sudden fear of guitar

[Royalroacho]

I practice guitar pretty diligently for around an hour a day. YoYo has been home for about a week and a half, and until today it hasnt bothered him at all. a few times he clearly liked it, he stopped exploring and listened, puffed up, closed his eyes and ground his beak. Today, however, i picked it up in the same place it always is, him in the same place hes always been, and he completely panicked, tried to fly away screaming, crashed, and froze. i had to hide it and hold him for an hour while he shivered and hid in my hands and comfort him. Does anyone know why this abruptly changed? i havent played with the amp, its quiet. there wasnt anything different in the environment or his attitude today, either, as far as i know. id completely welcome all knowledge or insight...

 

[Birdman666]

Everybody's a critic, eh?!

Dear God he's gonna play that thing again...

Seriously, it's just a big scarey objects. Until they become completely desensitized to it, they'll continue to get nervous around it.

Remember the amazon and the violin video?! The bird may not be so impressed with your musical prowess... in fact, get that thing away from me and don't get any closer or I will attack... is kind of the expected result until they get 100% used to it, and comfortable with it.

Some do with time.

Others don't. (Those bite when you come near them with the guitar in hand.)

 

[Taw5106]

Buddy is Moulting and dropped a feather on my the other day. He was on my shoulder and we were in my chair. He had just pulled the feather out, watched it flutter and land in my lap. I pick it up and show it to him to which he started crying and ran behind my head to get away from that scary thing. It told him "you were just touching it you chicken" and she just cries a little more but won't go near it. Some birds are like that and with Buddy its everything but if I'm touching it or playing with an object sometimes he's ok with it and will come investigate. I think it's just part of their make up and Yoyo is still getting adjusted to his new home.

 

[Allee]

My husband plays a guitar around our birds, my cockatoo and one of my quakers love it, my other birds pay little attention. My birds like music and cartoons, I think a bird's reaction depends on the individual birds and the noise levels they are accustomed to.

 

[getwozzy]

Maybe the guitar strap swung a certain way that scared him, or maybe there was a reflection that flashed off the guitar, maybe it was a scary shadow--- it's really hard to tell since he's been ok with it until now.

Have you tried playing in front of him again yet? Is he still scared?

We have the opposite problem in our house-- once my husband brings out the guitar, chili HAS to go help him lol to the point of being a nuisance [emoji57]

 

[Royalroacho]

Maybe the guitar strap swung a certain way that scared him, or maybe there was a reflection that flashed off the guitar, maybe it was a scary shadow--- it's really hard to tell since he's been ok with it until now.

Have you tried playing in front of him again yet? Is he still scared?

We have the opposite problem in our house-- once my husband brings out the guitar, chili HAS to go help him lol to the point of being a nuisance [emoji57]

Thats funny. I had a cockatiel for most of my life that insisted on having a band with me. She was pretty tone deaf, and only had one dance move, but we could have made it big in the New York underground experimental psychedelic parrot rock scene haha.
ive been waiting for him to sleep to play. he crawls in the scarf I wear so he doesn't get tangled in my hair, I wait a bit and pick it up. He seems to like the sound, he starts gurgling and beak grinding till he passes out. Hes currently being terrorized by the foot stool hed been playing on till a few days ago. Its a mystery, there must be some little detail they see that spooks them like you guys mentioned. Im going to try leaving the guitar out of the case and see what he does.
Also, very strangely, hes not scared of my cat at all. He actually beat her up, bopping her nose with the tip of his beak, then locking down on her ear. She was sleeping on my bed...he went out of his way to dive bomb her from my shoulder. Now shes terrified of him, and hes terrified of harmless inanimate objects. Theres some weird stuff goin down at my house...

 

[Nero]

My African Grey hates my guitar too, or maybe it's the way I play it. :54: