How to: Know if you've been chosen.

[zoo mom]

Well Jason was mine but tolerated my husband until he was about 3 yrs old. Then he decided that he was John's and I was 2nd best. To this day he will tolerate either of us. He will regurgitate for either of us. BUT only ONE of us per day get the special lovins. And it is HIS choice WHO it will be. The last 2 nights it was me. The night before my husband. When he wants attention he will call out for 1 of us. It is 50/50 who he will call for. If you respond and tell him that the one he is calling for is not there he starts calling the one who us. So if he starts out yelling John and I tell him John's not here he will then start calling for Elaine. Or vis/versa.
We call Jason our equal opportunity offender.

 

[fluffypoptarts]

@zoo mom He is such a birdy player!

 

[Dartman]

When I got Dobby at first he was mine, then he discovered my sister does all the cool stuff like cooking in the kitchen. He has decided she is the one for him and he demands scritches and tries to feed her. He does not truly hate anyone though and she also resembles Momazon so that probably helps too as she helped raise him. Nerd was stuck with me after his brother Ferd died and he and I mourned and became best friends for 31 years. Lurch who I got after Nerd passed was mad and scared when I got him and very quick to bite. After a mere 5 years he decided he had wore me down enough that I was mostly trustworthy and his friend. He would fly after me like a feathered puppy when I left the room. He escaped last April and after 2 days he disappeared and haven't seen him since
Dobby flys after sister whenever she leaves the room to supervise. Nerd didn't fly well and would run down his ladder and walk down the hallway to my room if he wanted daddy time and I was neglecting my duties. He also had games that only he and I could play.
I think sometimes you get lucky and they outright choose you, and sometimes with work, respect, time, and love they come around and let you earn it from them, either way it's worth it in the end for everyone involved.

 

[Crazy4parrots]

I have seen baby birds that people tried to strongly encourage to choose them go and choose someone else instead (birdy was just waiting for someone more preferred, it seemed). So far, I've not had any baby lovebirds that bonded to me change allegiances, though. (I wonder if anyone has lovebird stories of this.) Actually, I keep getting chosen by lovebirds who aren't supposed to choose me! Babies and adults alike.

Baby birds are tough. The signs can be very subtle, even after holding them often several days in a row. The way they look at you, the way they seem to nestle into your hand, the way they close their eyes because they're at ease with you - those can be signs.

Sometimes it's more a feeling than anything. I brought Turnip home primarily because he needed a home - but I felt like he would choose me. I later thought I'd been wrong when he seemed so leery of me for a while, but it just took longer for him. Plus he's crazy, so that complicated things.

Yes even tho i rescued Baylee when i opened the little dark box she was in she jumped right away in my hand...but now she prefers my mom ( even tho she only pets her for 2 min) im the one to take her out for hours...now she also goes crazy for my bf!
Yesterday she REFUSED to leave my mom and bit me hard 1st time ever! Same happens de today...
I told my bf "when we lives together we aré having another bird a male bird...a gcc that chase you away when he is out" i think thats so funny...sammy does that to men lol he likes woman and chase men away funny part is men run away from a 120 grs bird... I want a gcc that does that...​

 

[Gussy]

I apologize it's taken me so long to respond to these stories. I'm not often on the site, but it's been so fun reading through them today.

I went to a bird mart for supplies last week and picked up some super cute homemade toys for a small flock of cockatiels that was recently given to me by a friend who could no longer care for them.

Anyway, I just had to visit all the booths and there was one with a bunch of different types of hand raised babies. I kept trying to pick up the baby parrotlets, they but both ran away from me. There was a Rosella that jumped on my hand at least five times. She just couldn't stay off of me. She'd see my across the box trying to get the interest of the parrotlets and sweetly wattle over and step up. So cute! Unfortunately, a $500 bird is just not in my price range and I know little about rosellas, so in the box she stayed, but it was fun having a little admirer for the time I was there. I'm not sure she was "picking me" per say, but it did remind me of many of the stories on here.

At least now, I know what to look for in the future. What signs of being chosen may look like. I'm so grateful to hear all these sweet little stories especially the ones that were so unexpected. Such wonderful meet cutes!

I had often wondered what people meant when they'd say just let the bird choose you and now I totally get it. Thanks everyone for sharing!

 

[MnGuy]

My first parrot as an adult did not pick me, did not like me and did not like anyone. She was mean and bit. I fostered and then adopted her anyway, and she really became bonded to me.

I think it's important that we don't forget those types of birds. The "picking" "phenomenon" is great, but I feel that it gets romanticized a bit too much for the human's sake.

 

[Ankou]

Peanut liked how warm and cozy my sleeve was as a baby at the breeders.
So I do say she chose me at times this but that is probably all there was to it. Still it "felt" right to me, if that makes any sense?

It's probably better to say I chose her because of her fearlessness of me, willingness to interact, sheer determination, and how damn cute her repeatedly stuffing herself into my sleeve was. It worked out great, 17 years later and she's my heart. Who knows if she would have behaved that way with anyone else? A distinct possibility, but maybe not.

 

[Riptide Queen]

My IRN Melon was actually a wild IRN that was injured and because in Hawaii they aren't native, I was told to keep her as a pet. So I guess Melon didn't really choose me. Instead she chose my Finacee! She's always sweet to him and is a rascal to me!

However, my late bird NB, who was a red-throated conure had chosen me when we saw him at the shelter. At first, he ignored us, and after we left he started to cry out to us, and when we came back, he would perch on my finger talking up a storm. And when we went to go finalize the adoption for him, he was glued to where we were at and the staff thought that was cute. I miss him a lot....

 

[faislaq]

Our first bird, Pistachio, was just a charismatic little ham and I'm sure many people felt chosen. He would go to anybody and strut for them. It was just his personality. But we were the ones lucky enough to be charmed into bringing him home.
My husband felt like he was my bird because he was almost always on me and could rope me into doing nearly everything he wanted, but my step-daughter observed that he must be my husband's bird because he was the only one in the family he never tried to bite. lol

R.I.P Darth Stachius, you are still loved.

 

[faislaq]

Well Jason was mine but tolerated my husband until he was about 3 yrs old. Then he decided that he was John's and I was 2nd best. To this day he will tolerate either of us. He will regurgitate for either of us. BUT only ONE of us per day get the special lovins. And it is HIS choice WHO it will be. The last 2 nights it was me. The night before my husband. When he wants attention he will call out for 1 of us. It is 50/50 who he will call for. If you respond and tell him that the one he is calling for is not there he starts calling the one who us. So if he starts out yelling John and I tell him John's not here he will then start calling for Elaine. Or vis/versa.
We call Jason our equal opportunity offender.

I love this! What a smart little guy!

 

[Lodah]

We both went to the breeders to pick up a GCC of which they had four at the time. I had already informed the breeder that we were interested in a male, albeit we were not fussed either way! Pilo was the only bird out at the time and was very happy to sit on my finger! We both fell in love with him on the spot, and picked him up later that week! The actual bonding time took way longer than I would have thought as he kept changing allegiance between us or whoever walked in the door for that matter! Five months later... Pilo picked me and the bond between us continues to develop even though the wife is home with him everyday! I can't think of a day that I couldn't wait to get home to see him and enjoy his company and antics! Pilo is so very special to the both of us... we are very lucky to have him as a companion and best little friend! With Gods Blessing, the road ahead will be a long one and we can share many more joyful years together!