The Most Common Behavior Problems

[timotian]

The Most Common Behavior Problems

 

Biting and excessive screaming are the most prevalent complaints the lay behaviorists hear of especially in the springso this article will address each of these issues in depth.

 

 

Biting

 

Oddly enough, the term biting first needs to be clarified. Contrary to the belief of some inexperienced caretakers, biting does not include a human just being touched by a bird's beak. A good rule of thumb for estimating the true severity of a bite is encompassed by questions such

as, "Did you bleed?" A real bite is characterized by either bleeding or bruising, and "nipping" would be defined as pinching, sometimes with minor bleeding or bruising.

 

 

Biting Isn't "Natural" ??

 

It is important to understand that wild parrots rarely seem to use their beaks as weapons against other flock members. If necessary, the beak is used as a defense against predation, but not against other members of their own flock. In their natural environments, competition and/or conflict between parrots rarely appears to escalate to physical violence-instead, they vocalize or use body language by strutting, posturing, and fluffing feathers to make themselves look bigger. (This appears to be the psittacine equivalent to the popular street phrase, "Yo' mama.") Consequently, beaks are used for climbing, eating, playing and preening... not for fighting. In a dangerous situation, flight is the first choice of prey animals such as parrots-not warfare. However, for the captive parrot, flight is curtailed by either wing clipping or caging; therefore, biting becomes the primary solution if a bird finds itself in close proximity with something it perceives as a threat.

 

 

This means that biting may not be an instinctive flock behavior, so biting behaviors are not, in my experience, difficult problems to resolve. Biting is probably an example of what ethologists call a displacement behavior. Natural behaviors designed for survival in the rain forest are not generally possible in the average living room, so others take their place and these are displacement behaviors. These improvised responses are not all negative, incidentally. A positive example of displacement behavior would be a parrot's ability to bond to a human in the absence of other psittacids, and to accept the humans it lives with as members of its flock.

 

 

Why Is The Bird Biting?

 

The first question to ask when dealing with a biting parrot is why- under what circumstance is this happening? Generally speaking, birds bite for one of two reasons: survival or control. The category of "survival" would include a bird biting when it is terrified (i.e., when a smoke detector goes off and a shouldered parrot freaks out and bites off a chunk of a person's ear) or when it is hurt. (Vet hospital personnel have learned from experience that the old saying that "Animals can sense if you're trying to help them" is not a truism.) Other behaviors that would fall under the category of survival would include hormonal behavior, cage territoriality, and veterinary appointments. Under the category of control would include, for example, biting the owner's significant other, or biting the owner to keep them away from their significant other. Survival and control will be discussed in greater detail in subsequent paragraphs.

 

 

Hormonal Behavior

 

Hormonal behavior is related to reproduction, so aggressive behavior during nesting season is logically categorized under survival. An increase in aggression is common with many life forms when hormone levels are raging- human teenagers being a good example. However, if controls are established before puberty's onset, the frequency and severity of aggressive incidents are greatly reduced. A parrot in a dominant position will give orders and expect them to be followed, often enforcing its wishes with violence. Conversely, parrots in a submissive position within the human flock will look to the dominant flock members for direction, thereby decreasing aggressive incidents.

 

 

Learning a bird's body language will go a long way toward preventing problems during this time and the advice is simple: when a parrot is in full sexual display, the owner should not reach for it. Instead, it should be left alone until it settles down. Hormonal behavior is one of many reasons why experienced lay behaviorists strongly recommend parrot caretakers perch train their birds, in addition to hand training them. This eliminates the handling dangers if a bird becomes seasonally aggressive.

 

 

As an aside, despite common opinion, increased aggression is not always the hallmark of hormonal behavior. Indeed, some parrots become incredibly affectionate during this period, soliciting physical attention much more than at any other time of year.

 

 

Survival Situations - The Veterinary Hospital

 

A prime survival situation, as far as a parrot is concerned, is encountered in the office of the avian veterinarian. Many practitioners are extremely short on time, so they may neglect to properly introduce themselves to the psittacine patient. This negative situation is exacerbated by the veterinarian or veterinary technician swooping down from behind with a towel, to capture the unwary parrot.

 

 

As an avian technician who used to train veterinary students, I admit to personal guilt in this area, since I taught countless vets and veterinary students how to

capture in exactly this manner. Indeed, with imported or untamed parrots, this is still the capture technique of choice to protect both the bird and the handler.

 

 

However, a majority of the parrots currently seen in the US are domestically raised and do not perceive humans as predators. Hence, the Harpy Eagle Catch8 is not only unnecessary, it is detrimental. I have found that the stress of handling and restraint is greatly assuaged by what I call the Frontal Towel Approach.9 This technique is not only friendlier, it is also more realistic. Prey animals like parrots have their eyes on the sides of their heads, so their peripheral vision warns them of a forthcoming predatory attack; therefore, the Harpy Eagle Catch serves only to throw a parrot into a full fight or flight response as it is captured in the towel. Once this physical response is initiated, the resulting adrenaline rush causes the bird to fight the restraint frantically. An autonomic nervous system response is not a process that is easily shut down like a light switch.

 

 

The Frontal Towel Approach

 

In contrast, the Frontal Towel Approach does not elicit this kind of response. When placing a parrot under restraint, I do the following. Talking quietly, I step the parrot onto my hand and pin the feet, while smiling in a friendly and relaxed manner. While talking to the bird (not the owner), I catch one corner of the towel in the fingers of the hand on which the parrot is sitting, and wrap the towel around the parrot while it sits on my hand. Then, I gently put the bird under restraint. Even parrots that are terrified of towels can be captured in this manner. These birds generally flip backwards as the towel approaches, but since their feet are pinned, they cannot escape. The towel is then wrapped around the upside down bird, it is lowered to the table or floor, and restraint is commenced as usual. Consequently, a full autonomic response has not been initiated, and the bird settles down very quickly.

 

 

This capture technique can easily be done by the owner, who then hands the towel-wrapped parrot to the veterinarian or technician. If the veterinarian is not comfortable having the owner do this, then the veterinarian or technician can accomplish this in the same friendly, non-aggressive manner. It is absolutely unnecessary, in my opinion, for a tame parrot to be grabbed from behind or by first turning off the exam room lights. I have been using this frontal approach for over a decade, and have not yet been bitten using this technique - and thanks to this method, most birds seem dramatically less stressed by restraint.

 

 

How To Turn A Nice Parrot Into A Biter

 

If biting in parrots is a displacement, not an instinctive behavior, it is logical to assume that the behavior must be rewarded in some way or it would not continue. In other words, if it did not accomplish something positive in the parrot's experience, then the parrot would not continue to do it. It is vital to understand that companion parrots are actually rewarded for biting - by humans who simply do not understand how differently parrots can perceive things. The following are classic examples.

 

 

"The Teething Stage:" Young parrots often have no idea what their beaks can do, especially if they were raised isolated from other baby parrots. During "The Teething Stage," the baby parrot is learning to eat and explore with its beak, and an unfortunate scenario is often acted out. The youngster, in the process of investigating with its beak, encounters those fascinating things called fingers. If the human makes the mistake of using these extremities as toys in the baby's mouth, sooner or later the baby will bite down harder than the owner of the fingers might like. If the human responds to this accidental nip by yelling (as in, "Ow, NO BITE!!!"), then they have inadvertently taken the first step towards actually teaching their baby parrot to bite.

 

 

Contrary to human beliefs, parrots often enjoy it when humans shout at them. Parrots frequently scream simply for the fun of it so it is a fallacy to think they perceive that yelling is a reprimand. On the contrary, they may interpret it as positive feedback, since it is a drama reward.10 The groundwork has now been laid for the parrot (baby or adult) to bite again, because the behavior was inadvertently rewarded.

 

 

The Indecisive Pick Up: This scenario usually occurs when inexperienced caretakers are not clear in their signals to their parrots. For example, when offering a hand for the bird to step on, novice caretakers often aren't quite sure of themselves so their hand motion is uncertain. A young parrot is generally eager to climb on, but like a workman unsure of the stability of a ladder, it will reach with its mouth to steady the human perch, using its beak as a hand. Humans who are afraid of the beak, then pull their hands away. Confused but still eager for interaction, the baby will probably grab the hand with its beak the next time it is offered. Once again, the bird has now taken the first step in learning to bite a human for control.

 

 

Fear = Lost Control: When people pull away when parrots reach with their beaks, the birds begin to learn the use of lunging and biting as an effective technique with which to control the humans, and the birds will remain in control for as long as the humans remain afraid. Parrots can sense when someone is frightened and will take advantage of the situation every time. If people cannot get over their fear response, then they will probably never gain control of their parrots.

 

 

Bad Advice: There is a lot of outdated and incorrect advice being given about biting parrots. People are often told to grab the bird's beak and shake it and yell NO!! This doesn't work because ornithologists have now realized that grabbing a parrot's beak (what experts call "Beak Wrestling"), is considered to be play behavior between parrots. So once again, in the human effort to give negative feed-back to parrots, they have only succeeded in rewarding them.

