Einstein's back

[wolfysluv]

Previosly I left the forum with the humorous story about me bragging to some guests about the intelligence of the cockatoo. Only to be embarrassed by Tika stopping mid stride to stare at her foot in total shock that she had one. Repeatedly. Some of you helped me by suppyling me with smart ••• explanations to get me out of this fix for when it happens again. I liked the one that said, "She is contemplating the string theory by examining the up and down quarks on her foot. Very observant creatures".

So last night, Tika was on Scotts chest. He and I turned and watched her do something she does all day ... take tiny feather or peice of debris that falls off of her and obsessively stuff it back into her feathers or run it all over herself in a really manic way. This time she had a tiny feather and was continually using it to run over her foot and to nibble her foot with the feather in her mouth. Scott gave me that goofy butt look to embarrass me about my bird because we have a running joke. He views the foot thing, the showering herself with food over her head with her foot (Yet another behavior I must think of an explanation for), and this taking a feather and "putting it back" as yet another goofy goffin moronic behavior that makes no sense ... hence making the intelligent parrot theory (in regards to her anyway) null and void. And also proving she is not a parrot after all but a blue footed booby or a fancy crested white chicken.

Embarrased and irrate at his faces, I said, "seriously ... the only creatures that use tools are those with unrivaled intelligence. And those are humans, apes, parrots and a couple others that I forget."
Scott: "Yah ... reaaaaaaaaal intelligent, trying to put a feather back into herself a thousand times a day not understanding its not going to stay"
Me: "Thats not it!!! See, the feather is a tool ....."
Scott " ... she's trying to put it back."
Me: "No she's not, thats just what we thought because we were too stupid to understand what she was doing and ..."
Scott ::nodding his head, making a face, and snickering:: "...ooookay."
Me: ".. using the feathers as tools for grooming. .. or something. I mean see, she keeps rubbing her feet with it! She's not putting it back"
Scott " yeaaaaaaah uh, no chance she just plain likes the way it feels.."
Me: "look ••••it ..."
Now Tika picks up a bigger feather and gets upset and repeatedly tries to put it back on her wing. We both stare ...
Scott: "Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahahah! Thats not grooming shes trying to stick it back in there!!"
Me: "NUT UUUUUUUUUUUUUH! SHE"S COMBINg HER FEATHERS SEE???"
Scott: "real intelligent ... frickin chicken"
Me: "grunt"

I need to start a thread or add to this one pics and vids of her "genus" behaviors.



Okay so down below we have a pic of her doing her infamous foot stare. And now here is a video of her doing it. The very first seconds of the vid you see her staring at her foot right in the darn middle of wrestling with me and a toy. Then when I'm all redircting the behavior and getting her attention back to the toy, she then HIDES between my legs to stare at it more!!

Tikas suprise foot video by wolfysluv - Photobucket

Here she is right in the middle of a BATH doing it:

tikafootbath_mpeg2video.flv video by wolfysluv - Photobucket

So can someone tell me how to embed PhotoBucket vids on here. I know how to do the pics. And I know how to embed YT movies.


And here is a cruddy movie showing her doing her feather thing. Now this is what I mean in that it almost looks like she's using it to groom. But she does also pick up a bigger feather and not run it over herself and instead just continually try to stick back in lol. I need to get a REAL video of that, cause its so funny. I have a "real" video of her foot staring somewhere. I need to dig it up and start a little Tika the Einstein series on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6mhZMwC1iA

 

[hotfoot jackson]

I have no idea whta she's doing but by G** she's cute. Give her a kiss or scritch for me.

 

[ortegah]

That is just too funny and she is just adorable!

 

[Bokkapooh]

She is so adorable. Out of all the cockatoos, Umbies and Goffins are my favorite. One day I would love to rescue or adopt a rescued G2. They are amazing. Cute. Funny. Clownish. Just amazing personalities.

I have noticed with a LOT of cockatoos, and some macaws, that they have a "foot" thing. They'll be doing something (playing/chewing toys, hanging upside down, walking on the floor, etc) and they'll STOP and then look at their feet. Maybe even walk a few steps, look at their feet again.

I have noticed with many of these birds they do it if: They have or have HAD a ringband on their legs (vs never having one), or have over grown nails (like when they are walking on the floor, and then looking at their feet, I noticed many large macaw having overgrown nails and a ringband that do this, vs not having a ring band or shorter nails).

And about the feather thing. Thats just plain cuteness My Red Lored Amazon, Pua (wild caught) does this too!. She'll use her molted flight feather or tail feather, and preen herself with it(though she never tries to stick it back in).

Out of all the cockatoos, I think Goffins are most known for trying to stick things and hide things into their feathers..

 

[wolfysluv]

She doesnt always look at the ringband. But I bet she does most of the time. I'll have to pay attention. I'm so glad you brought up bird nails! How short of long should they be (cockatoos and/or goffins)?? I'm scared to do hers. They are black and sheesh, how do you see where the quick is? I have a feeling they are too long? hers are soft and rounded at the ends. You can see their length in that one picture. Do they look okay?
If I need to do them, I cant bring her to a vet or breeder. She's just way way too sensitive with the picking issue "I think" to do that. I have a whats it called ..... grr.. the spiny thing with the rough stones. Hubby and I have to do her beak now and then cause it over grows on one side. We could use that to do nails. But we're scared.
Tikas are soft and not badly over grown cause of perches, lava rock, etc in her cage and we have "girl time" where I make believe I'm using a file on my nails and then she sits on my lap and holds her foot up for me to do hers. BUT she only wants to do it some. And not all the toes.

