If your Grey seems afraid and strikes for no reason..check your outfit.

[Char]

This has happened to me a couple of times with Whisper and I thought I would share. If your bird seems to be suddenly afraid of you and aggressive for no reason it could be the clothing you have on that is spooking them. She had been fine and then the next morning I approach her a she backs away and fluffs up. I leave her alone and come back in a little while and when I ask her to step up she beaks me hard. This goes on for most of the morning and I notice that when my boyfriend walks up to her she acts normal. I remembered another time she acted like this and I was wearing a paisley print shirt with circles on it that could look to her like animal eyes. I looked down at my pajama top this time and sure enough it had a very similar pattern to it. Changed clothes and she was fine. So, the next time you can't explain the behavior take into account what they are seeing when they look at you. I can also happen with glasses, hats ect.

[SRSeedBurners]

You may have a feathered-fashionista on your hands.

[judygram]

Yes greys can be very leery of what we are wearing, I personally haven't had any incidents with clothing but my grey does not like me to paint my fingernails, if I do she freaks out. Very good advice.

[Greywings]

All our flock ignore my fingernails they can change color frequently, now sunglasses can be a big issue for a few.

[neoow]

I fortunately haven't had this problem. I don't think my wardrobe is varied enough- I'm quite a plain Jane hehe. However, it is really good advice because I imagine it could also apply to accessories or other changes which we would normally think are insignificant (like the example of nail varnish).

 

Thank you for sharing!

[Ray P]

Add to this a haircut or hair color.

[judygram]

Jill I don't usually wear nail polish so if I do it causes a problem, now if I kept them colored she would eventually get used to them like your fids but I neither have the time or the inclination to keep them polished so plain Jane is me.

[neoow]

Add to this a haircut or hair color.

 

I recently made a drastic change to my hair. I have had it long and curly for as long as I can remember (and as long as Alfie can remember too, so that will be 11 years at least!) I got so fed up of it that I had most of it cut off. It's now in a very short, straight style.

 

It didn't occur to me until I got home that Alfie may not like the change and might not recognise or be very happy with me because of it. Fortunately I was very lucky. I whistled and said hello as I came into the house and slowly crept round the living room door, chatting to him. He wasn't at all bothered!

 

I think they broke the mould when they made Alfie. He's not really that change adverse at all like some parrots can be. I'm very lucky in that respect, I think- else he would probably still be in a grump with how different my hair is!!

[Luvparrots]

My CAG is a scarey cat so I have a habit of talking to my parrots and calling them by naming and just chatting away before I enter their bird room. They are then relaxed and know it is me. All the little "tricks" we need to invent/think up to be able to live peacefully with our parrots. Got to luv 'hem.

[Timbersmom]

Good thread as info for those who haven't found out the hard way. Timber doesn't seem to react to my clothes or nails, but the first time I put my hair up in combs to go to aerobics class he would have nothing to do with me. Sunglasses are also a no-no, though he has gotten used to my reading glasses. You just never know what (if anything) will cause them to react. That's part of what makes them so interesting!

[danmcq]

Yeppers, you just never know what an individual grey will not care about and what they will react to. Dayo is very leery of carpet area rug changes, blanket changes etc. that have different patterns for example. It takes him days of staring at that demon before he accepts that it is not going to jump up and swallow him. He is also leery of large plants or tree's (living) that we may bring home and place in a room. Oh, BIG reaction if a head floats by a window with no body attached to it. He does not realize I suppose that the rest of that human is below the point of view.

[chelseaB]

Great post! I made the mistake of going to let Biscotti out of his cage while I had one of those long rolled cookies (kind of look like a skinny cigar) in my hand & he came out very swiftly & promptly gave me a good bite on the hand that had the cookie in it! They are very detail oriented & notice little things we don't even think about.

[Sassy]

This not just true of greys. Butch our 'too gave me 3 good pinches one day when I had on a bright multi-colored tye-die shirt. Figured it out after the third hit and went and changed and he was a cuddle bug.

[Char]

Yeppers, you just never know what an individual grey will not care about and what they will react to. Dayo is very leery of carpet area rug changes, blanket changes etc. that have different patterns for example. It takes him days of staring at that demon before he accepts that it is not going to jump up and swallow him. He is also leery of large plants or tree's (living) that we may bring home and place in a room. Oh, BIG reaction if a head floats by a window with no body attached to it. He does not realize I suppose that the rest of that human is below the point of view.

 

I got a grin from the floating head. Lol.

[Janfromboone]

I had a very similar thing happen to me in early spring 3x a couple of weeks apart. I never quite learned what the problem was but getting out of my PJs and combing my hair seemed to solve the problem. I think he just expects me to be put together when I come out around to the kitchen. It always happened when I was off work and not dressed. It hasn't happened since whether I'm in PJs or dressed.

[Timbersmom]

LOL Jan! You have a "proper" bird, and he expects you to be dressed appropriately for any interaction with him. They are so funny...

[steve59]

My CAG hates the color red. Gets all fluffed up and goes into attack mode. He's a 19 year old rescue, so something red in his past may have gotten to him

[chezron]

Good to know. The only thing that freaks out Brutus is strange things in his food bowl. He sees me in all sorts of outfits, hats, sunglasses, and large, brightly-colored gardening gloves and he could care less. Oh yeah, hair too--he doesn't care at all what I do to my hair--up or down or curled. He always recognizes me as "Mama." So weird. I never paint my nails so I don't know if that would do it or not. But something unexpected in his food bowl gives him a little hesitation. At times he needs coaxing to visit this most familiar object.

[danmcq]

"He sees me in all sorts of outfits, hats, sunglasses, and large, brightly-colored gardening gloves and he could care less. Oh yeah, hair too--he doesn't care at all what I do to my hair--up or down or curled."

 

Hi Chezron, could you put all these together at once and post a photo of yourself? I would love to see it!

[birdhouse]

My guys do not like hats! They're not particularly crazy about sun glasses either. They're kind of put off by them. But a couple of weeks ago, I had to get a the first new pair of everyday glasses I've gotten in ages. The floor is finally back where it belongs & I've long since forgotten all about it. But the fids are still taking turns giving me attitude when I least expect it.

 

I know it's the glasses because they've regressed to where they're trying to pull them off, again & that's something everyone learns pretty early on is a no no. I'm a little surprised it's taking them so long to get over it & I feel bad. But there isn't much of anything for it but to wait them out.

[Timbersmom]

LOL! Now we know we are all doomed to getting the same frames and just having the lenses changed... Good to know for new parrot owners, choose wisely!