Rough 'em up, Bayu!

[BayuCah'ya]

So, I was in the living room, and suddenly I hear banging and growling and wing flapping happening in the Ekkie room. I peeked my head in to make sure everyone was ok, and Bayu was hanging by the chain of his Nut-in-a-Can toy, swinging it around by flapping his wings and leaning hard in one direction or another, then growling and striking at the toy hard enough to shake some food out. Bayu takes kind of a Scorched Earth approach to foraging: if you beat it up badly enough, it will surrender the goods. There's no finesse there; just bulldoze your way to victory. When I burst out laughing, however, at his aggressive play style, he froze and looked at me with this deer-in-the-headlights, "who me?" look:



I just about died.

 

[greymatron]

Wow..I couldn't even imagine him doing that! He looks so innocent.

 

[Lauren and Jack]

 

[QP4CAG]

 

[Anne & Gang]

what a character!!

 

[bicmeister]

feisty

 

[webchirp]

That's my approach too! You go Bayu!!!

 

[annie1]

i wish my annie would do that lol but she dont know how or dont like too ,she just sitts where ever u put her .doesent play eather with toys.... i love your pic he looks so caught in the act hahaha

 

[Birdiemarie]

I love when ekkies do that! They get so vocal with their growls. Ruby will stop when she knows I'm watching her, too.

 

[Marlene]

 

[CeciliaZ]

Well, there's more than one way to get to the goods!

 

[BayuCah'ya]

i wish my annie would do that lol but she dont know how or dont like too ,she just sitts where ever u put her .doesent play eather with toys.... i love your pic he looks so caught in the act hahaha

Hi Manuela! How long have you had Annie? Playing with toys is not an innate behavior that birds are born with. In the wild, they will follow around their flock members (oftentimes older siblings from previous clutches) for several months to a year, learning how to find and forage for food. So a lot of times, in captivity, if a bird was not played with as a baby and taught how to play with toys by the humans and birds in their flock, they will not figure it out on their own. Unfortunately, a lot of times people see that and think their birds don't like to play, when really they just don't know how!

If you'd like to try to teach Annie how to play, you can do so by playing with her. You can play with a toy when you have her out with you, making sure to show her what you're doing. Birds are observational learners, so a lot of times if you just play with a toy *in front of her* them, they will pick it up. You can buy those colorful acrylic infant toys from Wal-mart or Target for like $6, because they have a lot of lights and moving parts and buttons that make noises. Those are excellent "gateway toys". You can also teach her to forage by starting easy and making it increasingly difficult. I would recommend Dr. Scott Echols' DVD, "Captive Foraging". There are also plenty of ideas here on AA, I'm sure!

Anyway, don't give up on her yet! Give her a chance to learn, and I'm sure she'll be grateful!