Screaming For Fun?

Typical behavior for Mav is that he will scream FOR attention. Usually we ignore him and he'll toss in a "peekaboo" or "come here" and we reward that. Well, that helped a lot and there was minimal 'angry Zon screaming' until... sometimes he'll call peekaboo and I'm busy and can't go to him at that moment. Working, cleaning, etc. Now he reverts back to "AHHHHH AHHHH AHHHHHH#@$^^%#@!!!!"

I have a nanny cam and would look at what he was doing when he reverted back to his angry screams. Usually he was on top of his playden (next to his cage) looking up the stairs where he would expect us to be. Next plan of action: prevent him from being able to see me. So whenever I wasn't actively engaging with him I would put him back into his cage and close the door. Once he got over pouting at his new restriction, he did much better and I didn't notice the screaming as bad.

Lately, it doesn't matter where he is or heck sometimes even where I am. He'll just go into a chorus of Zon screams at the top of his lungs. I tried using "shhh" as a warning and if he continued I would put him into his cage and say "too loud". After he caught on, "shhhh too loud" did the trick for the most part but now we're back to just screaming. Even if I'm in the kitchen cleaning (within his sight lines) and he is playing on his playden he still just lets it go... I don't know what causes him to do it anymore.

Sometimes their intelligence and ability to adapt work against the human-parrot relationship!! Any advice for next steps on how to limit this behavior? Or what on earth the stimulus could be? With us moving, we'll likely end up in an apartment in the short-term and other than this screaming he usually is not all that loud (for a parrot that is...)

Sometimes, screaming is what the behaviorists call "self-reinforcing behavior"!
Needs no external stimulus to maintain it.
Yep. just for fun!
The Rb enjoys this fun a lot!

If only the humans enjoyed it too.....

Are you sure he is "screaming" to scream? I need to get a video of when Amy is "loud" in Amazon speak. Maybe Mav is just asking "where are you? WTH are you doing? Come be with me please!"
Amy will do his Amazon speak to get my attention..or yell FOOD FOOD. Like I have said so many times though,when he is "loud" it's always in Human speak.. HELLO!!! HOW ARE YOU??? WHAT'CHA DOING?? I think in almost thirty years I can count on one hand the times he actually did the "Amazon in the rain forest" banshee yell


Jim

It is most definitely a "scream-scream". He usually does human noises and sings (well as best as he knows how to learning from 2 poor singing humans haha) when he is loud, but these are VERY different.

It's an ear-piercing horrible "AHHH AHHH AHHH AHHH!!"

The Foundation of Screaming has several roots, in near all cases, the problem is not the Amazon.

In their home ranges, Amazons are in ongoing communications with their 'family,' which can include the parents and up to five generations of young. Contact Calls are the most common part of that ongoing communications as the family stays connected.

There is a term that is commonly applied to owners of Parrots: Crazy Parrot People. It is a group that at some point you are just going to have to give-up on being 'normal' and join the rest of us. An individual that is owned by an Amazon is one that is found to be acting as though they are talking to themselves as they wander around the house, both inside and outside. Can be seen in their car gabbing away or in an otherwise quiet place.

You want a quiet Amazon, you need to be part of the contact (call) communication group. They clearly want to be with you and should be anytime possible. When they cannot be, they should at least know where you are. And, that is done by you keeping up your end of the deal by at first responding to and they transferring to you communicating with them first!

We have long worked with seriously ill Amazons that are quiet because of their illness. The joy occurs when their voice returns. So a scream loud Amazon is a joyful thing. That all said, at present the house is quiet has he is afternoon napping and I have been responding to Threads with an occasional contact call his way. Sometimes, he will answer and sometimes he will sleep in the comfort that his people are around, cause they just checked in!

100% answer to what you are experiencing, likely not. A strong and large starting point, oh yaaa.

CKP said:

It is most definitely a "scream-scream". He usually does human noises and sings (well as best as he knows how to learning from 2 poor singing humans haha) when he is loud, but these are VERY different.

It's an ear-piercing horrible "AHHH AHHH AHHH AHHH!!"

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Would like to see a vid or just audio of that..Maybe I'm just a lucky guy who has a "unique" Amazon lol.


Jim

AmyMyBlueFront said:

Would like to see a vid or just audio of that..Maybe I'm just a lucky guy who has a "unique" Amazon lol.

Click to expand...

I just got an audio clip of him singing and vocalizing loudly. I'll try to get another one of him SCREAMING and post both for comparison. Knowing fate, he will stay quiet all night haha.

When my Sam yells for me, I whistle to him. It lets him know I am there and he quiets down. Once he knows that, the loud screaming stops. I guess I just have to be happy to be a member of the "flock". Although, like Amy, his yelling is always in human words. He will ring his bell and yell Hello or Hi or something else, such as Helli, which is his own language. Ha Ha.

