Confusing change in behaviour

[Nsmit334]

Hi all!

I'm at a bit of a loss for what to do, so I thought I'd give posting in this forum a go.
(QUESTIONS ARE AT THE END OF THE POST - I want to provide as much context as I think is needed first )
We have a 2.5 year old male Ringneck named Lance. He's always been lively and affectionate towards me, but in the last week, his behaviours have changed in a way I've never seen before.
He's started flying around our downstairs area from perch to perch, screeching each time he takes off and then again when he lands. I've noticed that he'll be looking directly at me while he's doing this, as if to get my attention so I'll say a few words to him (after a period of no screaming) and/or move towards him (as in the past, that's been a way he lets me know he wants to be near me). However, whenever I do this, he'll scream and fly to a perch on the other side of the room. Rinse and repeat for hours on end. I've tried not acknowledging the screams and reinforcing other vocalisations with spoken interaction and treats/clicker, but no luck. I've also tried completely ignoring him while he's doing this (in case he isn't actually trying to get my attention) but if anything that makes things worse. So, in short, he doesn't seem to want me paying attention to him, but also doesn't want me ignoring him. We've had issues with excessive screeching in the past and him potentially be overly attached to me, but this pattern of behaviour is quite a bit worse.

The other big thing I've noticed is that he has been seeking his reflection INCESSANTLY. No reflective surface is safe from his mating display. Though very cute, we know enough to try prevent this where we can so every shiny surface is covered. The only ones that we cant cover are our phones & desktop PC cases (which have glass doors that he can see himself in). I try avoid taking my phone out around him at the moment, but there are times where he does catch a glimpse.

Finally, his routine has changed while one of us is away (waking up earlier on my work days). The thing is, none of this behaviour shows up on my work days where he spends more time in his cage. It's only on my days off, which is obviously upsetting because I'm excited to give him as much out of cage time as we usually do.

QUESTIONS:
Is this mostly do to with his age (reaching sexual maturity)? Do I just have to tough it out?
And/or could it have been triggered by seeing his reflection too much, and/or the change in routine?
I know how much parrots love routine, but our previous routine is just not possible for the next few weeks.
Could being woken up earlier (and thus staying awake longer) be telling him it's mating time?
Does anyone have any tips for redirecting his attention away from his reflection without upsetting/frustrating him?

There are no health concerns that we're aware of, and he has a wide range of toys and foraging stations both in and out of his cages. We're also in Australia, so we're going into Winter

I'm so grateful for any advice or information anyone's will to share

 

[LaManuka50]

Hi all!

I'm at a bit of a loss for what to do, so I thought I'd give posting in this forum a go.
(QUESTIONS ARE AT THE END OF THE POST - I want to provide as much context as I think is needed first )
We have a 2.5 year old male Ringneck named Lance. He's always been lively and affectionate towards me, but in the last week, his behaviours have changed in a way I've never seen before.
He's started flying around our downstairs area from perch to perch, screeching each time he takes off and then again when he lands. I've noticed that he'll be looking directly at me while he's doing this, as if to get my attention so I'll say a few words to him (after a period of no screaming) and/or move towards him (as in the past, that's been a way he lets me know he wants to be near me). However, whenever I do this, he'll scream and fly to a perch on the other side of the room. Rinse and repeat for hours on end. I've tried not acknowledging the screams and reinforcing other vocalisations with spoken interaction and treats/clicker, but no luck. I've also tried completely ignoring him while he's doing this (in case he isn't actually trying to get my attention) but if anything that makes things worse. So, in short, he doesn't seem to want me paying attention to him, but also doesn't want me ignoring him. We've had issues with excessive screeching in the past and him potentially be overly attached to me, but this pattern of behaviour is quite a bit worse.

The other big thing I've noticed is that he has been seeking his reflection INCESSANTLY. No reflective surface is safe from his mating display. Though very cute, we know enough to try prevent this where we can so every shiny surface is covered. The only ones that we cant cover are our phones & desktop PC cases (which have glass doors that he can see himself in). I try avoid taking my phone out around him at the moment, but there are times where he does catch a glimpse.

Finally, his routine has changed while one of us is away (waking up earlier on my work days). The thing is, none of this behaviour shows up on my work days where he spends more time in his cage. It's only on my days off, which is obviously upsetting because I'm excited to give him as much out of cage time as we usually do.

