1 year old male- climbs onto my head and does this weird thing- What is he doing?!

[emily92]

I have a one year old Alexandrine, I've had him since 8 weeks old. Ever since he was about 4 months old, he started doing this thing were he climbs on my(or others) heads and ruffles his feathers, puffs ups, wags his tail, climbs all around, grabs strands of hair and chucks them about, and kind of puts his wings out- it's really bizarre and strange to watch! My first thought was it was some kind of mating thing- but people have told me thats impossible due to his young age. It also worries me because sometimes he gets really tangled doing this and it's really hard to get him out haha. Anyone know what this is or have any ideas?
Thanks

 

[Kalidasa]

From what you're describing, it sounds like he's humping (or trying to) the top of your head. I've never had an Alex, but I don't think 1 year old is too young for him to at least try. he's technically an adult.
I've had that happen to me by a couple of birds, and needless to say I remove them from there immediately. The first time I felt it, I was sort of confused and didn't know what was going on, until I walked over to a mirror and caught the little pervert in the very act. But it all sounds the same....the shuffling, the tail-swishing.

 

[SammyStarshine]

hahaha you must have very soft hair! So cute, espesh calling him a little pervert. so funny.

 

[Betrisher]

Yep. Sounds like your Alex is having a strange and unnatural relationship with your head. Mine does it with my hands. You don't want to encourage the behaviour, if only because it can lead to excessive preening which in turn can lead to plucking from frustration.

Don't allow your bird to stay long on your head and when you remove him, always give a treat and distract him with something extremely interesting. This is why I have a male/female pair: when they reach sexual maturity, all that part of their personalities can be worked out with each other and, hopefully, not me! LOL!

PS. If your birds are regularly getting tangled in your hair, wear a beanie when you handle them. Both my daughter and I have extremely long, thick hair and the Beaks would get a single strand wrapped around a toe. This is very dangerous because you might not spot the hair and the toe could be gangrenous before you do! I wear my hair up and fairly well tacked-down, but my daughter chooses to wear a beanie around the birds to keep their little feetses safe. Once, Madge got a hair wound round three toes and it took forever to get it off her foot! Being an Alexandrine, she's not too fussed about being handled and squawked a blue streak while we tried to surreptitiously take the hair away with scissors and a pair of long-nosed tweezers. :22_yikes: