Gardeninggirl
New member
- May 3, 2015
- 8
- 22
- Parrots
- Cockatoo, Amazon, cockatiel and a red rump
I have an adopted (5 years ago) umbrella cockatoo. He is called Nigel and is 32 years old. Sometimes when I go near his cage, he goes down to the floor of his cage, puts his beak to the floor and then walks to the far corner of the cage, keeping his beak on the floor. Once he gets to the corner, he stays there, beak low, tail in the air, doing a tongue movement where he repeatedly pushes his tongue out of his beak and then pulls it back in, over and over. (He does this movement when anticipating tasting some food too. I don't think it is regurgitation as it doesn't involve any neck movements, just the tongue). Is this hormonal and should I discourage it? If so, how? At the moment I walk away when he does it but it doesn't seem to make much difference.
Also, I read on another post someone describing hormonal, displaying behaviour and they included 'beak knocking'. Nigel taps his beak on hard surfaces to make a knocking noise, a lot. I thought he was just playing and we (the whole family) knock back to him, but have we been inadvertently encouraging hormonal behaviour?
Thank-you for your help.
Also, I read on another post someone describing hormonal, displaying behaviour and they included 'beak knocking'. Nigel taps his beak on hard surfaces to make a knocking noise, a lot. I thought he was just playing and we (the whole family) knock back to him, but have we been inadvertently encouraging hormonal behaviour?
Thank-you for your help.