Masturbating female cockatoo?

[SpecialistElbru]

The last time I talked about Snowflake the 20 year old U2 was on the In your face post. In that post, I explained how I started talking her on walks with a harness last August. I say talk her on walks, but she does not seam to like to travel far. Sometimes she just likes to hang out on the raw log fence outside her cage. If I get her to travel farther, she likes to sit on the wooden fence and watch the petting zoo goats.

The other day, I had her in the harness sitting on the fence. I was petting her head and cracking her crest feathers, when she started to seam excited. I stopped touching her, and just watched her for a bit. I noticed that she was panting and moving. I then discovered that she was only standing on her right leg. With her left foot she had grabbed two or three of tail feathers. She would pull her tail feathers towards her belly for a few seconds. This caused he tail to bend sideways. She would then move her foot backwards (still holding her feathers) This caused her tail to be less sideways. She would leave her foot back for several seconds then pull it forward for several seconds. She kept repeating this action for two or three minutes.

Because, I assumed she was masturbating I tried to ignore it, but at the same time I was curious because I was not sure. Has anyone here seen a female cockatoo to or other parrot masturbating like this?

 

[jh81]

From what i know, only humans and dolfins enjoy sex, and only humans masturbate!
Could she be itchy and trying to "scratch" ?

 

[Bokkapooh]

All animals masturbate and enjoy sex for just sex. Parrots probably more so than any mammal species outside of humans.
Horny scoundrels.

From what i know, only humans and dolfins enjoy sex, and only humans masturbate!
Could she be itchy and trying to "scratch" ?

 

[cassiesdad]

Cassie, our LSC, would rub her vent (cloaca) on her wooden toys, all the while making a "eh, eh, eh eh" noise...

 

[JLcribber]

I've seen the tail grabbing thing around here. Wasn't necessarily doing the jiggy. Just a preening thing. Definitely doing it because it feels good.

 

[Bokkapooh]

I've seen the tail grabbing thing around here. Wasn't necessarily doing the jiggy. Just a preening thing. Definitely doing it because it feels good.

That is what I was thinking. It feels good to preen the tail and flight feathers without using the beak sometimes. My guys like to brush up against branches and toys so their flight and tail feathers get "preened" by someone else. Another reason why I also preen my birds flight and tail feathers. Its not necessarily a sign for sex. Birds love it and enjoy flock members doing this to them.

 

[Donna turner]

Cheeky gcc likes me to gently squease her with my hand and rub her chest and belly. Now she backs up to edge of table for this .she leans back ,picks up one foot and stretches up sometimes flicking her wings. She enjoys it immensely. I've decided she might think of this as mating behavior and I'm not sure I should keep doing this.sometimes she closes her eyes and almost goes to sleep. Do u guys think I should endulge her, or is this naughty and I should quit.dont want to be a perv

 

[Donna turner]

I did something rude without thinking . I asked a question on someone else's thread. I apologize. I should have said I think cheeky may be useing me to masturbate and stopped at that. I used to have a male cocatiel and he definitely masturbated while saying hello over and over.lol. So birds do masturbate in different ways.

 

[SpecialistElbru]

I did something rude without thinking . I asked a question on someone else's thread.

No problem.

 

[SpecialistElbru]

I only had a few responses to this post, so it does not seams to be a common method that female cockatoos use to please themselves. The other day I had another opportunity to witness this behavior, I am now positive it is masturbation. This time, she was standing on top of her cage when I was preening her crest feathers. She then grabbed her own tail, so I stopped touching her. She was panting, when I looked underneath her, I saw that the feathers from her lower-belly to her under-tail were moving around as she was pulling her tail.

Following the advice on AA, I will limit touching her for the next few weeks. Both times I noticed tail pulling When I was preening her head feathers. Even though, I limit touching I will still I will still interact with her. Do you think that putting on a harness for going on walks is ok? Do you think that her masturbating could lead to egg production?

 

[Macawnutz]

Tiko grabs his tail and jerks it with quite a bit of force.... He is quick rough and dirty! Cha politely lifts and lowers her tail. They both scream and howl in pleasure.... even at 3am

Treat her as usual, walk away when it starts.

 

[macawpower58]

Chaos does it too. So does my Mealy Solomon.

I think both sexes do this with the tail feathers to some degree. I know they all masturbate one way or another.