my finger/wrist/forearm whatever he can get and rip into it, biting, causing bleeding. If he's on top of his gym cage, which is lower than eye level, he does the same thing. If he's anywhere else on his cages he'll usually accept my hand when I hold it out but if he's on top of either cage he does not want my hand anywhere near him or the top of the cage. He has dishes and forage tunnels I've built and a bird bath dish I have to clean and refill/switch over so this kind of drives me nuts, trying to evade his viciousness by either getting a branch and moving him with that or trying to keep his attention while I get the dish.

He does this in his cage also. If I'm filling or cleaning his food or water dishes he doesn't care, but if I put my arm in his cage for any other reason like to unscrew a toy he'll specifically seek out my hand/arm and attack me. Am I making him angry or is he really cage territorial? Have I done something wrong? When he was a baby he didn't care it was just in the last couple years this became an increasing issue where today I was off work and we had a great day. I made him a couple toys and forage dishes/toys. He was calling to birds outside, he has some puzzle toys he was going to town on, a little later were chilling out he's relaxing on a branch in his cage and I put my hand in his cage(not fast or threateningly, just casual) to remove a toy with fruit/food all over it and his personality flipped. He lunged and grappled my arm, ripping and tearing at me for about 6 seconds straight, didn't break the skin but it was really vicious and very, very painful. I didn't react at all and I try my hardest not to when he's done any biting, I just went still for a second and when he stopped and went back to his branch continued what I was doing and took the skewer out.

Am I stupid and completely invading his personal space or his he overly cage territorial? I've looked online but all the scenarios are different. Should I stop putting my actual arm/hand in his cage when he's in there, save for changing food and water, and let him come on a perch instead (which he gladly jumps on because he knows he's coming out)? Or is he possessive of his cage and angry at my hand/arm for entering his personal space, and if that's the case, what can I do to really actually fix this? I would never sell him or get rid of him. If I had to accept he's just being agressive of his space, so be it, but I do love him terribly and it depresses me badly when he hurts me and it makes me feel like I'm failing. It really bums me out because some days I question if he just tolerates but actually fears/hates me, and some days I read to him and play music and we have a great time. I have a really demanding job and went from 5/6 days a week at my job to 4 days so I could spend more time with him I really care about his wellbeing but there are days I actually think he genuinely hates me and my coworkers/friends/family don't understand. Most people I know think it's a living decoration and if it screams or bites they say "time to get rid of it". I know people here dont think that. If there's anyone here who can give me some guidance or clarity I would really appreciate it.

I apologize if this isn't the right category for this. I'm on mobile sorry if my format and spelling are awful

Edit: this is an increasingly prevalent behavior that hasn't been present before, just in the last year and a 1/2, growing. I don't wanna be afraid to handle him. He loves to be petted and scritched, taken out of his cage, etc, it's like when my arm/hand comes in unsuspected he gets really possessive and angry of his space

 

[RemiBird]

I know what you mean.
I just think that conures are territorial little buggers and that's that. I keep comparing Remi (GCC) to my two cockatiels I used to have (not right I know but sometimes I get tired of his attitude, lol), and Remi is very territorial and moody. It's just the way he is. The cockatiels were even tempered and sweet.
So, maybe it's just how these birds are.
Remi loves to cuddle next to my neck and loves his head scratches and beak rubs. But if I try and change his water or seed, he gets upset, lol. Actually, he sees me taking his seed dish out (to refill it), and waits by the dish holder while I am refilling the dish in the kitchen. He knows I am bringing his seed for him and still tries to bite my hand while I am putting the dish in his cage. How ungrateful is that? LOL.
Anyway, the point I am trying to make is, I think these species are like that. I was just thinking about it last night (after Remi wanted scritches and changed his mind and bit me) - how ungrateful he is, lol! But you can accept them for who they are or not. It's just how they are.
To be honest, Remi is probably the last conure I will have. I love the little bugger, but he is a lot of work.

 

[LaManuka]

Hello and welcome. I would’ve answered your post sooner but I was being pinned down by a needy marauding lorikeet!