I had NO idea that they commonly do "the foot thing". How funny. I personally love the comedy of an umbie. I really do. I fell in love with who I fell in love with though. And because she takes up so many hours a day (I have to supervise her out of her collar), I have no time to try another too (or space really). You know, ... if I worked and Tika could not get out of the collar for hours a day .... well .. I'd have to consider one of two things. Trying to find an aviary thing to see if getting her into a more natural situation would stop the mutilation or .... euthanisia. This is horriblely upsetting for all, but .... I "can't" do this to this baby for 40 years. Its cruel. Imagine never being able to itch yourself, lay your head on a pillow (under her wing) and so much more. Even eating is uncomfortable. Yikes. I can almost imagine the "D" word coming up in my marriage over this lol. You think I"m kidding???? Have you SEEN my husband with "his little girl"? Omg.

 

[Bokkapooh]

Her nails look fine But if you are worried, you can place her on a countertop or a table, and if her nails are overgrown her toes will not touch the table or countertop, they will be pushed up due to long nails. But if you ever do take your baby girl to the vets or breeders to have her nails done, I would ask to learn how to do it. You already do her beak, nails are easier

Aww I didnt know she had to be collared. Does she mutilate often?

 

[KimKimWilliamson]

Im not sure what it means, but it sure as heck is adorable!! I love Goffins!! Im not sure I could ever own one, but they are fabulous!

As soon as I saw the video my thought was that something had to be bothering her and thats why she was staring, and then Mercedez suggestions were made and that made sense. My first thought was mites or something under her skin that she can feel but cant see but I dunno, I imagine youve had it checked.

 

[wolfysluv]

She's went to two vets quite often when the mutilation began. They did look for skin problems. When she does the stare, she never touches them them. And on the side she doesnt' chew them or do anything more than usual to them. I'm possitive her footsies are fine. She's just a dern goofy goffin is all.

Something for me to keep in mind though .. when she is in mutilation mode .... she'll also be "interupted" by something and does the same thing by stopping mid stream to stare at the exact spot she picks. In that case, yah, she resists sometimes, but much of the time she of course goes after that spot. Its a tiny spot (top of her crop). No answers there so far. It just kills me. Maybe it's like people. There are TONS of pickers out there. Many of them in secret ya know? And out of the wild you can spare a moment or two to dabble in it. In the wild you can't take your eyes off the skies or ground for one minute.

Mercedes Tika is a bad mutilator. I'm the author of the collar instructions in the health section here. Very, very sad. She began at only 1 1/2 years of age on a June day. She is now four.

 

[Anne & Gang]

give her a smooch from me...she is ADORABLE

 

[atvchick95]

the only thing i know is the "food bath" is very normal and Most all too's do it they do it in the wild with bugs actually

its called "anting"

Winged Wisdom Pet Bird Magazine - Anting in Birds -- Medical or Behavioral? - Pet Birds

But the feather thing sounds normal too, just grooming her self then playing with the feathers my Quakers do that all the time they like to play with the feathers they have fallen out Even if its just the small down ones.

 

[wolfysluv]

Yah! I told Scott she's "anting" before. He won't buy it. I've tried to sell that one before. LOL. He cracks me up when he teases me about it. As soon as she starts, he'll look at me like she's as dumb as a box of rocks. I'll start to open my mouth, "Stop, she's .." "I know, I know she's "anting"" he'll say like a smart alec. Then he'll roll his eyes to say suuuuuuuure.

 

[Cynth]

I watched a lot of your videos. She is darling. very funny character. I guess I couldn't hope to have a too as sweet. But watching your videos makes me want a bird like that. lol.

(says to self: stay away from pet stores, stay away from pet stores)

 

[hotfoot jackson]

Dusty does that foot thing sometimes...so when you work out why..let me know. I also noticed she does the "skyhook" pick-up technique too. What a cutie!

 

[Renae]

She is absolutely adorable!

 

[Sadieladie1994]

It is an anting behavior. Just because they are pets and there are no ants the behavior does exist. The rubbing of the chemicals from the ants is thought to keep parasites off of birds.

All things in the video are typical of goffins. G2's need a lot of activity and time to release energy. Mine has a special game she plays. She takes a small piece of wood, leather or pellet and balances it on something. She then raps the area to get object to fall and she catches it in her wing. I have tried helping balance an object once and was immediately corrected as not doing it right. My guess on this one is collecting food or vegetation. Object then gets stuck in wings and carried to a nest. The other thought is that there are courtship displays and are they "decorating" themselves for courtship. I haven't seen enough G2's in the wild to see if it is done there. I know some of the little corellas have fun rolling down hills. They too understand the need for play or are the displaying their acrobatic genius or letting the ground cleanse off parasites. Hmmm.

Peggy

 

[allison]

It is an anting behavior. Just because they are pets and there are no ants the behavior does exist. The rubbing of the chemicals from the ants is thought to keep parasites off of birds.

All things in the video are typical of goffins. G2's need a lot of activity and time to release energy. Mine has a special game she plays. She takes a small piece of wood, leather or pellet and balances it on something. She then raps the area to get object to fall and she catches it in her wing. I have tried helping balance an object once and was immediately corrected as not doing it right. My guess on this one is collecting food or vegetation. Object then gets stuck in wings and carried to a nest. The other thought is that there are courtship displays and are they "decorating" themselves for courtship. I haven't seen enough G2's in the wild to see if it is done there. I know some of the little corellas have fun rolling down hills. They too understand the need for play or are the displaying their acrobatic genius or letting the ground cleanse off parasites. Hmmm.

Peggy

That's exactly what I was going to say!
It's an instinctual behavior. They do it with ants in the wild as a type of pesticide, it is believed.
It is very common with Goffins and I have seen a few U2s do it too. So your bird is very smart, and very normal!