HELP! MY bird is RACIST!

[SilverSage]

OK, so I knew this could happen if birds were not socialized properly with various races, but, well, my bird is afraid of African Americans. Flick is my GCC, and I have some African American friends who have a 4 year old daughter, Maddy. Maddy is my little buddy and I love her to pieces, and she is SO EXCITED that I got Flick! But he is FREAKED OUT by the dark skin. I really need him to get over this, but I am not sure the best way to address it, since I have never dealt with this issue before. Any suggestions? He is not aggressive, just panicked. My plan is to have them over for supper sometimes (The cage is in the dining room) and explain the situation to my friend, the mother. My thought is to tell Maddy some excuse why Flick cannot come out to play that day, like, he refused to eat his green pellets (which he does whenever he can). If I can have them over several times, maybe he will calm down and we can progress to out of cage time? This is a bigger issue to me than a little girl not getting what she wants - my husband is an officer in the army, and even our PETS showing that kind of prejudice is completely unacceptable. I understand that it is not the same issue as with people, but I just want to make sure we don't ever have any kind of race issue in my house, since I find that despicable in people and embarrassing in animals.

 

[JerseyWendy]

No, Flick is NOT racist, he simply isn't used to being around people with different color. I know exactly how it's making you feel. I, too, have several friends of different color, and it took my fids numerous visits and a few treats for them to feel easy and to relax. Heck, sometimes my fids freak out when I come downstairs with a towel in my hair.

You could sit by Flick with Maddy right by your side, then quietly and softly talk to him together. With patience and lots of sessions like this, I'm confident he will overcome his initial shyness and reluctance toward Maddy.

 

[crimson]

it could have been the childs energy, or her size not her colour.

I'll give you an example, I had something similar happen to me last year.
I had a customer come to look at some baby lovebirds that I was selling.

she brought 3 children with her, two were older, one was about 4 years of age.

Now my birds are use to all kinds of people, and don't freak out.

when the kids walked into the room, they were fairly quiet, but my birds reacted in a way I've never seen, they ALL started panicking, flying around the cages frantically.

I asked the kids to sit on the bed, while I calmed my birds down, not one would come to me, and these were babies that usually fly to me as soon as they see me.

I asked the customer to have her children wait in the living room, while I get my babies focused on me again.
Once they were on me they were fine, until the kids came back in again. One flew off me and slammed into the window, and the other one hit the wall hard.
I told the customer to leave the room again.
Both my babies were fine, thank goodness, but I have a new rule, NO KIDS.
sometimes birds act differently to little people.

 

[SilverSage]

Wendy, I know he doesn't hate people of other races for snobby prejudice people, it is a fear since he was not around them before

He had been around other children and been fine, and Maddy was calm and quiet. He reacted with the same fear to her parents who both have dark skin, and was hesitant around our Korean friend as well.

 

[baron1282]

I am sorry, but this made me laugh.

Just like any pet conure, the best way is to go slow. Start with the Stick Method of stepping up with the Child. Every time the bird steps up onto the stick she is holding give the bird a treat. Once its use to that, maybe try letting the bird step up on the finger.

On the other side, a conure is really a one family animal. It will only grow attached to it's owners and sometimes just to one person of the family. My conure only loves my wife and I, that's it! We try to socialize him, but there is no hope. He attacked my other family every single time. We have to leave him in the cage when we have family over. It's cute, but it can be tiresome when all he does is scream at my guest. I just cover the cage until he shuts up, It has gotten way better but I still can't let him out of the cage when my family is around, unless I am holding him by the tail so he can't fly and attack them. LOL

 

[Birdman666]

Wendy, I know he doesn't hate people of other races for snobby prejudice people, it is a fear since he was not around them before

He had been around other children and been fine, and Maddy was calm and quiet. He reacted with the same fear to her parents who both have dark skin, and was hesitant around our Korean friend as well.

They react differently to differences in appearances sometimes...

Expose them to more diverse set of people, and the behavior stops.

I used to take mine to the local park when I was out and about training them... all sorts of strangers to interact with.

I still take my greenwing with me to the laundry mat. (It's boring! Plus she gets out time, and interacts with lots of strangers to keep up her training.)

 

[JoeR]

I haven't had that trouble with my birds, but I have owned a ball python for 25+ years and if she is within reach of anyone with any pigment to them, someone is gonna get a few holes put in them. What's interesting is that being Sicilian I'm not exactly Snow White, but when I used to carry her in public in my younger days, she would definitely strike at anyone with dark skin, and she is VERY docile with anyone else. I find this really interesting because snakes are pretty dumb animals, so it surprises me that they can make that distinction. Now that she is going blind (due to old age) I'm sure it would be way less of an issue, but she doesn't leave home too often anymore.

Joe

 

[Mike17]

I've known dogs to be aware of skin colour (or is it scent due to differing diet?) but our two new 'tiel babies are terrified of the check shirts I wear to work Won't come near me, and flutter off in terror (they're lightly trimmed).

 

[strudel]

My thought is to tell Maddy some excuse why Flick cannot come out to play that day, like, he refused to eat his green pellets (which he does whenever he can).

I'd tell her the truth, that he's freaked out by meeting new people and he's scared of her. It's unnecessary to speculate as to why he's scared of her. As mentioned, it might not be colour he's reacting to, could be some other aspect, eg smell from their toiletries or ointment or something. Were you a bit apprehensive that he might react? If so, it could have been your tension contributing to his response.

 

[handfedhandfuls]

Haha I have two harris hawks for falconry and they are the same way. Except they are much scarier when they are defensive lol.

Slow introductions, it will take time but they'll get over it.

 

[Maria_Metropolis]

LOL @ at the topic title.

I find a lot of birds to be sexist, they like men more than women, or vice versa.

 

[Terry57]

My pekingese is the same way with an Asian friend of mine. He never barks at anyone else, and no matter what she does he barks She has stayed with us for several days at a time when she comes into town, but he never gets used to her. Makes me sad, tho she just laughs it off.

 

[Maria_Metropolis]

My pekingese is the same way with an Asian friend of mine. He never barks at anyone else, and no matter what she does he barks She has stayed with us for several days at a time when she comes into town, but he never gets used to her. Makes me sad, tho she just laughs it off.

That's funny considering they are an Eastern Asian breed.

 

[Terry57]

I think he must be too many generations removed:0 Or more likely, he doesn't know he's a dog.lol