I’ve had a GCC for a sum total of about 4 years prior to his premature death last August (still cry over him too) so I do not pretend to know everything about them. What I can tell you though is that my beloved sweet snuggly baby named Baci turned into a vicious and bitey demon practically overnight at the age of about 2 and a bit. Now this was at a time before discovering this forum and I had no idea what had happened to him. It was the middle of a summer heatwave and I’d been working a few long day shifts in a row so he’d been stuck in his cage in a hot house for several days and I thought he hated me for it. Anyway, like you, I found he was hugely vicious around his cage in particular and I couldn’t get near him for days without him lacerating my hands. What saved us was the procedure of laddering. With a few protective band aids on the parts of my hand most likely to get bit, I would ask him to step up, and if/when he bit me, I’d ladder him onto my other hand and back and forth until he stopped biting, usually only a step or two or three until he stopped. Then I’d pop him down somewhere neutral like the back of a chair, and walk away for 5 minutes or so until he cooled off, then go back and repeat the process. Baci was a smart boy and it didn’t take him long to work out that he wasn’t going to get away with biting, he’d grumble at me a little but I’d give him a big kiss and tell him how much I loved him and he’d go about his business quite happily.

Now I know some will say laddering is not the ideal solution to an issue like this, and it by no means meant that he never bit me again. But as a short term circuit-breaker in this type of emotionally fraught situation I found it very useful indeed!

You’ve certainly come to the right place for empathy and understanding, I’ve had birds all my life but still have learned more here in the last 10 months than the preceding 50 years! I hope you’re able come to an understanding with your conure and that you stick around, there are plenty of smart people (way smarter than me!) here who will be only too happy to help you.

 

[noodles123]

Do you have any snuggle huts. bedding material, tents, hammocks, boxes, hollows or low ledges in the cage? If so, remove them-Access to these sorts of shadowy spaces stimulates hormones (which can manifest as aggression, screaming, self-mutilation etc)---sources outside the cage= access to under furniture, in shelving units with low over-hangs, blankets, pillows, under clothing etc.
The tunnels sound particularly problematic, as they cup the body and provide the same sort of enveloped space that a nest would provide. I know you built them and I am sure he likes them, but tunnels and birds do not mix when it comes to hormones. Territorial behavior is often directly linked to hormonal issues.

Also, pet on the head and neck only when you do. No snuggles---this is like foreplay to them---while it may look cute, it sends the message that you plan to mate with them and if you CAN sexually frustrate a parrot.

Last thing for now, 12 hours of dark, uninterrupted sleep (on a daily routine) = essential. Without consistent sleep and a consistent light/dark schedule, your bird will be unable to properly regulate hormones and immune function. I would advise covering the cage at night and making sure you put him to bed and wake him up at the same time (or within 30 min of) each day.

Oh- and too much sunlight can also result in hormonal issues, as can warm/mushy food and shredding grass toys. The shredding toys and mushy food may not always be an issue, but in an already hormonal bird (which seems to be the case with yours) you will want to avoid these things. The simple act of pulling on and shredding grass can also contribute to the desire to reproduce/nest etc.

MAIN TAKE-AWAYS: Remove all boxes, tunnels and shadowy spaces from the cage (and prevent access to these spaces outside of the cage), pet only on the head/neck and make sure your bird is getting at least 12 hours of quiet sleep on a nightly routine.

He may not appreciate these changes at first, but I would bet you money that within a few days to a week, you will start to see a decreased intensity to these behaviors. It is very smart of you not to react when bitten-- the only other thing I can say is to read his signals and try not to provide him with opportunities to practice biting--- the more he does it, the easier and more natural it will feel...So, if you know you will be bitten in a scenario, try not to put yourself in that situation to begin with (at least until you have a better handle on the cause).

 

[Flboy]

This is my ‘goto’ Study! Give your little one some time, some of this now sounds like learned behavior!
Every bite is it’s own reward!

http://www.parrotforums.com/training/57935-brainstorming-biting-parrots.html

 

[SassiBird]

I just want to say, I hear ya. You are not the only one.

