Bird biting? Pay attention to the little things

Mel, my blue headed pionus, has been with me for a short time and came from dubious circumstances. She is making remarkable progress and we had a very good time together today, on one of the first good days I have had health wise for a long time. She was stepping up, moving from place to place, practicing words, communicating, asking for and receiving scritches, and so on. And then "for no reason" she attacked me and ripped my thumb open. But of course, birds do not do things for no reason, so what actually happened?

I forgot to tuck my thumb when I offered her my hand. I usually do for birds bigger than conures, I hold my four fingers in a plank and tuck my thumb down out of the way, but in my joy and relaxation I forgot to. Why is this important? Mel's last caretaker was a proponent of holding toes. I do not disagree with this if a bird is trained to stay when you touch the toes, but simply using a grasp on the toe to physically trap a bird, sometimes leaving get bird dangling by one toe? Well that is another story. So by approaching her with my thumb up, I was mimicking her last caretaker, and she attacked with a fury. She made me bleed in two places. A few minutes later I was able to pick her up without issue, thumb tucked. I later, to test my theory, approached her again with thumb untucked, and she lunged at me. We continued on in our day with tucked thumb, happiness, and seemingly no hard feelings on either side.

I could be wrong about the exact cause, but I have seen Mel hang by her toe from this man's hand, and it feels like the most logical answer. But that is not my point. My point is, your bird does not attack "for no reason." There is always a reason, and in my experience that reason almost always has to do with either fear or mating. Think hard about what you do with your bird, and do not jump to the conclusion that the bird is "mean" or that the behavior is even the bird's fault. It may be, but it is much more likely that the fault lies with a human, either ourselves, someone around us, or someone in the bird's past. Please think hard, because even a loose thumb can be the difference between a sweet, loving, trusting bird, and a "monster" brought out of that bird by fear or hormones.

I know most of us already know this, I was just reminded so strongly today that I felt I had to share.

Hello, Dani. I hope your thumb heals swiftly and well.

Yes, I agree. Very often, a bird's seemingly random and "mean-spirited" actions actually come from a rather well-defined cause... if you do the necessary detective work. Fact of the matter is, avian communication differs significantly from our own.

Ofttimes, they've only bitten us out of frustration after we've "ignored" what they've so plainly and insistently been telling us through their body language. Lol!

We often focus on how we can get our fids to respond to our gestures or verbal cues, but we sometimes forget that it is at least as important for us to learn to read them. Communication has to be a two-way street, right?

You took the time to see what was upsetting your bird, and in doing so you can now remove a potential source of discord between you. Thanks for sharing, Dani.

I've found the ease of "reading" parrots emotions varies by species. My BF Amazon is easy with special emphasis on pupil "bouncing" while the growl and body language of a Grey is definitive. The Goffins are easy because they are so communicative with body gesturing, but my male Citron is very tricky and his occasional bite is prefaced by "owwww" a millisecond before the pain. Hardest is the stoic Eclectus. She is sweet with me, the consummate one-person bird!

We humans must strive to engage in two-way communication and remember these are intelligent beings well aware of their captive lives.

Thank you for sharing! I don't have big birds, but for my fids the strict rule is 'no biting'. Period. It does apply to relations between them too. I had to train them quite a bit for that, but how thankful am I for situations like I had with Parry after he lost his toenail and was chewing off the rest of the toe (he is still in collar and bandage…) He NEVER bit me during this very hard time for both of us. I had to put bandages, put on and take off his collar, wipe his beak (which he hates the most!), give him medicine through syringe etc.. I know parrots can come from different circumstances and have different levels of obedience, but I generally think we should try our best to teach them that biting is completely unacceptable. Or is this impossible?
I hope your thumb heals fast - you really didn't need that extra pain!

I totally agree with taking a step back and trying to figure out what you did wrong. I'm constantly learning even with Avery... sometimes it's jealousy, sometimes it's finger placement, and sometimes it's because I didn't read her mood properly. I've had her for over a year and I'm still learning. It also doesn't help that she just finished going through hormones, though I must admit she had very mild hormonal behaviour. I consider myself incredibly lucky in that regard. But even then, despite her unpredictability at times, I always found myself questioning, "what did I do to trigger that?". And I can often find an answer, and can often modify my behaviour or figure out "ground rules" to prevent it.

I actually have a guilty secret to this... I keep a bird diary. Every time I do something to trigger "bad" behaviour in my birds, I write it down and try to assess what I did wrong. It makes me feel like I'm 13 again, but it definitely helps with me and my birds!

Veimir, I also have a no biting rule, but Mel is a new rescue, who, as I said, had suffered a abuse from someone who used to hurt her with his thumb, thus she had every right in the world to defend herself. The point is that when a bird exhibits "bad behavior" our first question should be what we could have done to cause it rather than blaming.

Dino, your bird journal is a fantastic idea!

Dani, I couldn't agree with you more! For the first year after Dominic arrived, he would bite and bite me for no apparent reason. I refused to let it faze me and simply continued to be respectful of his space but always there with a treat and a kind word. Eventually, the biting reduced and I still have no real idea why he did it. I just have a very strong feeling that something triggered a fear response in Dom during that time.

Since then, Dom has bitten only a few times and each bite had an obvious reason. Whether he was saying 'No. I don't want to go back to my cage just yet.' or 'Please don't let me fall!', his messages were clear. These days, communication is much easier between us and I'm so glad I didn't give up on him. Time and patience, patience and time. That's all you need, really.