parrotgirl

I have a grey that we adopted and she is still a little shy. Recently she has shown some signs of the regurg which I considered to be absolutely normal and was actually quite pleased with. This to me showed she is starting to bond to me. She only had one other owner who hand fed/raised her. Now, we handfed and raised our Macaw and it is perfectly normal for him to do this behavior with the regurg and actually bringing up food on me and ruffling the feathers. You do have to be careful I am told by the vet not to stroke feathers all the way down to the tail as this is considered to be advances that to the bird shows affection and willingness to mate. Now, I am not a bird expert by any means but I read a lot. I've read that behavior and touching birds around the head and face can also be affection and they only know one way to touch and that is with their beaks and usually to our faces as this is where the pleasing sounds come from. Another sign of their willingness to pursue courtship is the preening. All of my bird's love to be preened by me and will also play with my hair, preening and stroking. Our Rudie is the grey and we don't know for sure if it's a male or female, but Murphey the Macaw is for sure a male. I consider the regurg a good sign but I would definitely find out about the breathing/resp changes, there could be something there. Linda-parrotgirl- Rudie & Murpheybird's Mama