Behavioural Basics By Dr Colin Walker  BSc, BVSc, MRCVS, MACVSc (Avian health) and Dr Corrie Pinkster BVSc Most parrot species live for many years, and can be a much loved and involved member of a human household. Apart from providing a good diet, understanding a bird’s behaviour and investing time into training it are essential for a happy, healthy bird. Many of the parrots kept as pets belong to species that form flocks naturally in the wild. They are intelligent, socially interactive birds that form complex intra-flock relationships. Their need for social interaction and companionship is very high. When brought into the human household, particularly as young birds, a lot of their behaviours are transposed across to what they perceive as their adopted human flock and much of the behaviour that they display should be interpreted in this light This ability to interact so strongly with us is one of the reasons why parrots make such good pets. In a similar way, that young puppies brought into a human family consider themselves part of a human pack an adopted bird often considers itself part of the human flock, interacting with family members in a similar way to the way it would interact with other birds if in a wild flock. Different species vary in their need for companionship and interaction. Lorikeets appear to have a particularly high requirement. It is not unusual for injured juvenile wild rainbow lorikeets brought to the clinic by members of the public for veterinary care to sit on a nurse’s hand or eat out of a nurse’s hand within a few days of being hospitalized. Looking at them it is hard to imagine that they were a wild free flying bird only several days before. It is important to remember however that most of the parrots we keep as pets, with the possible exception of the budgerigar and cockatiel, are in fact tame wild birds rather than domestic birds. When their inherent behaviour is transposed across to an adopted human flock, two potential behavioural problems emerge, namely dominance and inappropriate sexual behaviour. Dominance Dominance occurs when the pet bird thinks that it is in fact dominant over the human members of its adopted flock. The difficulty with dominance is the other behaviours, in particular aggression, that come with it. The potential for aggressive behaviours such as biting makes the bird unpredictable and unpleasant to be around. Through displaying this aggressive biting behaviour the dominant bird is not being ‘naughty’ but simply following its natural instinct. Every bird wants to be dominant because the dominant bird gets the best things such as favoured foods and the highest perches which are the safest from predators. It is therefore very important that we do not allow the growing bird to feel that it is dominant over its human family. This is more easily done in a young bird. All young birds are subordinate and so it is simply a matter of avoiding the cues that would make them think they were dominant as they mature. This is particularly important in potential pugnacious species such as lorikeets and ringnecks. One of the ways this is achieved is by always keeping them low. The classic instruction is always to keep the birds head below your heart. Juvenile lorikeets are particularly charming and interactive. However, in the bigger Australian lorikeets, as puberty approaches in the second year of life, particularly in the males (males are the dominant sex in lorikeets) the confident interactive juvenile can quickly morph into the dominant adult who has no fear of humans and is prepared to bite to get his own way. Carrying a bird around on your shoulder or head subconsciously registers to that bird that he is dominant over you. This can be difficult to avoid as birds will readily run up arms from hands and this is one reason why training perches are recommended. Place the bird on its training perch, carry him on this and let him sit on this when sharing time with you, always, of course, ensuring that he is kept low. For difficult birds trimming their wings will give you greater control and enable you to keep their focus. Photo 1. A cockatiel on a training perch. An easy-to-make training perch, such as this, helps give more control over a parrot during training. The other important aspect to avoiding potentially dominant behaviour in the young bird is training. The three basic commands are ‘step up’, ‘step down’ and ‘stay’ (although a veterinary friend of mine has suggested there should be a forth command, ‘Mr. Towel is my friend’). Although it is good to have a bird do these things one of the additional advantages is that it establishes a reward protocol known to the bird that can be used to manage behaviours later in life. Correct behaviour is rewarded while no reward is given for incorrect behaviour. Birds are not hard wired for negative evaluation and it is not considered appropriate to flick the beak or squeeze a toe as recommended in some older publications as a punishment for a particular behaviour. The correct behaviour is rewarded with what the bird wants namely companionship and food. When a bird does the desired behaviour i.e. steps onto the provided hand strong verbal and visual interaction should be provided by the trainer. Food rewards can be provided in two ways, either a favourite food item can only be offered as a reward during training or alternatively the days food can be divided into 4 or 5 meals and each meal only provided after a successful training session. ‘Clicker training’ is a common training method employed not only in birds but other animals such as dogs and horses. When the animal does the correct behaviour a sound is made with the clicker and a reward provided. As training progresses just the clicker sound can be used to tell the animal that it has displayed the correct behaviour. Basic Commands • Step up – slide your finger/hand in front of his breast, just above his legs. It is instinctive for your bird to step onto your hand. As he does, say “step up” and offer a reward. If your bird is a biter, start off by placing a towel over your hand for protection. • Step down – move your hand to a surface so that it is now in the same position as your hand was for step up. Say “step down” and reward when he cooperates. • Stay – having a safe and convenient area for your bird outside the cage is important, and getting her to stay there equally so. While she is sitting quietly, randomly talk to her and offer rewards. If she moves away from the safe area, ask her to step up, put her back where you want her and say “stay”. Avoid the temptation to talk to her when she wanders, as this is actually encouraging the behaviour. Your bird will be happier on her play pen or perch if she has toys and food to keep her amused while she is there. • Be creative with whatever you wish to teach your bird, they are surprisingly intelligent and will learn new tricks very quickly, just stick to the general principles. When birds do the wrong thing such as biting an approaching hand it can be hard not to growl at them. However, such a reprimand can be seen as a verbal interaction and therefore a reward by the bird and thus the wrong behaviour can be inadvertently rewarded. It is simply best to put the bird back into it’s cage and leave. Punishment for a flock bird is separation from the security of the flock. In