Not Biting the Face - Understanding Sensitive Areas?

[YmlyZHliaXJk]

I've been wondering this for years and finally, the time and situation lined up for me to ask it as I found this forum. I tried searching for posts similar to this but they are always about the opposite behavior. Anyway, the reason I'm making this post is out of curiosity.

I have a conure, and for as long as I can remember barring a few times when he was very young, he will never, ever, bite my face. If I really annoy him (like pushing him from tearing my shirt apart with my nose) he will push with his beak and maybe sometimes very lightly hold, but not even enough to where it leaves a mark or even hurts in the slightest bit (and it's completely warranted for using my face to push him - I don't do this normally but sometimes I'm working and my shirt is falling apart). On the contrary, he has no problem biting my fingers or my hands with a bit of force (even then, rarely ever enough to puncture the skin unless there's a stranger or dog coming near me that he's not comfortable with, then he'll really bite hard). With the face though, it's like he understands what it is and really understands that it's sensitive, as opposed to my hands - which I'm not sure if a) he doesn't fully understand they're part of the same body that my face is, or b) if he just sees them as legs, which I know parrots use to kind of wrestle around and fight each other with. I'm usually fairly skeptical about situations where an animal's implicit understanding of a very reasoning-based phenomenon is suggested, but this doesn't seem too far-fetched where it's implausible either.

Mostly just an observation which I'm curious if other people have also noticed or seen before. I can't say I'm overly effective at training or that I really did anything rigorous to train this into him either. I just try to give him the best most natural life that I can, plenty of socialization, toys, and I don't cage him or clip his wings (luckily he's small enough where this is actually feasible indoors), etc. and the rest has seemingly just come naturally thankfully.

 

[TRBLMKR]

I got a female gcc (Pebbles) back in February or March. It took 4 days for her to come out her cage and interact with me. For the next 3 days she would call for me to get her out. She would step up, snuggle a little bit and bite until I couldn't bare it (no blood but she has power in dat little beak). I almost called the breeder to bring her back because of the biting, I couldn't understand why. Everywhere skin was exposed, but not an angry bite and not my face. 4th day the biting stopped or the bites were below my pain threshold. I think she was probing and testing. I just thought she didn't "test" my face because I have a beard.

 

[ravvlet]

Broccoli will beak my nose if I nudge him but seems to understand not to bite there either. He bites fingers a little harder but still within an acceptable threshold even for kids. I think as long as you condition them gently and early they grasp appropriate bite pressure fairly well.

 

[wrench13]

One thing is for sure - you can't discipline parrots like you would with a dog in example. For bitng there is 'shunning'. This is practiced by flock birds to warn or chstise unrully young'un. After the bite, I mean immediately!, the bird is put on a handy nearby chair back, Not his cage. That woul send the wrong message. Turn your back to him, for a minute. No eye contact, nada! then try to re=engage with him. DO this every time for success.

 

[PrimorandMoxi]

My Amazon treats my face the same way I have noticed, and was curious too.

I was thinking it was because he bonded with my face first
or because my fabulous singing voice emerges from it.

Also Vogueing is a great way to help your bird associate your hands with your face...

 

[YmlyZHliaXJk]

My Amazon treats my face the same way I have noticed, and was curious too.

I was thinking it was because he bonded with my face first
or because my fabulous singing voice emerges from it.

Also Vogueing is a great way to help your bird associate your hands with your face...

I think that if I tried singing, he might change his mind and start biting my face!

 

[YmlyZHliaXJk]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. Interesting to see other people with similar experiences. I don't reallly know anyone in real life with birds so I've never had the chance to see if this is common or not, but it doesn't seem all that uncommon judging by the replies. It would be interesting to see if parrots in the wild also demonstrate this behavior among each other. If so, that would make sense - maybe it is instinctual to not attack the face of members of their own flock.