Lovebird in the mirror

cdnbirdlover

New member
Aug 24, 2012
193
0
Canada
Parrots
Peach faced lovebird Basil
Basil is enjoying his flight feathers and is becoming more adventurous in the house. We have a full length mirrored closet in our front entrance (a place we've only walked by together - with him on my shoulder - on a few occasions). His cage is in the back of the house and he can't see that mirror from the top of his cage. But he's taken to flying over there so he can yell at the mirror bird. He's not flying at top speeds but he did bump the mirror the first time he did this. But now he will just fly over and land on the floor in front of the mirror. And I can't get him away from there while he and his reflection are pacing up and down and yelling at each other. Not even for sunflower seeds or millet. I have to prop up pilllows in between him and the mirror and eventually I can lure him away. He forgets that I am his friend and would bite me if I was foolish enough to try to get him to step up while he was in this mood.

Should I just let him do this and eventually he will figure out that there is not another bird there? He has a play gym with a very small mirror that he can catch a bit of his reflection in but it's not the whole bird. He makes chuck chuck sounds at it but doesn't exhibit that obsessive behaviour like at the big mirror. And he doesn't have a mirror in his cage (as I was advised against that). I don't want to stress him out but I also don't want to stop him from flying around when he has the chance.

Thanks.
 

mistywaterwoman

New member
Jan 25, 2013
173
0
New Orleans, LA
Parrots
2 Peach-faced lovebirds (1 SeaGreen)
WOW, I had no idea they could be aggressive towards their reflections! o_O

Mine have a small mirror toy in the cage, but it has abacus-like "busy beads" on it, and that's what they focus on the most. I don't really think they have noticed the mirror birdies...

I'll be watching to see what the experienced lovebird owners advise you to do. Interesting.
 

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