As some of you may already know from my plethora of posts over the last several months, I am still very new to the world of birds. Every day is pretty much a new experience for me. Today for example, Lada finally started REALLY talking (but only when she thought I couldn't hear her haha). While that's neat and deserving of its own space, its not the cause for this particular post so let me get back on track. I am trying to determine what Lada is trying to tell me occasionally when she is on my shoulder. Sometimes I will take her to the couch and we'll relax for a bit and watch some TV or snuggle up for a cat nap. I have a blanket over the back of the couch in case of accidents. She is not house trained (yet), and this information may be important in a bit.
When she is on my shoulder on the couch, usually she sits still and watches the TV or looks around the room. Sometimes she snuggles down for a nap. I have finally picked up on a behavior of hers, but have not seen it enough yet to determine any patterns. Here is what she will do. She will go from sitting quite content to suddenly taking her beak and gently running it up the side of my face starting from the jaw line up to the temple. She will repeat this three or four times. I don't yet know exactly what this is. We are still working on skritches (she is still warming up to me), so I don't think she is asking for attention just yet. The only thing I can possibly think of is, this is her way of getting my attention that she needs to relieve herself.
Part of me believes this is a logical hypothesis as right after she did the behavior today, she climbed down off my shoulder onto my arm and took care of business (unfortunately still on my shirt haha). This makes sense, however a one time occurrence is clearly not statistically relevant. I'll watch to see if she does it again in the future. Part of also thinks that perhaps that's not what happened and that it was just a coincidence. I didn't necessarily need to move for her to climb down to what she may have considered a more appropriate spot. She could have just as easily climbed to the same spot without telling me, pooping right off the back of my shoulder as she has done in the past, or stepped back onto the back of couch to poop wherever. Why she needed to notify me seemed unnecessary. Now I sincerely hope that's what she was doing as this is an incredible step towards house training before I even really get started. As far as I know, she was never house trained, so why she would exhibit that behavior to begin with seems odd.
Please give me your thoughts. What do you think she is trying to tell me? Thank you!
When she is on my shoulder on the couch, usually she sits still and watches the TV or looks around the room. Sometimes she snuggles down for a nap. I have finally picked up on a behavior of hers, but have not seen it enough yet to determine any patterns. Here is what she will do. She will go from sitting quite content to suddenly taking her beak and gently running it up the side of my face starting from the jaw line up to the temple. She will repeat this three or four times. I don't yet know exactly what this is. We are still working on skritches (she is still warming up to me), so I don't think she is asking for attention just yet. The only thing I can possibly think of is, this is her way of getting my attention that she needs to relieve herself.
Part of me believes this is a logical hypothesis as right after she did the behavior today, she climbed down off my shoulder onto my arm and took care of business (unfortunately still on my shirt haha). This makes sense, however a one time occurrence is clearly not statistically relevant. I'll watch to see if she does it again in the future. Part of also thinks that perhaps that's not what happened and that it was just a coincidence. I didn't necessarily need to move for her to climb down to what she may have considered a more appropriate spot. She could have just as easily climbed to the same spot without telling me, pooping right off the back of my shoulder as she has done in the past, or stepped back onto the back of couch to poop wherever. Why she needed to notify me seemed unnecessary. Now I sincerely hope that's what she was doing as this is an incredible step towards house training before I even really get started. As far as I know, she was never house trained, so why she would exhibit that behavior to begin with seems odd.
Please give me your thoughts. What do you think she is trying to tell me? Thank you!
Last edited: