Lovebird question

[Tinta]

Do lovebirds use their feet to hold their food and/or manipulate small objects?
Are they "ground feeders"?

 

[Cyreen]

Jake will stand on stuff, hang from stuff, but doesn't really hold stuff. He's really good at scratching his ears (really cute), so I know those little legs do reach that high, but nope, not so much an eat from the foot kinda guy.

 

[GHornbill]

Izzy sometimes takes a chopstick and holds it down with her right foot, same with a latice ball.

 

[LoveBird<3]

GHornbill, really? Birdie never holds anything with her feet, although she does scratch like Cyreen said.

I guess it depends on the bird, but lovies generally don't use their feet as much as other parrots do.

 

[Ankou]

It is very rare for lovebirds to hold up an item in a foot while standing. I've seen birds who will do it on youtube but it's the exception rather than the norm. I've seen maybe two or three who do in several years. Self scritching with a foot, rubbing and not the normal "my head is itchy" scratch, is also something I've seen almost none of but it does happen.
They can reach their heads just fine and the ones who do hold an item to eat it seem quite dextrous, but they must be ground feeders in the wild.

I wonder if the lovebirds I've seen hold food to eat learned it from a different-species flockmate?

Peanut will grasp a toy in a foot while she mauls it but does not hold it up (on purpose. Play can get quite wild and she's even thrown things with her foots a couple of times due to all the flailing.) She's usually sprawled on her belly biting it while one foot keeps it in place. She doesn't manipulate them either, just grabs on and lets her head to all the work.

 

[fluffypoptarts]

My loves like to use their feet to pin things sometimes, like to to keep a favored toy in place, but I've never seen them do anything with food + feet.

 

[GHornbill]

GHornbill, really? Birdie never holds anything with her feet, although she does scratch like Cyreen said.

I guess it depends on the bird, but lovies generally don't use their feet as much as other parrots do.

Mostly what fluffypoptarts said about pinning it down, sorry for the confusion, I didnt know how to put it , rarely she is able to lift it up when shes on a flatter surface.

But she does like to move her feet in these uncomfortable positions and jump on some of her hanging toys and swing around!

 

[pinkdagger]

Yeah, my birds hold stuff down with their feet, but most things - toys and food - are too big for their little tootsies. :x3:

 

[Tinta]

Thanks guys.

 

[cupoftea]

Zazu likes to bat things with his feet but that's about it. He likes toys he can practice kick boxing on.

 

[clarabear]

My Mars does the same thing- he'll pin a nutriberry with his feet while eating it. But he doesn't ever pick things up with his feet.