Do your macaws bounce?

Gus does this excited head bob up and down thing when he sees something he likes. But sometimes he sees something he WANTS. Like a tortilla chip. He bobs a couple of times then launches into this full body bounce. He crouches down, then bounces up so high the center of his feet leave the perch. Wings out, head up, eyes on the prize. Over and over, until he gets the thing, because who can resist? We make him wait a bit just so we can watch the show. It's the most energetic thing I've seen him do. Is this a typical macaw move?

Then, when he has the Precious...he holds it in his left foot, takes a nibble, then starts waving that bent leg to the outside as far as it will twist, fast. I say waving but it's a quick snap out to the side and back, over and over, like how a robot queen would wave. Is that also ordinary for a blue & gold?

I Love a good GUS story! We need videos of this curious activity, if nothing else for a good laugh. Especially the foot waving - sounds more like the parrot-Pope, blessing his minions. More GUS!

wrench13 said:

I Love a good GUS story! We need videos of this curious activity, if nothing else for a good laugh. Especially the foot waving - sounds more like the parrot-Pope, blessing his minions. More GUS!

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Oh god, you're right, he does look exactly like he's waving an incense censor back and forth. I will get video when I'm back home, as it's a fairly easy behavior to elicit, if one has chips.

Charlotte doesn't do that specific dance, but she does have a particular dance she does when she sees something she wants RIGHT NOW. The head bobbing is there, along with some bouncing, but instead of jumping off her perch a little, she sticks her foot out as far as she can reach and waves it around frantically, like she's asking us to give her a ride somewhere right that very second.

Romeo does the head bounce when he's happy.

When he sees a want he squats down, sticks his head way out and then screams himself silly. We are working on better ways of demanding the want. (there is no asking)

I wish I had your Gus behaviors.

When he gets the want he usually says "yum" but not always.

JBassset said:

Romeo does the head bounce when he's happy.

When he sees a want he squats down, sticks his head way out and then screams himself silly. We are working on better ways of demanding the want. (there is no asking)

I wish I had your Gus behaviors.

When he gets the want he usually says "yum" but not always.

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You'd be trading the safety of your ears for the safety of your skin! Gus's new freedom to climb around has made his feet and legs stronger, also apparently his beak, and the vocal chords may be recovering. He's feeling better, more at home, wants to have more say in the administration. I'm glad to see the natural macaw come out, but I hope he mellows out a bit. Quiet thoughtful Gus is ever so much nicer to be around than cell phone Gus. He becomes the parrot Hulk. Gus SMASH! With voice!

Cute stories....
We are still trying to figure out Nala's behaviors. She does have a pretty cute little dance when she is excited, wants something or has to go potty. We've had her 7 days tonight.

Kentuckienne said:

JBassset said:

Romeo does the head bounce when he's happy.

When he sees a want he squats down, sticks his head way out and then screams himself silly. We are working on better ways of demanding the want. (there is no asking)

I wish I had your Gus behaviors.

When he gets the want he usually says "yum" but not always.

Click to expand...

You'd be trading the safety of your ears for the safety of your skin! Gus's new freedom to climb around has made his feet and legs stronger, also apparently his beak, and the vocal chords may be recovering. He's feeling better, more at home, wants to have more say in the administration. I'm glad to see the natural macaw come out, but I hope he mellows out a bit. Quiet thoughtful Gus is ever so much nicer to be around than cell phone Gus. He becomes the parrot Hulk. Gus SMASH! With voice!

Click to expand...

Lol, my skin looks like I've been fighting with a wood chipper as it is. Another behavior we're "working" on. Mostly by me paying WAY more attention to his body language.

"Oh, look. He titled his head to the side one picometer. That means don't touch."

"Oh, he raised his beak a millionth of an inch. Time to walk away now."

Ah, he's holding his RIGHT foot up for a step up:

jbassset said:

when he sees , my skin looks like i've been fighting with a wood chipper as it is. Another behavior we're "working" on. Mostly by me paying way more attention to his body language.

"oh, look. He titled his head to the side one picometer. That means don't touch."

"oh, he raised his beak a millionth of an inch. Time to walk away now."

ah, he's holding his right foot up for a step up:

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roflmao!!!!!

I find that Chloe will repeat anything action that causes us to react. She used to hang by the cage bars by her beak and flap wildly. I stopped reacting to that at all because the welds started breaking and the bars were bending. She used to bob and spin once upon a time, but she stopped and I haven't successfully gotten her to do it anymore. I haven't ever seen her hop in the air, but she does bob head and bigger bobs with body. We all do a bob walk together sometimes.


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Nala, will do the head bob/bounce real fast then after doing that once or twice she will put her foot in her mouth and start bobbing again and it looks so goofy but cute.

Was into our local Rehomer yesterday at their request to define four Amazons that they had gotten in last week.

So, what the heck has that got to do with MAC's: At the door they had a young MAC (about two) and I did my normal Twitch, Bob and Bounce as an introduction and I got pretty much the same from the MAC. Completed our introductions and went onto the Amazons. Was working with the smallest of the group for a good ten minutes. I was about to bring her out of her cage when I had felt someone climb on to my lower back. Guess, who had made his way from his stand across several cages and down to the floor and up my back he came.

Long story short, I did nothing more than a friend had shown me years ago regarding the Twitch, Bob, and Bound thing with MAC's. Clearly quite the line of communicate. I had always guessed that it was normal part of MAC communication and that MAC people just kind of knew all about it.

With luck the folks that had an interest in him came in just as that feather ball had come over my shoulder and into by arms, and balled up. I picked him up and passed the ball over to the them and when back to the Amazons.

So, I always believed that MAC language included this Twitch, Bob and Bounce thing.

SailBoat said:

... I did my normal Twitch, Bob and Bounce...

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Anyone else wishing there was a video?

Me! What part do you twitch, what do you bob, and how do you bounce? Is there video?

I'll get a video of Gus this weekend. It's like he has Flubber on his feet. Anybody else old enough to remember Flubber?

Since this thread started I've noticed Romeo bouncing more. And now that I see it and engage it's gone from subtle to very very obvious. He was on the arm of the couch and bounced until he caught air this evening.

Then he fell off the couch and walked off like a cat: as if that didn't happen and if it did it happened on purpose.

Love these birds.

Here is a video of Gus doing a moderate bounce. But he doesn't wave the chip too much - when he's excited he waves that left hand out and back like a band leader. At the beginning is the "oh give me that I want it please please please " bounce and at the end us the "ooh, if I get my beak on you I'm gonna bite you so hard" bounce.

[ame="https://youtu.be/ftnCxuLa1U4"]https://youtu.be/ftnCxuLa1U4[/ame]

My blue and gold Kayko does the bounce well, mostly in response to the great-grandchildren trying to get him to put his wings up. My Scarlet; Clifford has this language thing where he says "Mop" when he is thirsty and wants something to drink and an upswinging "Ummmmmp" when he wants something to eat. This he does when we are out in public. I keep a mix of water and grape juice when we are out in public. He taught the "mop" thing to Doogie my Catalina

My macaws bob too, with mine it means they want to feed me! The body bounce is the happy bounce. My Greenwing, Tina, also hops from one foot to the other and moves her head from side to side and says dance.

Oh God.....ME! I want to see the bob, twitch and bounce,,,,me me me!