Looking for some insight ... please

Levi will be 2 years old in April. He's been with us since he's a baby.
He is a well respected, loved, cherished and adored member of our family. And I will add, spoiled.

Last night while cleaning up the Christmas stuff. Levi freaked out over red & white striped tissue paper. Clearly he was petrified of it. Today after he made a mess on the floor from taking a bath. I went and got my mop (red & white coloring) to clean up. Levi was on his tree stand and he made an almost growling sound that I have never heard before. I immediately realized the mop resembled the tissue paper from last night. I reassured him everything was okay and I slowly put the mop away.

My question is .... why would he respond like this if he has no history of abuse?
What is the psychology behind this behavior if anyone knows? I'm baffled over it. He doesn't react to the vacuum like this and one would think that could be a scary object.

Thanks!

Why Parrots will elect to classify a specific thing or color combination as 'radioactive' has been a long discussion issue among Parrot Owners. Why one Parrot is fearless and another is fearful of near everything is just as much discussed!

There is much agreement that since Parrots are hardwired to be wary of the World around them. It would be common for them to be careful around new things or something out of place! Grey's 'tend' to do this, but it is just as common across the full breath of Parrot species.

The discussions regarding abuse tends to be around Parrots that in fact have been abused. This group of parrots will display fear patterns that have very specific drivers and responses! Example: The Parrot that does not want to handled in a specific way or being around specific items! But none of this applies to what you are seeing! The difference being the known history of your Parrot.

Our Amazon was abused and there are clear patterns that can define what he likely experienced. We simply avoid those drivers and work on having him become comfortable around like things. With time, it is possible to bring about enough comfort as to begin limiting the effect of the driver. Time, time, and more time.

Check if it is the combination of the two color by presenting only one of the colors. IF both colors drive a response you will need to work with one and then the other. Chose to start with the one that provides the least effect. Everything starts at a distance and with time, time and more time, it is seen with you (at a distance) and become less an issue.

Once again, no one knows for sure! It just that somethings are or can turn radioactive.

That is a normal reaction for Grey's when they feel threatened. Mushka will growl at things she doesn't like. Desensitizing her to different objects is a daily activity and from talking with other Grey owners it seems to be a very common activity. And you never know what may set them off, sometimes I have to find what sets her off. Mushka loves the vacuum. She will sit on it, tries to play with it, and sing with it when I am vacuuming. Never had any fear of it, but every time I get her a new perch or stand it takes days to get her to sit on it. What I do is find out what is upsetting her, I get it as close to her as I can until I see a reaction from Mushka, then I back off a little and leave it in plain sight of her. Over the next few hour-days (depending on how she reacts) I gradually move it closer and closer. After a time I start offering it to her and let her touch it, usually with targeting and rewarding her when she gets closer and eventually interacts with it. It takes time but I have yet to encounter anything that this hasn't worked with.

When I first got Nike I put her down on the back of a chair with a colored afgan laying it it. She had previously been on the back of the couch a number of times and had no issues with it, if fact she liked being able to run from one end to the other. On the afgan she went crazy, growling, huffing, biting it and of course putting up her crest...she was not kidding around.

Since then she's gotten used to it and it doesn't bother her at all to be there but I have to believe it was the colors that set her off initially.

Red seems to set a lot of parrots off. Some Amazons have red patches on their shoulders that are normally not that prominent, but when they go to display they raise up the shoulders to display the red and yellow feathers. Greys have those red tails...do you think it could just be the red color itself, and the stripes are just coincidence? Does Levi object to other red things?

It's very common indeed to have parrots react adversely to things that are harshly coloured. Particularly clashing patterns like what you described.

It reminds me of those brightly patterned snakes and frogs that have those colours to scare off predators. If that's what is being triggered then it makes complete sense that they have an adverse reaction.

I had Remi at the vet yesterday and the vet had her scale perch wrapped in bright orange vet-wrap. Remi wouldn't step on it, and that perch is identical to the one at home, which hasn't got anything on it at all. Even the vet lamented she should have bought some brown vet wrap instead. (Side note: She stepped onto the scale itself with no trouble at all)

Ladies often report birds freaking out about brightly coloured nail polish too (although Remi has only wanted to chew mine... sigh.)

It's also good to remember that birds vision is a bit different to ours. They see a bit more blue and yellow than we do - but they also can see in Ultra-Violet, which means they can see a dimension of light we can't really understand. It's possible red is this freakishly bright colour under UV.

You can probably get Levi to calm down if you introduce it slowly. But I guess next time you have something in horribly loud colours, don't sprint into the room to show it to him!

Also BILL STOP IT WITH THE CUTE NIKE PICTURES I CAN'T HANDLE IT

Thank you so much, a wealth of information, you guys are great! :heart:

Sailboat, great explanation and love the term 'radioactive'. You nailed the behavior exactly.

