Tongue wagging?

ShellyL

Active member
Feb 15, 2021
65
232
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Parrots
Black capped conures, Duffy and Rocky
Lilac Crowned Amazon, Gemi
Blue Fronted Amazon, Paco
Alexandrine Parrots, Worf & Dougie
Congo African Grey, Ozzy
Parakeet, Stormy
My Amazon, Gemi, wags his tongue rapidly from side to side, beak wide open. I’m not sure how to interpret this. It is usually accompanied by eye pinning and shifting balance from one foot to the other. He doesn’t appear to be struggling to breathe or in distress when he does it. Sometimes with him there is a fine line between overexcited and aggressive. I think the tongue wagging falls more into the excited category but wondered if any Amazon folks out there have “tongue waggers”. It is a new behavior. I can’t catch it on video because he hates the phone being pointed at him. As background, he is a rescue in his 20s whom I adopted a couple of months ago. His previous living situation was grim but he is proving to be a very resilient, lovable, and intelligent bird. I can usually read his body language well, but this tongue thing has me scratching my head.
 

Emeral

Well-known member
Sep 16, 2021
209
628
Parrots
Hanhs Macaw
Congratulations on this new behavior....
Gemi is a very very happy fellow.

I call this "a do you wanna play' or a happy dance" My Emerald, Hahns Macaw, does this too.....in excitement....beak open and tongue went left and right repeatedly, eyes widen, shifting weight on both feet.
Never could caught this on camera, yet. Because I laugh and she would laugh too.
Then I put her upside down and she wrestle with my hand after this happy dance. So it gonna be hard to take a photo.
 

texsize

Supporting Member
Parrot of the Month 🏆
Oct 23, 2015
3,899
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5
4,794
so-cal
Parrots
1 YNA (Bingo)
1 OWA (Plumas R.I.P.)
1 RLA (Pacho R.I.P.)
2 GCA(Luna,Merlin) The Twins
1 Congo AG (Bella)
5 Cockatiels
Never seen the side/side motion of the tongue wit any of my Zon’s.
you are definitely right about the fine line between excitement/aggression.
my German grandmother had a saying (in German).
it doesn’t translate well but tis true.

From horseplay comes real fighting.

I can restle Bingo with my had for about 30 seconds.
After that blood is a real possibility.
 

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