quirky non-verbal communication

[camo]

I started thinking the other day just how much non verbal communication that Gizmo and Pebbles use with me, and I thought I might share some of the less obvious ones:

* Pebbles says I want a treat or what you are eating. Pebbles steps up with her beak first, but if what she really wants is a treat or the food you are eating, she crouch as if she wants to step up, but will also open her mouth right up like a hippo.... When I first picked up on it, I was worried she had something caught in her throat, but over time it's become apparent that's just what she does. This doesn't necessarily mean she is hungry though, as she will do this for pumpkin seeds even after she has just finished a meal. I find this one a useful non-verbal as this is a great time to tackle any training. If I miss her cue or intentionally ignore it, when I pick her up, she will reach down to my fingers and fake reaching for a treat, then look at me and open her mouth again like a hippo.

* Gizmo when he wants something I have (eg. a Banana I am eating), will move his tongue in his mouth like he is eating, it's hard to explain, but the action even has a bit of noise to it, so I sometimes pick it up without seeing him, if he is on my shoulder near my ear, and I know he is about to run down my arm that has the banana in it. It's like he is licking his lips....

* Pebbles uses me as a steerable perch. Pebbles has been really looking for prospective nesting places lately (she is a bit hormonal), now some parrots would try to fly to the other side of the room, or walk on the floor etc. but Pebbles has worked out that if she flies to me, climbs down the arm that is closest to the direction she wants to go, she can then steer me, by stretching forwards or forward left/forward right. If I miss this (or decide to play with her) and turn around 180 degrees, she will climb over my shoulder to the other arm and do it again. If I am facing completely the wrong way, she climbs up on my shoulder and stretches out towards the direction she wants to go. She has me well trained...lol.

This is probably 3 of the stranger ones I can think of, but this next one, I don't think Gizmo knows he is doing (I keep trying to get it on camera, but so far I have been unsuccessful).

* If Gizmo is thinking bad thoughts, he will squint. Gizmo will sometimes try to sneak up on Pebbles and grab a tail feather, or duck down and try to reach for a toe. Fortunately he has never really carried through with this, a screech from Pebbles is all it takes for Gizmo to back off. It's something that I obviously want to discourage, but in watching out for it, I noticed this weird behaviour of squinting as he assesses if he can sneak in. If I see this, I will generally stop him with a stern "Gizmo", and he will look, as if to say "What, I wasn't doing anything"....lol

There are lots of other obvious ones, but these are probably the most peculiar that comes to mind. I would love to hear if your eckies or even other birds have non-verbal communication similar or something also peculiar .

Cheers,

Cameron

 

[Uglow]

* Pebbles uses me as a steerable perch...

HAHA. Uglow does the same thing. stretches his neck out and points with his head. if I take him somewhere he doesn't want to go he gives me a soft pinch and looks up at me.
nothing quite like being made to feel dumb by a 5 month old bird.

 

[chris-md]

The irony being they could get there faster if they flew there themselves! Lazy Ekkies!

 

[Anansi]

Cool topic, Cameron. And very interesting non-verbal communications between you and your flock.

Hmmm, let's see. Well, Jolly used to nibble my ear (while perched on my shoulder) to tell me that he wanted me to hurry up, but he's since come to understand that I'm less than enamored with this practice. So now he communicates the same message by pushing his face just below my ear lobe. This usually occurs while I'm making chop. "Hurry up, Dad! How long can that possibly take, anyway?"

Maya let's me know if she's particularly pleased with something by enthusiastically nodding her head "yes" after it happens. You most often see it after you give her a new food that she really enjoys.

And one of my favorites is the beak five. Maya has a strong protective instinct over her food. She's hardwired to open her mouth and lunge if your hand is anywhere near her food. Now, biting is never tolerated, and she knows this, but lunging while in front of her meal will never be "punished" in any way, either. After all, it's an instinctive behavior.

So I redirected this aggressive energy into a kind of pre-meal ritual.

I stick my little finger between the bars and say "beak five!", at which point she lunges full speed and then stops just short and gives me the gentlest of nibbles on the tip of my finger. Funny thing is, what started as a redirection exercise has become a kind of "thank you" ritual. A few times when I'd forgotten to collect her "beak five" I started to notice that she'd seem a bit uncomfortable and even a little hesitant to begin eating. Soon enough I realized that she had begun looking forward to the beak five before eating. Lol! Bizarre, but true.

 

[camo]

* Pebbles uses me as a steerable perch...