I have two GCC's and one Black-cap. One of the GCC's is like that. FWIW she is the most aggressive of the three and they are all females housed together.

I don't think they associate the hands and arms with you. Don't take it personally. Your bird doesn't hate you.

I'll be watching to see what others say as I'm no expert. My advice would be to remove her before the bite happens. Give her something to do that she likes. Then go about your business. Hang tough, friend!

 

[noodles123]

I just want to say, I hear ya. You are not the only one.

I have two GCC's and one Black-cap. One of the GCC's is like that. FWIW she is the most aggressive of the three and they are all females housed together.

I don't think they associate the hands and arms with you. Don't take it personally. Your bird doesn't hate you.

I'll be watching to see what others say as I'm no expert. My advice would be to remove her before the bite happens. Give her something to do that she likes. Then go about your business. Hang tough, friend!

Birds can be hormonally triggered by birds of the same gender---just FYI. That could be part of your problem (and hormonal birds often become territorial in specific locations). Birds also tend to struggle more with unwanted behaviors toward humans when housed with other birds (as they bond with the birds instead). The human becomes the "third wheel" in many cases. If housed separately, I imagine a lot of the aggression would decrease. Birds definitely know they are biting you when they do--if they didn't, bite pressure training etc wouldn't work. They can absolutely discriminate between what is you and what is not you. Every bird I have ever met has been very aware of the fact that my hands are my hands (for better or for worse). That is WHY they bite (to stop you or influence you to change what you are doing in some way). If they thought your hands were just random objects, then they would be biting everything all of the time in the same way--they don't. They can mouth things, then can preen, they can use extreme self-control and precision with their beaks (on objects in their cage, flock-members, baby birds, people etc).They bite things hard/aggressively in order to send a message to the instigator of an unwelcome action or to get a reaction etc. They know that your hands are yours (50000%) They are quite intelligent. This is also why they will bite some people's hands but not all people's hands. Try not brush off your birds intentions to bite as confusion etc because in doing so, you will harm trust and miss the message altogether.

Biting is communication BUT just because a bird bites you does not mean that they hate you- they dislike what you are doing and it is the bird equivalent of putting ones hands out to stop something...or even people raising voices in a argument. So don't take it personally, but DO consider what factors may be causing it (to both the OP and the poster above, I suspect a certain level of hormones/environment are triggering your birds). That means that with proper modifications, you will be able to curtail the behavior. Bird hormones make PMS look like a joke.

 

[Talven]

From what I understand of birds you are just your head. Every other part of your body is what you are perching on so biting hands or arms is just biting a very strange perch that moves. If your bird starts biting at your face/head aggressively then they have an issue with you.

Some of the biting sounds to me very much like a tantrum. "Nooo don't take me away from the playground!! Waaah!" might be what you get from a toddler. A parrot just bites and shrieks but I think it's the same kind of mindset. The other I think is territorial behaviour. My 2ish year old GCC will attack me if I change anything in his cage but outside of it he is reasonably tolerant of me (He is my wife's bird) while my 1yr old pineapple GCC couldn't care less.

As noodles123 has mentioned about shadowy places already I will just add to it. I had issues with the elder GCC with aggressive biting and territorial behaviour when I got him. He had a snuggle hut type thing that the previous owner got him. Once I found out that they can be fatal to birds I removed it. Within about a week of it being removed the aggressive behaviour dramatically decreased. To me this seems to be a major factor. Anyway that's just my 2 cents. Good luck

 

[noodles123]

From what I understand of birds you are just your head. Every other part of your body is what you are perching on so biting hands or arms is just biting a very strange perch that moves.

There is no way this is true though! When I got mine, she bit my hands (now she does not--this only stopped when she started trusting me more). I have seen this time and time again with dozens of birds...My bird will bite me when she is mad at for having gone out of town... there is just no way they don't know. Now that she trusts me and we have a bond, she doesn't bite my hands/arms and she is gentle--even when she has slipped and had to use my fingers to catch herself, she did so in a gentle way (not leaving a mark etc). When I first got her, she drew blood more than once from bites directed at ME.

