Bowing

So there's this funny little thing my guy does that sometimes feels like a greeting, and sometimes feels like a 'let's play' ('play' means I talk to him, sing to him, play peek a boo, etc) and it's awfully cute, but I'm wondering if I'm interpreting it correctly.
He sits on his perch, and bows down and pops his head back up. Like one of those cute little birdie toys that dip their beak in your cup of water. He bobs down and then pops back up. I laugh when he does it, bc it's cute and bob my head at him, and he bobs back at me, and we do that a few times, then someone usually pets his head, because he's cute, and then he gets all fluffy and he gets cooed over, bc he's so cute when he's fluffy, and he gets more head scritches, and so on. So I'm thinking it's like a "Hey, I get good attention when I do this thing" - but want to make sure it's not some other body language thing I'm misinterpreting!
Thanks much!

Bowing down generally means 'hey, can i have a head scratch please', so he's taught you a new trick, well done you

Haha! Yeah, he works to train us every day, lol!!
Typically he asks for head scratches by rubbing his beak on itself a few times, then making this little quacking noise, and then preening his chest, which fluffs up his neck feathers. Well, first, he stares at me. If I get the hint and look back at him, he quacks/preens. If I don't get the hint, he starts yelling at me until I look at him, and then he quacks/preens.

It's gotten to where -when I want to scratch his head, I ask first by copying his beak rub (swish swish sort of sound) sound and then copying his little quacking sound, and put my hand up about a foot away from his head. If he wants a head scratch, he makes the sound back at me, and preens his chest as an invitation. If he doesn't want a head scratch, he just looks at me & I say, OK no scritches then, and move on. Yep, I'm trained. LOL!!!

Bacca has her whole repertoire when she wants attention. She'll make kissy noises (because my wife does that to the bird). If that doesn't work, she'll say "beak!" which is what I taught her (I say "beak" and we bump noses). If all that and some squawking doesn't work, she'll climb down off the perch and stomp (as much as a 100g bird can stomp) over to us.

flyingron said:

Bacca has her whole repertoire when she wants attention. She'll make kissy noises (because my wife does that to the bird). If that doesn't work, she'll say "beak!" which is what I taught her (I say "beak" and we bump noses). If all that and some squawking doesn't work, she'll climb down off the perch and stomp (as much as a 100g bird can stomp) over to us.

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LOL!!! So cute!!!!

If you want to see this set of movements well played, Mac's are excellent at their use. They blend in not only bowing, but also side shifting of their head and bobbing.

I'm not a Mac Snob, but have interacted with enough of them to know that it is a common part of their body language. As a result of experience with our Amazons over the years, I would not be surprised if head bobbing, bowing and shifting are common in a cross-section of Parrots.

I have a very distinct hand signal to ask Salty if he wants a head scratch. I'm a big believer in hand signals with parrots, as they are un-ambiguous. He either says yes by leaning his head in or ignoring the signal ( means no). If he wants one he will rub his head on my cheek or start to preen my moustache and hair.

wrench13 said:

I have a very distinct hand signal to ask Salty if he wants a head scratch. I'm a big believer in hand signals with parrots, as they are un-ambiguous. He either says yes by leaning his head in or ignoring the signal ( means no). If he wants one he will rub his head on my cheek or start to preen my moustache and hair.

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I do a sort of rubbing motion between my thumb and forefinger, while copying the sound he makes when he does want to be scritched... I only noticed that I do that today, lol! Sometimes, he bows his head and preens his belly, ruffling up his neck feathers and head to be scratched - and sometimes he just looks at me. When he offers, I scratch. When he just looks at me, I say, OK, you do you, lol! And go on about my biz.