Bonding breakthrough....

[schristensen13]

I adopted a 16 yr old CAG on Saturday...I met her one time before I took her home. The past two days she has been settling in and has allowed me to handle her without any headscratches. When holding her I would try to scratch her head/neck and she would immediately pull back....
So, tonight after my daughter went to bed I got Mariah out of her cage to hold while my husband and I watched tv. She stepped up with no problem and I just talked to her and clicked at her....
After about 5-10 minutes she started getting all excited. Head bobbing, regurgitating motions (nothing spit up), wings unfurled, walking back and forth between my hands, and making all kinds of quiet jabbering and clicking noises. She let me bring her close to my chest and pet her head, neck, and body.
I was so excited for her that she felt that comfortable being in her new home...and of course, comfortable with me. She was cracking me up!
I have had previous birds display these same behaviors and I am reading it as a bonding connection. Is there anything I need to discourage at this point? I went to put her back in her cage (after a while together) and she didn't want to get off of my hand.

I was so nervous that she would have a rough time settling in after leaving her last family of 16 years. Now I know she's going to be just fine!

 

[MikeyTN]

Good to hear she's bonding with you.... Depending on what Mariah is doing, it can be either mating rituals or just being plan silly... My Cockatoo Dixie act silly like that all the time, it's very cute!!!

 

[Erithacus]

Great. That's good sign. Mine does that to me almost every night.

 

[schristensen13]

So....from what I can gather on-line this is most likely a mating ritual. Advice is to put her on/in her cage when this happens so she will settle down....to try and avoid a hormonal "broody" female.
Still...very excited that she is comfortable and likes me!!

 

[AMR500]

my guy "Bela" - yes he's a boy, does the same behaviour! I've only had him 2 weeks.. and he's a lover for sure. I would say to try and not encourage the regurgitation actions ( as it can lead to them actually regurging and can get messy and not good for their health) but otherwise.. the lovey cooing etc that they do is sooo cute!