Most parrots (at least birds like cockatoos, greys, Macaws etc) demonstrate object permanence and cockatoos have beaten 4-5 year old kids on intelligence tests involving visual-spatial tasks.

Where did you guys hear this?
All of my experiences contradict this idea...My bird is OBSESSED with my dad when we visit and she will not bite his hand (EVER)--even when he makes he do things she doesn't want to do. She likes me 2nd best and rarely bites (unless she is really mad at me for something that I did---past tense--such as a bad vet appointment or a multi-day trip) but she will occasionally bite other people's hands (unless I put my hand over theirs--then, even if she is mad at them, she won't bite because she doesn't want to bite my hand, but if I remove my hand and they try on their own, the same does not hold true).

 

[GaleriaGila]

Great advice. My two cents?

*sigh*

Life with "Genghis Conure" (aka The Rickeybird)...



As time goes by, you'll find that you can determine just how much you'll put up with. By all means, do try all the great advice you'll get here (like all the above), but I would say that it's okay to compromise a bit in the long run. Your bird is so so so new... most folks think it takes months for a bird to settle in, so this really is a good time to learn and practice the good stuff. You were right about that, and very right to reach out!

Personally, I have reduced biting to almost zero over the years I've spent with the Rickeybird... and a lot of that has involved compromise. I don't do stuff that gets me bitten. Some will say I have let him get away with too much, and that's a fair criticism, but, well... I'm okay with it. I don't do stuff that makes him mad... I don't touch others when he's out; I rarely try to get him to step up onto my hand first. Hand-held perch first, then hand. In some ways, I'm disappointed/embarassed at having such a little monster for a pet, but he is what he is. I ALWAYS wear my hair down when he's on my shoulder, so all he can bite is hair. Really, I don't involve hands much... he doesn't like them. He seems to think the real ME is my head, perched on a weird moveable tree with questionable appendages.

Since he's fully flighted, the ONLY way I get him into the cage is to toss a chile pepper in and he flaps in after it. So food reward is a necessity for me. Time-out doesn't exist in the Rb's kingdom.

I have had some success with using the "earthquake" technique for biting. When he bites, give your hand a swift shake... it should make him let go. The idea... every time he bites, a mysterious earthquske shakes him up. Some people feel this is mean and/or engenders lack of trust. The same can work for clothes biting... give your shoulder a shake, or jump! For me, it has helped.
But please... listen to and try all the good advice you'll get here.
Don't compromise until you know you've done your best. Then just accept and love whatever/whoever your bird turns out to be.
My Rickeybird is in some ways kind of a worse-case scenario, but we have it all worked out between the two of us. Parrots run the gamut (just like people) of temperament and mental stability/brain chemistry. Like the proverbial box of chocolates... ya never know what you're gonna get.
Parrot-owners usually wind up determining their own personal comfort level with various behaviors.

Good luck, and good for you for reaching out.


I think you're wonderful for hanging in there, and trying, and trying, and trying.
I'm glad you're with us.

 

[Socatze]

First of all thank you everyone for taking the time to respond. I do have a fleece hut in both his cages. I never thought about it as he's always had one, never seemed an issue, and he usually just sleeps in it, but maybe it is in fact promoting/encouraging hormonal/nesting behavior. I will remove it and the tunnel and see if that improves his biting/attacking behavior. I never pet anywhere but his head, either, and I've had other birds in the past(he's my first and only conure thus far) but now just him and I don't intend on ever having more than one at a time.

