Why does he squeal like that?

[Elizabeth]

Our Indian Ringneck parrot sits on his perch and turns his head to the back (that neck-breaking move they do when sleeping or resting)...but sometimes while he's in this position he will sit there and squeak and squeal his head off. Does anyone else's bird do this or do you know why he's doing it? I don't mind the noise, I am just wondering if there is a reason.

 

[william]

Hello Elizabeth. Does he do this when trying to settle down for the night? While doing this does he give a sort of continuous irritated wing slap, or a lot of scratching and preening, has he been introduced to any new birds recently?

 

[Elizabeth]

No, we dont have any other birds. He does it when he's resting...it is almost like he's talking to himself. He doesn't flap around or anything, he just stands there (usually on one foot) with his head turned around and squeaks.

 

[william]

Aah that's good, means no lice etc bugging him (please, no disrespect meant to your level of care) and no excessive build-up of ''powder''. Those would've been my first thoughts.
I've often seen birds behave like that in the bush when settling down in the trees for the night, but never with my own birds. But then again never been owned by an Indian Ringneck so you'll have to see what the more experienced members say.

 

[Auggie's Dad]

Many birds do "mumble" a lot as they are settling in to go to sleep. Essentially they experiment with different sounds trying to replicate what they have heard in the day. They first remember what a sound is, but it's not easy to just replicate a memorized sound, so they 'mumble' or babble to hear themselves and they adjust their babbling until it's closer to the sounds they remember hearing you make.

This MIGHT be just babbling, but the way you described it as squealing seems different. The normal babbling one might call squeaking, mumbling, chattering, etc - but squealing brings quite a different sound to mind.

 

[Elizabeth]

well yea it is usually a mix of squeaks and chirps and just varying noisy chatter. I call it squealing because when he gets really loud...it kind of sounds like a tiny pig but glad to know it's probably not anything wrong. I don't think it is anyway, he seems perfectly fine otherwise.