this situation it is more vulnerable to predation. The birds don’t like this and quickly realise that it happens every time they do a particular behaviour. As they don’t like the isolation they don’t do the behaviour that leads to it. It is important to note that it is not the length of time that the bird is left alone that is so important but rather the repeat nature of it and the number of times that the isolation occurs. Usually just a few minutes of isolation are sufficient. General Principles • Reward good behaviour but ignore bad behaviour. • Rewards include: interaction with you (talking, fussing over bird, head scratch, etc), food treats (favourite fruit, nuts, seed, wholegrain bread, etc), toys. • Do NOT yell at or hit your bird in any way. Yelling just excites them, and hitting them will break their trust and make them fearful of you. • Isolation is threatening for a bird, so putting the bird away from any interaction and ignoring it is the best way to punish it. Doing this for 2-5 minutes whenever undesirable behaviour is observed will discourage such behaviour. • Consistency and repetition are essential. • Remember that some birds are several years old before they mature, and good training in the pre-pubertal years are essential to prevent aggression as they mature. • You want the bird to be a part of your family, but not to be dominant over you. • In the bird world, height is attained by the dominant individuals. Keeping your birds head below the level of your heart will tell your bird that you are dominant over it. Carrying your bird on a training perch can assist this. Sexual problems In a wild free flying flock it is only natural for a bird as it approaches puberty to select a sexual partner. In the same way a developing bird will often select a ‘mate’ from its human flock. This ‘preferred human’ is often the one that provides what the bird needs i.e. companionship and food. Although this can appear a bit humorous at times it is fraught with problems because even if the human wanted to be the birds mate no matter what effort is put in the relationship simply doesn’t work almost invariably resulting in sexual frustration on the bird’s behalf and the development of abnormal behaviours. Birds who form an inappropriate ‘mate type’ relationship with their preferred human often try to mate with them, will courtship feed them, want to preen them and be groomed by them, want to spend a lot of time (or all of their time) with them and sometimes be aggressive towards other members of the human flock that go near them. We have had several unusual situations at the clinic where birds have imprinted on unusual objects. We had an Indian Ringneck form a sexual bond with its owners foot with its pink nail polish (the owner joked that the bird had a foot fetish). Budgies are quite commonly presented with unusual behaviours which have a sexual base. Most people are familiar with a pet budgie falling in love with its own reflected image in its mirror or bell. One budgie patient of the clinic was bonded to a small plastic dinosaur that was kept on the floor of its cage and became nervous and agitated whenever it was separated from it. Another case which was particularly sad was another budgie called ‘Neddy’ who ‘loved’ a small plastic ball with a bell inside. ‘Neddy’ groomed, fed, defended and mated with his ball and when it failed to return his affection pulled out a lot of his feathers. Photo 2. The ultimate sex toy? ‘Neddy’ with his plastic ball. This blue budgie had sexually imprinted on this object. He groomed, fed, defended and mated with his ball and when it failed to return his affection pulled out a lot of his feathers. A mass of regurgitated seed, the result of ‘courtship feeding’ can be seen beside the ball. The white material over the ball is dried sperm. It is important that multiple people are involved in a bird’s care so that the chance of a bird’s attention being focused onto one person is reduced. In cases like ‘Neddy’s’ veterinarians often use libido reducing drugs such as GNRH blockers and the inappropriate object is substituted with multiple interactions with many other members of the human flock. In some situations like this substitution with an actual bird and the encouragement of actual reproductive behaviour is an option. One bird or two? Should a pet bird be kept by itself or with another bird? And will this make them less tame? In a humanised bird its need for companionship can be met by humans and so provided people have enough time to spend with that bird there is no need for another bird. For a non-humanised bird i.e. one that is frightened of people the provision of a companion bird can be a good idea. The companion bird does not have to be of the same species with what might appear some very unlikely ‘couples’ becoming good ‘friends’ and quite adequately satisfying each other’s needs for companionship. Photo 3. A Sun Conure and Eclectus parrot ‘courtship feeding’ each other. Despite the great differences in colour, size and original geographic distribution of these two species, these two birds are able to meet each other’s need for companionship. Both birds are males. To keep an intelligent interactive species of bird such as a parrot alone without any companionship is not regarded as fair on the bird and often, predictably, results in the development of a variety of abnormal behaviours. In the same way an intelligent working breed of dog such as a kelpie locked in a small yard by itself might start to display abnormal behaviours such as excessive barking or destructive chewing a parrot may manifest similar frustrations by excessive screeching, self mutilation or display repetitive compulsive behaviour (such as repetitively walking backwards and forwards on it’s perch). Birds do not become less tame through the provision of an avian companion. If they were not frightened of people they will not become frightened of people. If, however, their need for companionship is met by another bird they will not seek human companionship to the same extent. If ever there was a case that highlighted the need for bird owners to understand and correctly interpret their birds’ behaviour, it was a case that was presented recently at the clinic. To me, the case seemed particularly sad. The bird had been presented for veterinary examination because of its feather loss. The bird was an old male, self-mutilating, frustrated, Sulphur-crested cockatoo, which had been kept as a single bird in his tiny cage for an incredible 35 years. He was not allowed out because he would bite. Incredibly, once brought into the clinic and after applying basic behavioural guidelines, the bird not only allowed itself to be stroked but also held within only a few days. The term ‘love sponge’ is sometimes applied to these birds and it was certainly apt here. It was as if he was trying to catch up on the 35 years that he had missed out on in just a few days. One would hope that even a single visit to an avian vet these days would be enough to prevent a repeat of this type of situation happening. As I said at the start of this article, parrots can be an involved member of a human household and investing time into understanding their behaviour and training results in a not only happier bird but a much more rewarding bird-owning experience for us. >> Back to recent articles