As for whether or not birds understand the separate/same connection of our hands and arms to ourselves, based on how and under what circumstance he attacks me I think he definitely knows he's biting a part of me personally - whether he understands what my hand is other than a strange spider appendage I don't know. I'm willing to just accept he can be nasty sometimes if that's the case, and it's reassuring to hear others with the same experience. Honestly it takes a lot of weight off my shoulders to know I'm not alone. Strange as it sounds it's easy to forget he's a bird sometimes and I get down when he acts viciously or aggressively at me. I don't have any kids but I imagine it's very much the feeling a parent feels when their kid says I hate you.
I have a question about the tent/hut situation though. It's summer where I live so the weather is really nice right now but we have cold falls and brutal cold winters. Its no arctic circle but the wind chill is killer and the temperatures plumet. As well as turning the heat up, I always had the fleece hut for extra warmth. I have a swing that's like a dowel perch with fleece pieces around the top that he likes to sit on. Would that be considered the same as a hut or tunnel as the fleece part does sit close to his body. It's kind of intended to be a cozy swing but I am very interested in seeing if removing these objects will help. Thanks again everyone you've all been very helpfu!

 

[noodles123]

That fleece on the dowel is just as bad. Get a warming perch if you must and turn up the heat (+cover the cage to protect from draft). Anything with an overhang and/or sides that cup= nesty. Heck, even those silly coconut toys with the small holes in them can cause issues if they can look inside (they don't even have to be able to fit in them entirely). Piles of paper, bedding, blankets, under people's clothing, under the shadow of long hair while sitting in someones lap...it's easy to trigger them).
Remove them all and I bet you will see a difference within a week or so (seriously, it's amazing what an impact they can have).

 

[Socatze]

I've been wanting to get one of those perches. I'll get one before it gets cold. I live in a really small place pretty much everything I buy for him I buy online because we have so few stores so my options are pretty much limited or non existent. I'll remove that dowel fleece swing also thanks

 

[noodles123]

No problem! Glad we could help-- or at least help in theory.
They sell those perches on Amazon I believe. I haven't used them before, but there are members on here who have.
Also, the biggest worries should be be drafts and sudden temperature changes of 10 degrees + (which also stress their systems). If given time to acclimate gradually, they can tolerate cooler temperatures than one would expect. I would never be comfortable keeping my home in the low 60s, but there are those who do. My bird is used to a 71-76 degree house, so I couldn't just let the temp drop to 65 overnight, but if I did it slowly (over multiple days), I do think she would be okay.

 

[Socatze]

I live on an island that gets pretty hot and cold I try to keep the temp in the fall/winter in the mid 70s. Our spring/summer is beautiful. I have the windows open (screens on) during the summer. He's flighted but rarely ever flies and isn't very good at it tbh so the windows don't concern me. He was hand raised from an egg and has never seen another conure ( ) and was an adult before he ever saw another bird so I don't think he ever really learned to fly properly. I have a chimney but it's closed and stuffed so no drafts can come in, however I do live in a house with several other people. I'm lucky they are either absolutely okay with the bird (some screeching at times) or indifferent to him but two people as much as I like them are really bad for seeing him as a thing and thinking I spend too much money on him and I'm being paranoid about temperature in the winter. One is bad for turning the temp down in the winter There was a day a couple years ago I came home from work with the heat at 58 in winter it was like a freezer in the birds room and I completely freaked out. It's something I have to stay on top of all winter god. I will have to invest in one of those branches I always had the hut or something similar or a fleece hanging blanket/perch just in the event the temperature was turned down he could at least try to stay somewhat warm.

 

[noodles123]

They also sell special bird warming plates that anchor to a wall or something nearby. Here is one for birds that goes in the cage: https://www.amazon.com/Snuggle-Bird...1030722&s=pet-supplies&sr=1-7#customerReviews
If you get anything that isn't specifically for birds, triple check that it contains no Teflon/PFOA/PTFE or PFCs (this goes for anything that heats or is intended to be heated within your home). Birds are one of the only types of pets that cannot handle Teflon, so even pet-safe products are not necessarily bird-safe products. I am 99% sure that the perch and cage wall warmer= relatively safe--at least in terms of Teflon (as it is specifically designed for birds and I don't see any crazy reviews about dead birds) but space heaters, heating pads, blow-dryers etc that aren't bird-specific can contain these deadly chemicals which off-gas and kill birds quickly. The only way to know is to call the company with the model number and then ask them whether it contains the following:

Teflon (brand-name)
PTFE= Polytetrafluoroethyline
PFOA= Perfluorooctanoic acid (sometimes known as C8)
PFCs= Perfluorinated chemicals

I always give the full name (+spelling) and the abbreviation for each. It feels very pesty, but it is so important. The sales-people aren't going to know in 99% of cases, and you need to list the spelling and abbreviation because either could be used on the manufacturing side of things. They will generally take your information and call you back a few days later.

