How To Convince Bird NOT To Perch on Wall Art?

[Nostromo]

Hi guys,

I'm kind of stumped. My younger blue head pionus is in love with me (she's about 2, and just discovering the depths of her desire for eggs, and I'm her chosen mate) and likes to fly into my bedroom and hang out with me in the mornings. Totally fine. Me, being the thoughtful bird-spouse I am, set up a lovely little tabletop perch for her, made with beautiful dragonwood, with toys, differing perch sizes, a nice height, close to where I am in the room. Will she perch on it?

No.

She's okay on it if I place her there, so she's not afraid of it. But she prefers instead to fly in and land with a great deal of scratching and fluttering on a plaster piece of art hanging on our wall, which she then desperately clings to with her claws. I've tried lowering the art to make it less appealing, to no avail. I guess I could just move it but I like having it there!!! Any tips on how I can make the wall art Bad and Scary so she will try the perch instead? I've already tried rewarding her for going on the perch.

 

[LozBin]

I can't help but I can sympathise.

I have a cockatiel who will sometimes head for a particular clip-frame picture on the wall at bedtime instead of her proper night-time perch. I can't have her perched there at lights-out as she shouldn't be there all night and if she decides to move later, well - it's dark!
I have to move her maybe twice per week.

 

[Macawnutz]

We commonly tell people to try and hang some curling ribbons in the area you want avoided. When they fly by they move and it usually has them finding another landing spot. Do this until they are acclimated to a new spot.

 

[Linwood]

Put a bowl on the perch, and have treats there. You don't need a big bowl, mine on the kitchen stand is just a little 3D printed thing, enough for a few seeds or a nut.

Food is the great motivator.

 

[Nostromo]

@Macawnutz This is genius!!! I will go do that right now.

@Linwood Yes I've been putting nutriberries all over the perch (her fave treat). She'll find them occasionally, sit and eat them, then fly off to mess with the wall art again

 

[Linwood]

sit and eat them, then fly off to mess with the wall art again

Just to correct the historical record.... she is flying off to the wall art to mess with YOU.

 

[merlinsmom13]

I ignore Merlin when the flies to something I don't want. If he flies on my head I pretend I can't find him. That really works.

 

[Zilga]

If you figure it out, let me know. We have a couple of canvases on the walls that the Bourke's parakeets will not leave alone. We also have a whimsical clock that fig is obsessed with.

 

[Nostromo]

@Zilga What a beautiful girl!! I'm excited to try the ribbon trick suggested earlier. For now, I've covered the art piece with a handtowel, one of Little Bit's great nemeses in this world. But in the past when I've tried the hand towel she'll eventually get brave and knock it off.

 

[Zilga]

What you can't see is that just below the picture is a blanket covering my kid's newest assembled Lego set because he kept trying to Godzilla it.