Whats up with morning lunging?

[ParrotsAhoy]

When I pull the last towel off Tachs cage in the morning he lunges HARD in my general direction several times, then just gets on with his day as if nothing happened.

He just really hates mornings? He really hates towels moving? Hes annoyed I woke him up too early (not even, he gets 14 hrs due to hormones!)? Hes annoyed I left him "alone" for 14 hours? Im assuming its because the last 3 pegs I take off the last towel are over his head where he sleeps and he most likely sees it as an attack from above from an evil towel monster with peg side-kicks.

So im going to re-arrange his covers and see if I can make it less stressful in the mornings for him. Anyone else have a morning-lunger?

 

[veimar]

My cockatiel does that every single morning, but I never paid any attention to that. I assume that he is just scared of a sudden cover movement. I dunno about Alex-s, but I'm not sure there is anything to worry about.

 

[EAI]

He's probably upset you woke him up from his deep sleep .
It sounds like he's scared of the sudden removal of the towel. It's kind of like being in a room with no lights then having an abrupt burst of light just jump at you. Have you considered slowly removing one side at a time with a 5 minute interval?

 

[ParrotsAhoy]

Oh I do wake him/uncover him slowly; I get up as quietly as I can but it will still wake him up, I go pee, I come back and open one curtain as quietly as I can but it will re-wake him if hes fallen asleep in the 3 seconds I was peeing, talking to him all the while I take the outer cage cover off and one side of the inner cover - the one opposite where he sleeps -, I then open the other curtain and turn my laptop on, still talking softly to him I take the last inner cover off - the one beside his sleeping perch - ... which is when he lunges.

Its not like im sneaking up on him and de-covering him so everyone can see his naked morning featherness!

 

[LeaKP]

My little gcc doesn't like morning wake ups either. I usually move around and don't worry too much about waking him. When I hear him stirring for a bit, I'll remove the cover and open the cage. When he's ready, he comes to the door and I then get him. He is a crabby thing in the mornings!

 

[Birdman666]

Well, first of all, lunging is not necessarily an indication of aggression...

My first guess would be startle response....

My second guess would be form of play,

My third guess would be cage territorialism. Reminder, this is MY nest.... Just letting you know...

If it's a startle response, talking to him before you take the cover off and going more slowly when removing it generally reduces the behavior.

If it's play, then he just wants attention.

If it's cage territorialism he will do this every single time, until the day he dies.