Understanding Body Language
Even if you are lucky enough to have a talking bird, it can be a real challenge trying to work out what your pet is telling you.
Even the most intelligent of parrots don’t generally communicate their feelings with words although we have heard of some – particularly African Grays – who have been known to loudly tell their owners “I’m bored” when they haven’t received enough attention.
Fortunately, your bird’s body language can actually speak every bit as loudly, and with just some general knowledge you are well on your way to understanding how your pet is feeling.
This is extremely useful, and will help you avoid getting many a painful nip if you are able to tell that he is ‘wound up’ or frightened.
You can identify a frightened pet very easily, by identifying the following:
- He stands as tall as he can and makes himself as skinny as possible.
- His eyes are dilated, and he is almost motionless.
This is your bird reverting to how he’d behave in the wild. By not moving, and making himself as skinny as he can he is hoping that whatever the threat is will overlook him.
You should not attempt to pick up (or even touch) your bird when he is behaving like this. It is likely that you will simply aggravate the problem. You should:
- Squat so that you are actually looking up at your bird.
- Look right at him, then close your eyes for several seconds.
- Whilst speaking softly, open and close your eyes slowly. Continue to speak softly the entire time, and you should notice your bird begin to calm down / appear more relaxed.
The reasoning is fairly simple. Birds generally feel more secure when they are higher up than you, and they consider blinking a sign of trust. When your bird appears to be more relaxed, you should still be cautious about handling him. Leave it a while, and let him get back to normal in case he still feels edgy or agitated.
Birds can actually be scared by the strangest things.
Our budgie (or Parakeet, for our American cousins) doesn’t have a problem with our extremely noisy vacuum cleaner, and doesn’t bat an eyelid when we make fools of ourselves playing on the Wii. He doesn’t care about most loud noises, and is used to me particularly jumping about and shouting like a man possessed in the living room when the football is on. Brush the floor, though, and it’s a different matter altogether. He hates it. Similarly, I can’t simply take my gardening tools through the house. For some reason, the site of a rake, or hoe, absolutely terrifies him. For that reason, I now have to stick the lawn mower / rake etc in the back of my car and drive the tools to the front of the house. As I live in a terraced house, it’s actually incredibly inconvenient – but simply has to be done.
An excited bird will have big dilated pupils, and will bob his head up and down as if he’s dancing. His neck feathers will also appear ruffled, and depending on his level of excitement he may be moving his whole body about. He’ll probably be quite noisy and in some circumstances may make some absolutely ear piercing screams (any bird owner will no doubt be familiar with these.) Birds can be quite volatile when they’re over excited, and it’s best not to handle them at this time.
An angry bird’s eyes will also dilate. He may weave his head back and forth almost like a Cobra, and may also screech loudly. He’ll lean forward in an almost attack like pose, and his feathers will stick up around his neck in an almost catlike fashion.
Don’t approach him when he is like this. Perhaps give him a treat, to try and calm him down, but keep your hands clear lest you suffer a painful bite.
A contented bird will also be familiar to any bird owner. Often he’ll perch on one leg, and there will be an air of relaxation about him. He’ll stretch his wings, and groom himself, and generally just look cute.
We hope you found this informative,
Regards
Steve