I know that Grey's frighten easily. Mooshiebird, threatened is a better word. So, I am always mindful when offering him new toys etc... Leaving things in his view for a few days or more if necessary, like his Pak-O-Bird. I left that in his view and moved it closer every couple of days until it was right next to his cage. I left it there for a week before I offered it to him to explore.

But, I've never seen this behavior until last night. I wasn't even approaching him with these items or offering them to him. That's why I was so startled by his reaction.
Your replies makes so much sense now, I was really confused. Especially that growling sounds. Yikes!

Bill_e, great story about Nike & cute picture. It's funny, we have afghans & couch covers on all of our furniture & Levi is always climbing up on a chair with a bright Yellow & Green (w/a pattern) afghan on it. No issues at all.

Karen & Soyajam, I think it could be the bright red + the pattern. I brought a red & white Christmas stocking near him. It's solid red with the white fold at the top. He tilted his head to check it out and that was that.
It must be that red & white is such a stark contrast coupled with the stripe pattern, and now knowing they see differently. I had no idea.

I will definitely try to desenitize his fear of a red & white striped pattern.

Thank you guys, I honestly couldn't understand what was happening.

Tami2, thanks. It's possible that he just could have been in a mood. Be interesting to see if he reacts the same way tomorrow.

It would be interesting to see what those colors look like under a black light! Remember, if they are uv rich, our fids see very well in this range!

Red in the wild is often a danger symbol, especially bright reds often used with some dangerous animals. Red back spiders, Coral Snakes, poison frogs ETC so considering the pattern and the objects specifically being long he could very well have thought a snake was around

My first thought was that it might have reminded him of snakes and that it was a instinctual fear response, similar to the argument about why some humans are frightened of snakes and monkeys too - frightened of snakes I mean, not frightening to humans...

However, I don't think it needs to be as complicated as a biological reaction to red and white. For some reason Levi was scared of the tissue paper; the sound it made, the way it moved, even something as big as a sheet of paper being scrunched up into something much much smaller is pretty weird and might have freaked him out! The thing that scared him was red and white and he will be naturally wary of red and white for a while at least. The danger now is that when he sees red and white he will start to warn you about how dangerous it is - hissing, screaming, getting away, biting it or you if he has to to get the message across. Every time you heed his warning and wrestle the "dangerous thing" out of the way he thinks he's saved you and him and that he'd better be on the look out!

You've already talked about desensitizing him, which is an excellent idea and something I'm about to embark on myself with red balloons having recently watched It - clowns I'm giving up on and will be satisfied to run away from, hiss, scream and bite them or whoever I'm with every time I see them for the rest of my life,because I know how to pick my battles.

Jottlebot said:

My first thought was that it might have reminded him of snakes and that it was a instinctual fear response, similar to the argument about why some humans are frightened of snakes and monkeys too - frightened of snakes I mean, not frightening to humans...

However, I don't think it needs to be as complicated as a biological reaction to red and white. For some reason Levi was scared of the tissue paper; the sound it made, the way it moved, even something as big as a sheet of paper being scrunched up into something much much smaller is pretty weird and might have freaked him out! The thing that scared him was red and white and he will be naturally wary of red and white for a while at least. The danger now is that when he sees red and white he will start to warn you about how dangerous it is - hissing, screaming, getting away, biting it or you if he has to to get the message across. Every time you heed his warning and wrestle the "dangerous thing" out of the way he thinks he's saved you and him and that he'd better be on the look out!

You've already talked about desensitizing him, which is an excellent idea and something I'm about to embark on myself with red balloons having recently watched It - clowns I'm giving up on and will be satisfied to run away from, hiss, scream and bite them or whoever I'm with every time I see them for the rest of my life,because I know how to pick my battles.

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Thank you Jottlebot,

I never even considered the sound. You're probably right. I will indeed heed your warning. I never allow Levi on my shoulder for this very reason. He may get spooked & grab an ear or cheek.

Now on the other note - I Hate Clowns too & have for most of my life after seeing my first horror movie with a clown in it, (I thing it was the Poltergeist with the Clown puppet?) and than seeing 'IT' the first time out back in the day w/ Tim Curry - totally freaked me out. I haven't see the newer version and probably won't. I don't have an issue w/ red balloons just clowns period!
However, I am a big fan of the horror/suspense/thriller genre, but hate clowns! Ha!

good point about the sound, a different new noise that he's not heard before may be scary and then that places the association right there. Or of course he could just be a weird creature like Ol' Rio and just decide certain things are monsters whilst deciding similar things are friendly

Don't get me started on clowns! Hate them so much