Kiwi almost never SCREAMS but he does get vocal, making these awful, cringe worthy shrilly noises like nails on a chalkboard to the ears (though it's doubtful neighbors in adjoining units can hear them) and gets very antsy sometimes. By "antsy", I mean pacing on the cage, swaying, head banging.... The key is to figure out what they're trying to communicate when they do that kind of thing. I've found it's usually connected to them feeling left out of the fun they think your having without them or like you have something and they don't.

Kiwi often freaks when I'm doing dishes. I can only assume he think I'm playing in the water with my 'toys' when I'm washing dishes so I eventually figured out if I run a foot toy under the water and give him that, he calms down and starts playing too (sometimes going as far as to dunk it in my dish). He also freaks in general whenever someone goes into the kitchen for any reason or if he hears water running in the bathroom (which humans has *dared* shower without Kiwi?). If a few shrilly noises and extreme excitement don't do the trick, then he launches into offering up several polite "hello"s, which someone at some point must've rewarded him for because he thinks saying it entitles him to treats (or whatever else he's wanting) no matter what

Salty likes a response to his contact call,,otherwise it escalates louder and louder. My response is 'I'm here! Where are you?'. Of course Amazons like to get loud just for the sheer pleasure of being alive, but these are usually short duration and in the am or pm. He also gets loud when his lunch or dinner is being prepared, so hurry it up there Mom! When he starts getting loud for no reason, we sing to him one of his favorites and he switches over to that, and that works 90% of the time. The 10%? You just have to deal with it. Hope this helps.

Hi, you have not herd screaming until you hear Marty my B&G he is crazy loud he don’t like it if I’m on the phone leave the room every morning I have too take him off his cage even if it’s for just five minutes too make him happy he knows I know he’s their. He yells like he’s in the jungle I yell back at him like I’m in the jungle back at him.

hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii every boooooooooooooooooooddddyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy


oh hi that was clark saying ...what's up....



Green cheeks....amirite?

clark_conure said:

hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii every boooooooooooooooooooddddyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy


oh hi that was clark saying ...what's up....



Green cheeks....amirite?

Click to expand...

"FOOD!!...FOOD!!!" that's Amys' response to just about everything he's asked!! ...OR!..."huh??"


Jim

Screaming for fun? Try living in a house with 6 cockatoos!!

Scott said:

Screaming for fun? Try living in a house with 6 cockatoos!!

Click to expand...

Exactly why we don't! Even when I think "hmm wish I had a cuddlier bird" I remember this video of a cockatoo screaming into a cup just to hear himself louder and that usually does the trick!!

I get that he usually is screaming for attention or interaction, I just don't want to 'reward' that behavior and have it become a habitual thing...

Finally, the beast emerged...

On a positive note... We were out of town for the weekend and our neighbor checked in on Mav. We've been trying to work on interacting with new people and she reports that he was a pleasant gentleman! Her 4-year-old loved "helping" change the water out and Mav even danced with him. Makes my heart SO happy given that the last time they interacted about a year ago he flew off the cage when he saw she was alone and we weren't there, prompting him to learn her shriek of "OH MY GODDDDDD!" hahaha.

Moving on, I captured two audio clips of Mav. The first is him being loud, but he's singing and chatting and doing his happy parrot thing. The second is his screaming this morning. Thoughts??

Loud:
[ame="https://youtu.be/5Ly74iabN3E"]Mav singing - YouTube[/ame]

Scream:
[ame="https://youtu.be/pXPeJht5miM"]Mav screaming - YouTube[/ame]

(This is my first time uploading videos so fingers crossed I did it right!!)

Lol amazons are such good singers tee hee

My eclectus parrot will often call out loudly (and I reckon it's less pleasant than that 'aah' sound - it's more of a gravelly screech) when we leave the room and she wants me/us to come back.
If she's in one end of the house, she will often fly down our long hallway to her room, screaming the whole way (which I think is her way of saying "Oy I'm flying back to my cage come with me!!")

Othertimes, she'll squawk at a different volume while on my fiance's shoulder, which we think is her way of being tired and grumpy and wanting to go to bed.

For me there are a plethora of loud unpleasant noises my bird makes that aren't the behavioural issue kind but are really just being a parrot.
We have consistently used the same kind of whistle to contact call our bird but she doesn't really use it back, and if she does she often just smooshes it into other yelling noises lol.

That scream, considering it's a human voice, makes me think he's just trying to get you to come back. I think you're doing a good job trying to extinguish or redirect the behaviour, it's what I would do. Apart from trying not to reinforce it further if you can I dont know what else I'd do.

Sometimes my B&G will scream like a person and yell help help oh help please.

Hahaha Mav will shout "help!" or if we are ignoring him "whats upppppp?"

I don't mind shouting, but screaming cuts my patience. Plus my wife works from home so it makes it difficult for her when she has important meetings and he's doing his parrot thing. We understood that he'll make noises and be loud when we agreed to get him, but we've been able to transition most of his behavior into more pleasant things (like whats up). It's just that shrieking that is driving us both crazy.