GCC Twitching wings and weird sound? HELP

[parsaxyz]

Not weird sound sorry its beak grinding, my bad

Hello,


Ill get right to the point, my GCC is twitching his wings and sounds like he's grinding his beak.. so i dont know if I should be scared or not..

Ill try to post a video but if it can't be uploaded I'll try to explain as best as possible

It happened twice once yesterday, whilst on his cage, and right now on my shoulder. His poop is as normal as it can be, he's eating normally and I believe he's going through a molt though it's the beginning.. im starting to see pin feathers on his head and neck. He's also been bathing regularly. His wings are twitching as if trying to bat away flies and grinds his beak along with it and it stops when I pick him up off my shoulder ( I did this once ) so should I be worried??

He's been acting normal honestly nothing out of the ordinary except these twitches and beak grinding.

 

[parsaxyz]

I uploaded a video I hope this helps

 

[CrazyBirdChick]

I'm no expert at all but I was wondering, is he a baby? How long have you had him? If he is a baby, he might want some comfort feedings

 

[parsaxyz]

Well I got him about a month ago at a pet store and unfortunately he doesn't have a leg band, but that didn't stop me from buying him

The guy working there told me he was 4 months at the time now being 5 months. But im not certain. You know he WAS really eager to go eat some food as soon as I put him back on his cage..

 

[CrazyBirdChick]

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable chimes in soon but I would think maybe serving him some oatmeal (not hot) or some other kind of mushy food would be appreciated. Maybe some organic baby food.

 

[parsaxyz]

As long as its nothing serious, anything else and ill do it wholeheartedly

 

[parsaxyz]

Thankyou

 

[CrazyBirdChick]

Thankyou

You're welcome! I hope I'm right though. Like I said, I'm no expert. It was just my intuition that made me think that looks like baby begging behaviour .

 

[CrazyBirdChick]

I just thought of something else. Something called wing flipping from nutritional deficiencies. I believe it's something Eclectuses experience but not sure if conures can get that too. What do you feed your little guy? He's very cute btw!

 

[Birdbabe]

Another reason for the wing twitching could be new feathers growing in and bothering him. Merlin does that when he has blood feathers.

 

[nu2birds]

Really sweet bird........

 

[JLcribber]

Twitching, squatting, wing fluttering are usually associated with sexual activity. Foreplay if you will. Bird seems a little older than 5 months. A lot of captive parrots mature early. Looks to me like he's puttin' the moves on you.

 

[parsaxyz]

He is quite the cutie pie. Um I did post this on another forum and I got rather alarming responses, that my bird showed signs of distress and that it could be a neurological disorder.

And this doesn't happen that often, he's always with me so I notice everything and it just started yesterday for a few seconds

And today again just for a few seconds..

The poop and energy levels are all the same and he eats normally too, so ill just wait it out for a week or two if I see it happening a lot I'll see a vet

HAHAHAHA that really made me laugh about him puttin the moves on me!

So you guys don't find this to be alarming?

 

[JLcribber]

All I see is affection. He even turns and looks at you when he does it and beaks your neck. I don't have any GCCs but I have seen a lot of birds.

 

[Lady Jane]

I must say members here are very bird wise and not so on that other forum.

 

[Karen]

I did post this on another forum and I got rather alarming responses, that my bird showed signs of distress and that it could be a neurological disorder.

Those are certainly valid considerations.

I have a bird that flicks/snaps her wings like that very often throughout the night and I sent a video to one of her Avian Vets at Cornell University and the possibility of a neurological disorder was his first concern also.

My thoughts after first viewing your video was either neurological or distress...but now that I read;

And this doesn't happen that often, he's always with me so I notice everything and it just started yesterday for a few seconds

I'm more apt to say it's a possibly a minor distress to a feather or feathers being amiss. If he's newly clipped there could be an irritation or a new feeling for him from the clipping. Another thought is perhaps a sensory overload; because he's excited to be with you.

 

[webchirp]

I see this with my birds as it is a hormonal/sexual response. Babies do display for food this way as well. However with that being said, don't skip your yearly checkup just to make sure. A sick bird can often hide being ill from you.

 

[JLcribber]

Another thought is perhaps a sensory overload; because he's excited to be with you.

That describes what I saw more accurately. Not necessarily sexual.

 

[JLcribber]

@parsaxyz . You didn't say whether he was clipped or not?

 

[parsaxyz]

Thankyou all so much for the replies, I'm so glad I'm getting a lot of support from you guys.

Well yes he is clipped, but I don't know how newly clipped he is..

Also I'm getting a little bit more insight to this behavior, I've been experimenting a little.

Today I kept him off my shoulder, mostly on or in his cage or play area. No sign of this behaviour.

Now ive allowed him to perch up on my shoulder he squishes himself against my neck, starts preening my ear lobe and BAM wings start going crazy and beak starts grinding. I took him off and used my hand to cup him and nothing, no response. As soon as I let him go he ran back up on my shoulder, against my neck and again with the crazy wings. Now that I've tested it out, he does it for a few seconds and when I take him off nothing, like for a good 30-45mins nothing just normal bird doin his thing.

So I think I'm getting a "attention/excitement" behavior from him. Ive booked an appointment for next month for a blood test, checkup etc. Hopefully nothing out of the ordinary!