HAHA. Uglow does the same thing. stretches his neck out and points with his head. if I take him somewhere he doesn't want to go he gives me a soft pinch and looks up at me.
nothing quite like being made to feel dumb by a 5 month old bird.

Haha, I love it, I am so glad I am not the only one who has been suckered into being a transportable perch. Pebbles is worse she doesn't pinch, she just persists trying to get me to do what she wants, so she obviously thinks I am too dumb for correcting...lol

The irony being they could get there faster if they flew there themselves! Lazy Ekkies!

It is so true. We have a glass display unit, they have decided to claim the top of. Instead of flying directly too it (which she can easily do), she flies to me, then directs me to put her on the cabinet. The worst thing is that I do it for her.

 

[camo]

Cool topic, Cameron. And very interesting non-verbal communications between you and your flock.

Hmmm, let's see. Well, Jolly used to nibble my ear (while perched on my shoulder) to tell me that he wanted me to hurry up, but he's since come to understand that I'm less than enamored with this practice. So now he communicates the same message by pushing his face just below my ear lobe. This usually occurs while I'm making chop. "Hurry up, Dad! How long can that possibly take, anyway?"

Maya let's me know if she's particularly pleased with something by enthusiastically nodding her head "yes" after it happens. You most often see it after you give her a new food that she really enjoys.

And one of my favorites is the beak five. Maya has a strong protective instinct over her food. She's hardwired to open her mouth and lunge if your hand is anywhere near her food. Now, biting is never tolerated, and she knows this, but lunging while in front of her meal will never be "punished" in any way, either. After all, it's an instinctive behavior.

So I redirected this aggressive energy into a kind of pre-meal ritual.

I stick my little finger between the bars and say "beak five!", at which point she lunges full speed and then stops just short and gives me the gentlest of nibbles on the tip of my finger. Funny thing is, what started as a redirection exercise has become a kind of "thank you" ritual. A few times when I'd forgotten to collect her "beak five" I started to notice that she'd seem a bit uncomfortable and even a little hesitant to begin eating. Soon enough I realized that she had begun looking forward to the beak five before eating. Lol! Bizarre, but true.

Oh I love your examples, Gizmo does a similar head push too, pushing his beak into my cheek, if he gets really excited, he will push forward against my head with his beak, while flapping his wings, then look at me with great pride. It all stems back to when I was first getting him to fly to me, I would give him a really exaggerated "good boy", he is very motivated by positive feedback.

I love the way you have redirected Maya's aggressive energy, that's golden.

Cheers,

Camo

 

[Anansi]

Thanks, Cameron!

Funny enough, we had a funny "beak five" moment day before yesterday. I was helping one of my sons with his homework, so my wife did the food prep instead of me. Once done, she carried both birds over to their cages (one at a time, as she can't completely let down her guard with Lady Maya just yet) and set them up with their food.

Maybe a minute later, I needed to go into the family room for something. (That's where their cages are kept.) As I passed her cage, I called out "beak five!" as usual and offered my little finger.

Don't you know that prissy little diva stopped just short of my finger and just looked up at me?!? She truly refused to give me a beak five since I wasn't the one who brought her food! Hahahahahaha! The nerve!

 

[camo]

This is a really crappy video, Gizmo nearly isn't even in the frame, but this is an example of Gizmo's wing flapping. He only does this when he is excited, and sometimes will push his beak into my face as he does it...lol

[ame="http://youtu.be/qMTHQel3S9Q"]flapping his wings - YouTube[/ame]

I wish I could have got a better video, but it's the kind of thing that is very spur of the moment.

Cheers,

Cameron

P.S. Do I really sound like that. I do tend to go overboard with the excited voice, but Gizmo really responds to that

 

[Anansi]

Hahaha! Don't worry, Cameron. We ALL do the excited voice thing. Makes us feel a little silly, perhaps, but so worth it to see the pride in their reactions.

Hmm, nice to see happy wing flapping. Maya does angry wing flapping. Mostly when Jolly does one of his strafing runs a little too close to her head. Lol!

It would be great to see a video of Gizmo wing flapping as he pushes into your face! ROTFL!

 

[chris-md]

Parker does wing flapping too. Usually it's while I'm doing laundry. he's on his portable stand in my bedroom in front of a mirror. He'll flap for 10 straight minutes.

 

[Anansi]

Parker does wing flapping too. Usually it's while I'm doing laundry. he's on his portable stand in my bedroom in front of a mirror. He'll flap for 10 straight minutes.

If your parrot doesn't fly, this is EXACTLY what you want to see! Great exercise!