QUESTIONS:
Is this mostly do to with his age (reaching sexual maturity)? Do I just have to tough it out?
And/or could it have been triggered by seeing his reflection too much, and/or the change in routine?
I know how much parrots love routine, but our previous routine is just not possible for the next few weeks.
Could being woken up earlier (and thus staying awake longer) be telling him it's mating time?
Does anyone have any tips for redirecting his attention away from his reflection without upsetting/frustrating him?

There are no health concerns that we're aware of, and he has a wide range of toys and foraging stations both in and out of his cages. We're also in Australia, so we're going into Winter

I'm so grateful for any advice or information anyone's will to share

Welcome to the forums, @Nsmit334 and Lance! The issues you describe can I think in large part be attributed to him reaching sexual maturity, which IRNs do at around the age of 3 years give or take, and at Lance's age he is now right in the frame. I had an IRN about 30 years ago or so, and he underwent a marked change in behaviour at around about the same age. It affects some birds differently to others, mine would get quite aggressive but then 3 seconds later be affectionate and loving again. I don't know that there's any sure-fire way to fix it, best thing I think we can do is understand that these are hormonally-driven behaviours over which they have very little control and just do our best to manage them when they arise.

Hopefully some current IRN custodians will weigh in with some more advice for you. Meanwhile I hope you will post some pics of Lance, I bet he is a very handsome rooster!

 

[Nsmit334]

Welcome to the forums, @Nsmit334 and Lance! The issues you describe can I think in large part be attributed to him reaching sexual maturity, which IRNs do at around the age of 3 years give or take, and at Lance's age he is now right in the frame. I had an IRN about 30 years ago or so, and he underwent a marked change in behaviour at around about the same age. It affects some birds differently to others, mine would get quite aggressive but then 3 seconds later be affectionate and loving again. I don't know that there's any sure-fire way to fix it, best thing I think we can do is understand that these are hormonally-driven behaviours over which they have very little control and just do our best to manage them when they arise.

Hopefully some current IRN custodians will weigh in with some more advice for you. Meanwhile I hope you will post some pics of Lance, I bet he is a very handsome rooster!

Hi @LaManuka and thank you so much for your response! That's very reassuring to hear - we're still baby bird parents so watching Lance grow up has been both a steep learning curve and an enormous pleasure.
The biggest issue seems to be seeking out his reflection in anything and everything. I think he's begun associating us talking to/walking towards him with having his "mate" taken away when we cover the reflection up and/or us being competition if we're looking at said reflection (e.g. phone/computer).
I also am currently trying to mitigate any big reactions from him to everyday things with various reinforcement and distraction techniques, which he's 50-50 with id say. For example, often times briefly glancing in his direction is enough to earn a few minutes of screeching, so I've been waiting for a period of silence and/or any other sound before reinforcing with treats (because verbal praise just leads to more screeching unfortunately)!
Fortunately, he's very good with clicker training and loves to show off his tricks! Maybe I'll have to find some new ones to teach him

Thanks again

 

[LaManuka50]

Thank you for the pic, @Nsmit334, I just knew Lance would be a handsome rooster! Smart too if he's picking up on trick training, this can be a very handy "bridge" in refocussing their attention back to more desirable behaviours, particularly when hormones are raging. Not that I would know personally, I've always been a lousy trainer so my birds have always walked all over me However, one of our other mods, @onamom aka Loren, is a VERY good trick trainer, so I'll link her training tutorials below for you, perhaps it will give you some more ideas

Loren & Ona's Trick Tutorials

 

[onamom17]

I love that you use a clicker with Lance! I personally don’t because I use it for my dog and wanted to avoid the noise confusion - but a great idea! Since he likes training doing more of that with him could help distract him and give him a job to do.

The screaming and flying sounds similar to how my Conures react if they see something they are scared of or startled by… but since it’s so consistent that seems unlikely. Any new objects around the house or anything in that room he maybe doesn’t like? Just to be sure.

I’m curious, when he lands on a perch between flying around how long does he stay? Just a couple seconds or several minutes? Are there any toys or foraging nearby said perches to encourage him to take a break for a min? Or are those only in the cage?

You said he’s been affectionate with you historically, does he still step up for you etc when he’s not having one of these episodes?

 

[osklvste46]

I am so envious of those who can clicker train their birds. I tried. Nameliss when out of cage started going to stick kept there, looked at me, clicked and said step up. At the time I was 66. The top of cage is shoulder high. She got progressively irritated with clicking and voice. I put clicker in a drawer. Every once in the while I get the clicker command. Sometimes I accidentally hit a YouTube with bird clicker training and it starts it all over again. I trained my dog with hand signals. No clicking allowed!