 

 

It also doesn't usually work to punish by putting a parrot in its cage. By the time the door is closed, it has probably completely forgotten the connection between biting someone and being locked up. Obviously, the bird can't bite anyone again because it has been removed from human proximity, but it hasn't learned anything about not biting. In addition, since parrots often spend prolonged periods in their cages while caretakers work, it is not logical to use the cage as punishment.

 

 

Effective Response

 

In actuality, it is quite simple to discourage a parrot from biting. If the owner has already established a relationship of nurturing guidance with their bird, then the bird already perceives the person as higher in rank and it is already trained to step onto a hand when told "up". To reprimand the bird, the owner needs to do the following things immediately.

 

 

First, the owner should show displeasure by giving the bird an extremely dirty look. Parrots are extremely empathic creatures who watch facial expressions closely. A parrot will understand the owner's displeasure if the owner frowns sufficiently. Simultaneously, the owner should step the bird from one hand to the other several times while saying Up in a very firm and negative but not loud voice. This is a non-abusive technique to give the parrot negative feedback because parrots really understand this as a reprimand. This technique is called "Laddering" and it is an exercise in controlreminding the bird that it does not have sufficient rank in the flock for that kind of behavior to be tolerated. If the owner is firm and consistent, reminding the psittacid of this will put it back under control. Without the positive feedback that it inadvertently received before, and through the judicious use of the laddering exercise, the biting should be curtailed. For this reprimand to be most effective, it must be done the second the bird bites. The owner should not take the bird into a neutral room to perform this exercise - the time lag will negate the effectiveness, since the bird will probably not make the proper association. Under NO circumstances should the owner show any aggression at all, since aggression begets aggression and facilitates a lack of trust.

 

 

When dealing with a youngster in the Teething Stage, it is also quite simple. When a baby bites too hard, the owner should say No in a firm but quiet voice and give the baby a dirty look. The young parrot will understand that the human is unhappy and will try very hard not to do it again. When humans are interacting with baby parrots, it is also often useful to have a favorite small toy within reach. If the bird starts getting too excited and overly rough, the owner can introduce the toy as a distraction, thereby preventing a bite. The human should also immediately lower the parrot's excitement level by slowing and quieting the activity.

 

 

Excessive Screaming

 

 

Excessive screaming is a more complex problem and not as easily resolved. Parrots are not by nature quiet animals, as attested by those who have observed them in the wild. Nature has equipped them with prodigious voices, and they seem biologically driven to use them. "Normal" sound levels vary with species. Cockatoos are known to sound off with an ear-splitting racket twice daily, dawn and dusk, whereas the macaws seem more inclined to vocalize (loudly) off and on throughout the day. Some species are reputed to be "quiet," but this is completely relative. To be considered quiet in the parrot world, a species need only be quieter than the avian species that are considered to be noisy, which would be like saying a terrier is quieter than a beagle. As the saying goes, If you want a quiet pet, get a reptile.11 However, screaming non-stop for hours at a time would obviously be considered excessive. Any individual who repeatedly engages in the same behavior over and over can be said to be obsessive.

 

 

Incidentally, the time of year can also be an important factor with excessive noise. The moment the days start to lengthen, many parrots respond by starting to scream much more than is "normal." This is strictly seasonal behavior, and if not inadvertently rewarded by the caretakers, the birds will settle back down on their own after a few weeks.

 

 

Time Limits and Problem Humans: The problem of unreasonable noise is often exacerbated by a limited time frame, since many people do not seek help until an ultimatum has been set by family members, neighbors, landlords or even the local police. It takes time to create behavior problems and it takes time to change them. Consequently, these issues are not fixed overnight, which is of course what the caretakers need. However, the judicious use of ear plugs can often prevent the dilemma from worsening while the caretakers are trying to improve the situation. Often, angry neighbors are mollified when they hear the caretakers are actively working on resolving the problem. From my experience, the primary obstacle to improvement in parrot behavior is the impatience of the caretakers.

 

 

Simply put, parrots who scream constantly are birds who have been rewarded for screaming. Giving birds what they want to silence them is easy to understand, since obsessive screamers can be a nightmare with which to live, and people reach a point where they will do almost anything to get the birds to stop. Consequently, they offer treats, let them out of their cages, etc., thereby rewarding the behavior. It is also no mystery why so many screaming parrots end up abused.

 

 

To change an unwanted behavior, the caretaker must be clear, consistent, and above all, patient. The caretaker must also change his/her behaviors that created or exacerbated the bird's behavior. If there are multiple humans in the household, there must be a group effort whereby all members have to be consistent in their approach to the bird. With biting problems, one member of the household refusing to work with the bird does not impact the rest. Regrettably, this isn't the case with the excessive screamer, because one person rewarding the bird for inordinate noise will undo any progress the others might make.

 

 

Step By Step: Dealing with screamers requires a step by step approach. As with all "behavior problems," a medical work-up should be done first, to make certain there is not a physical reason for the racket. Other fundamentals need to be reviewed, such as proper diet (meaning not what the caretakers feed, but what the bird actually consumes), hours of sleep, and cage placement. The normal noise level of the home must be reviewed as well. I remember one phone call from a woman complaining bitterly about her noisy parrot - but the conversation was almost obliterated by the background noise of a blaring television, barking dogs, and shrieking children. Noisy environments beget noisy parrots.

 

 

Redundant screamers are birds who are unable to amuse themselves in acceptable ways, so this problem can be perceived as a failure of independence. Consequently, the caretakers need find to lots and lots of acceptable activities for the parrots, such as chewing wood, beating up on wonderful toys, eating (and throwing) lots of interesting and delectable foods. The birds need to be encouraged to find other outlets for their energy. Caretakers who give their parrots frequent long, soaking showers and flapping exercise times often have substantially quieter birds.

 

 

The next step would entail having the caretakers train their parrots as explained previously, thereby establishing themselves in a position of higher rank. Parrots respond best to those they perceive as being higher in rank.

 

 

Keeping A Diary: It can be extremely useful to caretakers to see if there are patterns to obsessive screaming episodes, so all people living in the household should keep diaries for a couple of weeks. Whenever the bird has a screaming incident, they should note such things as:

 

a. time of day

 

b. day of the week

 

c. phase of the moon

 

d. mood of the people around the bird

 

e. the bird's apparent mood

 

f. what is happening at the time, and

 

g. any other information that might have a bearing on the parrot's behavior.

 

After 10-14 days of collecting information, the people get together and review the information, looking for patterns in the bird's excessive vocalizations. They should not to go over their notes or discuss the content prior to that time, so that artificial patterns are not created. If there are patterns to the screaming episodes, then they can change the pattern before the screaming starts, thus preventing the problem from even beginning. For example, most dominant birds scream when the caretakers have company. If so, caretakers can move the bird (in cage) to a quiet part of the house before the company arrives. Giving the bird a soaking shower prior to the move, then a new or different toy, lots of safe branches with bark for chewing, etc. will give the bird plenty to do in its isolation, and likely prevent the problem from beginning. Caretakers must stay ahead of this behavior, not wait until it begins. As an aside, getting complaining neighbors in this activity can be very positive, since they have now become a part of the problem resolution process.

 

 

Rewarding Good Behaviors and Ignoring The Bad: Human flock members need to start rewarding their birds for sounds they like, and ignore the sounds they don't like. Consequently, if a bird talks, people should answer it. If it whistles, they should whistle back. If it screams while people are in the same room, they should give the bird a dirty look and turn their backs on it. This is an example of using the bird's own body language to express feelings, since this is what parrots do when they are not pleased with something. If the racket continues, they should give the parrot another dirty look and leave the room.

 

 

The absolute worst thing the caretakers of a screamer can do is yell back, since that is a prime example of the drama reward. If the bird is screaming in another room, caretakers can do absolutely nothing. Any attempt at reprimand would be perceived as a reward, since the birds are getting the attention they crave. Instead, care-takers should wait until the birds stop squawking- even for a couple of seconds- before entering the room. They cannot enter the room while the birds are screaming without rewarding the behavior. If caretakers are consistent, their parrots will learn that screaming does the opposite that it used to do- but this will take time and people must be patient.

 

 

As always, under NO circumstance are people to use punishment or aggression. Aggression and punishment can destroy any potential for a trusting relationship with parrots and it doesn't work, anyway. Again, there must be full cooperation from everyone in the environment. Birds will not change their behaviors if even one person is yelling at them and therefore reinforcing their noise with drama.

 

 

So the process of rehabilitating screamers is not to 'unlearn' the behavior. Since the birds have been rewarded for their racket, they have learned that yelling is a successful activity. Instead, caretakers have to teach their birds that other behaviors are more successful. By replacing the screaming with new behaviors that become habits, the excessive squawking becomes extinguished.12

 

 

The Exceptions: Parrots appear to have an instinctive need to vocalize loudly when the human flock comes home, and this is not a behavior that can be eliminated. Instead, the human caretaker needs to respond to this call. Rather than ignoring the bird, the human should go directly to the bird and greet it. Ideally, the bird should be removed from its cage and physically acknowledged, then given a treat to eat and returned immediately to its cage. Caretakers can then go about their business, leaving the psittacid to munch at leisure.

 

 

The other exception is one that can cause far-reaching ramifications if the caretaker mishandles the situation. Very young parrots can go through a stage that aviculturist-behaviorist Phoebe Linden calls "Lost in the Woods." Ms. Linden feels this happens around the time parrots fledge13, and these babies often act extremely anxious and vocalize excessively. Ms. Linden says:

 

"A baby who feels 'lost in the woods' may call repetitively and plaintively, pace or weave back and forth as if they are going to jump from their perch, jump down from the perch, seem unsettled and nervous, and crave attention." 14

 

Ms. Linden feels a baby like this needs comfort and reassurance and caretakers should respond to the bird's crying. This stage should last less than a month, at which point the youngster should settle down again.

 

 

Conclusion

 

By establishing themselves in a position of higher rank through the patterning and constant use of simple commands, parrot caretakers place themselves in a position of authority with their companion birds, giving them clear guidelines for acceptable behaviors. Then as problem behaviors manifest, the people can use positive reinforcement to replace negative displacement behaviors with ones that are more acceptable in the human habitat.

 

 

With a clear understanding of what parrots are and are not, caretakers can get a better grasp of what can be expected from their psittacids in terms of behavior. By not inadvertently rewarding unwanted conduct with confusion and drama, annoying behaviors need not become established. Clear controls, consistency, patience and non-aggression will prove to be successful when dealing with common unacceptable behaviors we see in companion parrots.

 

 

This article was printed first in the proceedings for the annual conference of the Mid-Atlantic States Association of Avian Veterinarians, April, 1999.

 

 

1 Blanchard, S. "Problems With Parrots On Shoulders." The Pet Bird Report, Issue #25, 1995.

 

 

2 Athan, M.S. "The Importance Of Being Tall." Guide to a Well-behaved Parrot. Barrons, 1993, 64-66.

 

 

3 Davis, C. "New Techniques in Pet Avian Behavior Modification." Proceedings of Annual Conference, Association of Avian Veterinarians. 1989, pp. 183-189.

 

 

4 Wilson, L. "Behavior Problems in Adolescent Parrots: Guide to a Well-Adjusted Pet." Proceedings of Annual Conference, Association of Avian Veterinarians, 1995, pp. 415-418.

 

 

5 Harris, J. Behavior round table discussion, AAV Annual Conference, 1996.

 

 

6 Foush_, D. "Play Therapy." The Pet Bird Report, Issue # 23, pp. 30-32.

 

 

7 Doane, B. My Parrot, My Friend. Howell Book House, NY. 1994, pp. 110-155.

 

 

8 Blanchard, S. "Trust Building Towel Handling Techniques," The Pet Bird Report, Issue #14, pp. 36-37.

 

 

9 Wilson, L. "Phobic Psittacine Birds - An Increasing Phenomenon?" Proceedings of Annual Conference, Association of Avian Veterinarians, 1998, pp. 125-132.

 

 

10 Blanchard, S. "Games Parrots Play." Bird Talk, Nov. 1991, Vol. 9, No. 11.

 

 

11 Anonymous

 

 

12 Athan, M.S. Personal communications, 1999.

 

 

13 Fledging, the developmental stage prior to weaning, generally happens around 21/2-3 months of age for medium-sized birds [amazons, greys], and at 3-41/2 months for large macaws and cockatoos.

 

 

14 "Socializing Baby Parrots", The Pet Bird Report, Vol. 2, No. 6, pp. 12-15, 1992.<br><br>Post edited by: timotian, at: 2009/06/03 17:20

[she]

Thank you for another brilliant post.

[timotian]

I am deeply grateful<br><br>Post edited by: timotian, at: 2009/05/17 21:43

[Luvparrots]

Thanks for this great post, timotian. Karma to you Doc!

[bry2623]

Thanks for a great post! I have been researching AG's for awhile now trying to learn as much as I can about them before I buy one. I found your post to be a wealth of information. Thank you so much.

[CarolandFamily]

I definately needed to read this THANK YOU so much!!!

[Char]

These are great articles you have quoted and very informative. I was happy to see you give the original authors credit at the end of the post.