Carly’s Spring Thang
I know, it’s hardly spring by any measure, but Carly is into nesting mode again. She spends much time shredding paper and crawling into small spaces like the nooks in bookcases. I can hardly open a cupboard without her trying to fly into it. I have to leave stacks of newspapers on top of her favorite places so she doesn’t shred books and files. I packed my Christmas presents with the piles of finely shredded newspaper she had created.
I have decided to start training some new tricks. It’s been a long time since we have done anything new, and I hope it will give her some more mental stimulation in a good direction, as well as more opportunities for positive reinforcement in general.
A strange thing happened last night when we started one of our new tricks. Part of it involves incorporating a turn-around and when she would get to that part instead of turning around she began to crouch low, hold her wings out from her body slightly, and make low grunting noises. Never seen this before. It looked a lot like a mating type behavior. sigh
When she was heavily into her nesting behaviors last year, she went through a phase of snipping the feather tips on her belly. (I’ve heard this called a “brood patch” that some birds make where their body will be in contacts eggs when sitting.) It went on for a few months last spring, and she has started that again too. I’m hoping some more bathing and getting a humidifier in here will help a bit. Oddly, it’s not something she does when she’s alone or not getting attention. It’s often when she is doing her regular preening, while hanging out in the evening on her perch or my laptop. Very distressing to see a beautiful fresh feather tip land on my keyboard.
Wendy calls her “one of those oversexed young girls.” Ah, adolescence….
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January 18th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Whew, I know that droopy winged grunting! One of the CAGs we brought up from Galveston after Hurricane Ike would do the same thing for me whenever I passed his cage… although my own 7 year old grey hasn’t really shown any nestyness… the closest she gets is insisting on snuggling under the blanket when she’s hanging out on the couch.
What I find amusing is that my LCA Lucha will go through a complex and intricate puffy dance and regurgitate for her, only to have her stare blankly at him.
I hope Carly leaves her feathers alone this year.
January 18th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
Usually I’m not the object of Carly’s amorous moves (not a guy, not red haired) so it was surprising.
I’ve heard that droopy-winged grunting description from some of my friends who have very nesty and egg laying cockatoos. Please tell me eggs are not next!
January 18th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
Well I’ve known people who have yearly eggs and people who just get the moves put on them without the actual laying.
I guess the trick here is going to be not giving her a chance to build a nest and ignoring the moves… hopefully eggs will not follow, but at least you are smart enough to keep an eye on her should she have any problems.