beak dragging while walking

[ERatcliff]

I just got a new moloccan cockatoo, when he walks he pushes his beak on the floor and "drags" it. He does it all the time when he's not on his cage. Can anyone help me as to why he does this?? Thank you in advance for your help and advice.

 

[RavensGryf]

I'm not sure, but I've seen Robin do that at times. I'm sure all species of parrots do it. I'd like to know the answer too. Have you tried googling it?

 

[Sterling1113]

Last I knew is was a wild instinct and many parrots do it, and some owners even teach it as a trick. I think it has something to do with ground foraging, from what I remember. My conures do it, but they also just like to rub their face on everything.

 

[RavensGryf]

Here... I found this while searching on the internet (someone posted this on a forum). Joanie Doss is an Amazon expert, but this happens with all species. Looks like there can be several reasons for it?

Copied from the internet:
joanie doss (her speciality is amazons), in her "can you speak parrot two" book calls it "snow plowing"

here's what she says:
"the birds lowers his head so that the beak touches the groundm& walks forward, much like a snowplow.some birds do this walking backwards, but most will do it walking forward.

there are several reasons why a bird may do this. some birds do it for attention or when they are in a playful mood. some do it to show that they will not hurt you and want you to hold or pet them.

amazons place a high value on food. some do this to locate crumbs or tiny seeds that may have dropped to the floor. this way they can get every crumb!

the most common reason is for assessing footing. this is often done when a bird is put on carpeting & the caroet gives under his feet or when a shadow appears ion front of where he is walking. the bird may think the dark area is an indentation and uses the beak to determine depth. birds with impaired vision sometimes use their beak to help them navigate."

 

[ERatcliff]

Thank you so much for your response!!! Im glad its a normal behavior. I was really worried something might have been wrong.

 

[Allee]

Hello and welcome to the forum! We would love to hear more about your boy. How old and what is his name. Photos would be very welcome too.

 

[FreedomAndForgiven]

The only birds we have that don't do it at least part of the time are our Cockatiels which they never do it. Our Macaws, and Cockatoos do it all the time. It is very rare if you ever see Lucy not doing it.

 

[ERatcliff]

I'm trying to find out how old he is...his leg band says seh96 w/ 16 sideways....idk if that is a year or id from the breeder. Any help on finding out that info would be great. Also i dont know how to load pictures yet....but when I figure that out I'll put some up. Thanks to everyone!!!

 

[Sterling1113]

I would say that the 96 is the birth year and 'seh' is the breeders initials or something involving the aviary he came from. The 16 might be the chick number or something of the sort. There's a few good threads on here about band ID's though if you do a search

 

[kiwibird2014]

My GCC does it when she is running on the top of the couch seats. I thought it was to keep her balanced while walking/running.

 

[Moonlight]

My sulfur crested does that when she plays on the top of her cage... She does it on the narrow metal bar all around the cage withouth ever missing the bar with her beak! I find that she 's actually really good cause this seems hard to do but she seems very relax and does it with great ease!