Urgent Cochise Has A Tic

[waterfaller1]

Today I was playing with Cochise and he was sitting on my arm. He would do a head flick, left wing, right wing, repeat. I set him on the door of his cage and watched, and watched while he went in to eat.,and he was not doing it. It could be a lot of different things I was told, from disease, to heavy metal poisoning, to a nervous thing. I have never seen him do this before. I guess it is time for a visit to our avian vet.

 

[Greycloud]

Oh my. I hope he is OK! Is he acting normally otherwise?

 

[April]

Oh no,I hope he will be ok.

 

[waterfaller1]

Thanks, yes he seemed fine.

 

[GuineaPigster]

Aww! I'm sorry-how scary!! Hopefully everything's okay.

 

[expressmailtome]

I am very sorry. I hope that it is nothing serious. I will keep him in my thoughts and prayers.

Matt

 

[Macawnutz]

Oh no, so good of you to notice right away. He will be in my thoughts.

 

[Anne & Gang]

many prayers on the way

 

[Theresa]

Hugs and prayers that it's nothing

 

[GlassOnion]

Hope he will be okay!!!

 

[roxynoodle]

I'll be thinking of you and Cochise

I am hoping it was a hormonal thing, but guessing you've had him long enough to know what he does when hormonal. I suggest it though because I thought Pete had something neurological the first time he did a little bit of his mating dance. It wasn't until the next day when he did it again and threw in a bit of regurg motion that I was clued in to it being hormonal and then found videos on youtube of other amazons doing it that I knew he was ok.

 

[Holiday]

 

[waterfaller1]

Hmm..interesting Audrey. He has also started over preening again this week. He had let it all grow back in too.
I won't rest well until he is tested and the results come back.
Thanks everyone for the well wishes.

 

[waterfaller1]

Interesting stuff here, because my first thought was more along the lines of it being a pacifying thing. He is a rather nervous bird still, even after all these years.
"Parrots will perform a quick feather ruffle to release tension, much like when humans take a quick moment to lean back and stretch before we go on to the next task."
"Some parrots, particularly African greys, shake their heads as if there's water in the ears. No one really knows why they do this, and it seems to be normal. If your bird is doing this a lot, it may be a sign of an ear or nasal infection."
"A parrot will flip its wings up and down to indicate frustration, get attention, or indicate aggression. It may also happen during molting, when it's trying to align new feathers or get rid of old ones that may be hanging or ready to fall out."
Reading Your Parrot's Body Language - For Dummies

 

[roxynoodle]

Interesting stuff here, because my first thought was more along the lines of it being a pacifying thing. He is a rather nervous bird still, even after all these years.
"Parrots will perform a quick feather ruffle to release tension, much like when humans take a quick moment to lean back and stretch before we go on to the next task."
"Some parrots, particularly African greys, shake their heads as if there's water in the ears. No one really knows why they do this, and it seems to be normal. If your bird is doing this a lot, it may be a sign of an ear or nasal infection."
"A parrot will flip its wings up and down to indicate frustration, get attention, or indicate aggression. It may also happen during molting, when it's trying to align new feathers or get rid of old ones that may be hanging or ready to fall out."
Reading Your Parrot's Body Language - For Dummies

All of this is true!

Yes, the last part I think is called wing flipping? I've never actually seen one of mine do it, but I've seen other parrots do it. You can hear it, too.

And yes, Greys shake their heads, and often head shaking is a sign of sinus infection.

 

[ncGreyBirdLady]

Carole,was there any kind of different noise/music at the time?My Grizz is VERY sensitive to certain sounds and will flick his head for as long as he hears that soundAs for the normal Grey head shaking-none of Mine do it I will be praying that it is nothing serious

 

[saroj12]

 

[Macawnutz]

Yes, the last part I think is called wing flipping? I've never actually seen one of mine do it, but I've seen other parrots do it. You can hear it, too.
And yes, Greys shake their heads, and often head shaking is a sign of sinus infection.

We do tons of wing flipping here, in fact Korbel is sitting next to me doing it. He is getting settled to rest and does it for about half an hour before bed. You can also hear it, it sounds like a smack of a wing.

Actually, Korbel does exactly what you are saying every evening and every time he is tired Carole.

 

[waterfaller1]

Hmm..wonder if I should watch a day or so to see if it continues? Thanks for everyone's input. It does ease my mind a little to know it could just be a behavior.

 

[itzmered]

Hopefully it is really nothing. I am sure you will be relieved to find out what it is. Jasper does the wing flipping occasionally when he is getting settled to rest.