You may already know all of this, but because you are looking at buying some sort of heat source, I felt like I needed to mention it. They also sell these hot oil radiators that a lot of bird owners use safely...

 

[Talven]

From what I understand of birds you are just your head. Every other part of your body is what you are perching on so biting hands or arms is just biting a very strange perch that moves.

Where did you guys hear this?

I read this in an article posted on a parrot rehabilitation and training site when I was looking at how to deal with a very aggressive GCC. This was the belief of the sites trainer who was supposed to have had a couple of decades of experience. It is quite possible that I have misconstrued what was being said as at the time I was searching through as many sites as I could find.

I did find this article that also seems to have a similar view. I couldn't find the original site I went to though.

Plus also based on personal experience with my different parrots. My GCC will chase down my hand to bite it if I catch a pin as if it was a separate entity rather than just biting me directly.

The biggest problem humans have with keeping pets of any sort is attributing humanisms to them. We become so attached to our pets that we forget that they are animals with their own behaviours and communication and start to overlay what a human would do or feel.

For example:- My wife's GCC will aggressively bite me if he is with my wife. This is not because he dislikes me but because he is showing normal bird behaviour. He is defending her from a potential threat or interloper.

My 2 cents - Australian thing to do with advice being cheap. So when you offer advice you are tossing in your 2 cents.

Always happy to offer advice even if I'm totally wrong If I'm wrong it makes those with more knowledge jump in to correct me so everyone benefits. If anything I suggest helps bonus.

 

[noodles123]

hahah! We say "my 2-cents" here too-but that explanation was one of the best I have heard.

I agree completely that biting has nothing to do with a bird hating someone (at least not in the way that humans "hate")---people shouldn't take it personally, but they should consider what environmental or behavioral triggers may have caused the episode.

Thanks for posting the link! I read it, but I would like to see a more official source or study that backs up the "floating head" idea before I believe it. Some of the wildest bird myths that I have ever heard have been perpetuated by people who have years of experience breeding and training birds--seemingly reputable people who adhere to what they were taught years ago (and they believe what they are saying with all of their hearts). For instance, I was told by a very "reputable" person (20+ years of breeding, clipping and husbandry experience) that a one-winged clip was the way to go (wrong). I have heard numerous experienced breeders say that birds adhere to the principles of dominance (that is not true at all)...There are so many falsehoods floating around out there...Oh---and then those dang snuggle huts (they are all over in bird stores) even though the "experienced" owner should know how deadly they are.
I have a very strong feeling that this is some sort of wives' tale perpetuated by conjecture. I think a lot of times bird owners get bitten and don't understand it, therefore they come up with a theory like this to explain the occurrence, even though numerous studies show that they can discriminate between materials, colors, shapes etc. It is easy to say, "Hmm...not sure why that happened....I didn't do anything wrong and my bird likes me, so she must think I am a tree with a head"..but that is illogical when you think about how complex they are intellectually and psychologically.

Dogs are technically less intelligent than parrots, and they know our hands belong to us...It's not like we say, "Oh my dog bites but it's because he thinks my arms are dog bones/sticks/raw-hide..but, if he bites my face, then it's personal".

The author's mindset is highly species-centric---It seems to project human explanations onto a very complex, non-human animal. I know people like to anthropomorphize, but the author's idea is still very human-centric. It's like, oh, "my dog peed on the green carpet because he thought it was grass." We think that way, so we project our assumptions about their perceptions onto them (in order to explain what we do not understand)..and instead of analyzing the problem and solving it, we accept it based on faulty assumptions...While biting isn't personal, it isn't just random or due to the fact that your bird doesn't know your limbs are yours...

If I seem impassioned, it promise it isn't directed at you (but I am irritated with the author of that text haha). I think birds bite our hands with intention 99% of the time, which is why ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) works to stop biting. If they thought we were just a random unfeeling perch (and that our head was the only true "us") then why would they bite that "perch"(hand/arm etc) to get reactions and to make things happen, and why wouldn't they bite all "perches" (aka hands/arms etc)? You don't often see birds running up to trees and biting them (gnawing yes, but "attacking", no). If they didn't associate our appendages with our heads, then why would they stop biting hands once trust is built and why would they sometimes bite other body parts (like toes) to get attention etc? It just doesn't add up.
There are too many studies showing that birds do things that would disprove this idea. If my hands are just perches, then why does my typically non-biting bird only bite them when she is "mad" at me for leaving town or taking her to the vet? She doesn't bite other objects in this way. If she did the same to her perch and other objects (in the same way), that would be one thing, but she doesn't. I keep going back to A) their intelligence performance on visual tasks and B) the fact that Noodles will not bite me when I put someone's hand in mine to touch her, but she will bite them if I move it. She will actively avoid biting me when she is not mad (and most of the time, she isn't).
Even though my sister's hands are (quite literally) identical to mine, she cannot touch my bird in the same way without risking a bite. If the floating head theory is true, then as long as I am standing next to my sister (with identical hands) then either of us should be able to pet her in the same way, but it doesn't work that way. She consisantly treats my hands differently. Noodles even will jerk her beak as a warning when certain people approach--she knows exactly what she is doing...just as she also knows that her cage is her cage (not just some random top portion of it--the whole thing)...etc etc. Additionally, when birds bite other birds (in a fight or become aggressive), they do it with intention. It isn't like they only see them as floating heads...and the fact that we aren't birds wouldn't change their ability to integrate visual stimuli.
A 2-year old child recognizes that an animal's legs are connected to it (without being told) and many parrots are even smarter than toddlers. Furthermore, other, far-less intelligent animals also have this skill, even when viewing animals outside of their own species... Parrot's intelligence is also highly visual, which means that there is no way they would not be able to assess us as a whole. If they were so simplistic in their thinking, they wouldn't be able to solve even the simplest of foraging puzzles, because in their minds nothing would be connected. That having been said, they are able to unlock doors and perform series of tasks in order to achieve a desired result. They can problem-solve in real-time (without rehearsal) because they see how parts interact and influence other parts.

 

[Talven]

Blatantly incorrect or contradicting information is what the internet is for isn't it?

I guess I read it and it sort of made sense and just went with it. I can't say I've put much effort into researching parrot psychology beyond what was in my immediate need. Mostly I have been concerned with husbandry. Guess I should have paid more attention.

As you have said there is much misinformation out there which is why discussion forums like this are so important. Always happy to get enlightened by others. Words I try to live by are "He who thinks he knows everything truly knows nothing. He who knows nothing and knows that he knows nothing is truly wise." and "The only stupid question is the one left unasked." I don't offend easily so if I've come out with something incorrect feel free to correct me. I'd rather learn than stay ignorant.

 

[ParrotGenie]

Blatantly incorrect or contradicting information is what the internet is for isn't it?

I guess I read it and it sort of made sense and just went with it. I can't say I've put much effort into researching parrot psychology beyond what was in my immediate need. Mostly I have been concerned with husbandry. Guess I should have paid more attention.

As you have said there is much misinformation out there which is why discussion forums like this are so important. Always happy to get enlightened by others. Words I try to live by are "He who thinks he knows everything truly knows nothing. He who knows nothing and knows that he knows nothing is truly wise." and "The only stupid question is the one left unasked." I don't offend easily so if I've come out with something incorrect feel free to correct me. I'd rather learn than stay ignorant.

This is so true, as you learn something new everyday.