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How to stop head landings?

Gav

Strolling the yard
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7/27/18
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As the title says, I'm trying to teach two lovebirds not to land on peoples' heads anymore.

I'm fostering two wonderful lovebirds, but they have quite a few rude habits. I've gotten them to step up without biting (most of the time), and it's been a while since they've lunged at my face, but the one thing I can't seem to deter is them flying straight at faces and taking control of a person's head. Rather than fighting the hand that tries to fetch them, they'll fly off, which is nice, except that they come right back.

It's adorable and I love them, but pooping in hair and getting tangled isn't exactly prime bonding time. Having them on shoulders is risky because they'll pinch/bite any inch of skin or ear they can reach, but I can't work on that anyways if I can't keep them off my head...

Any tips on how to go about this? They're both very headstrong and do not fear people.

Photo of the little evil doers.

20210404_205551.jpg

I've been dodging them like a scene from the Matrix, but it's getting harder as they've learned to circle back three times and even hover like hummingbirds if necessary...
 

Shezbug

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Hat?
I just duck right before they land and that worked a treat for a while! I got Burt to stop landing on my head but then he took an interest in my mum and she started being the head landing zone... we’re now back to square 1 :lol: Slowly getting him to realise that what Nan allows and what I allow may not be the same thing which I know he’s easily capable of as he won’t dare land on my sons head!
 

Gav

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I don't own any hats, haha. I could try it but they have very little fear and I have a feeling they'll just try eating the hat instead.

Ducking is grand and all, but I think it's taking a toll on my neck trying to bend out of their way. They're catching onto my tricks, so dodging them is getting harder and harder because they're so persistent.

They'll come when I call them, but if my hand is held out for them to land they'll dodge it. They only accept heads... Maybe if I hold millet in my hand it'll help the landing process on my hands, but if I don't have millet 24/7 they'll be right back at heads.
 

TrueBlue

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11/12/20
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My 2 lovies do the same thing to everyone in our house. For us, it is what it is and we haven't really tried to make them stop doing it. I think it's just the easiest place for them to land on. We either remove them off our heads right away or leave them up there if our hands are busy at that moment. Knock on wood they've never pooped on our heads yet. Maybe target training?
 

Tazlima

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We either remove them off our heads right away or leave them up there if our hands are busy at that moment. Knock on wood they've never pooped on our heads yet. Maybe target training?
My quaker is a head-seeking fiend. It does seem to be an issue of being the best landing pad, though, because he steps right off if I offer my arm (and if I put my arm up to block him, he'll often just land there instead).

My issue isn't so much the pooping (although he has nailed me a couple times). The problem with mine is that he tries to groom me and he's VERY rough. Thankfully he's mostly stopped plucking hairs (he still goes for arm and leg hair occasionally, but it used to be a constant thing). Now he prefers to reach over and sort of scrape at my forehead, which leaves these shallow scratches that hurt like the dickens.

I also can't let my hair dangle next to him, especially when it's wet, because he goes into salon mode and trims it for me. Apart from the ragged results, I worry about whether he's ingesting it.
 

Gigibirds

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(sorry, I know this is an old thread, but here's my best advice:)
1. Put your hand on your head so they are FORCED to land on your head
2. If you don't have a hat, try tying a scarf around your head - it worked with one of my lovies!
I hope that you worked out this issue already, and so my advice will be useless!

*Very cute lovebirds btw!
 

Hermesbird

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(sorry, I know this is an old thread, but here's my best advice:)
1. Put your hand on your head so they are FORCED to land on your head
2. If you don't have a hat, try tying a scarf around your head - it worked with one of my lovies!
I hope that you worked out this issue already, and so my advice will be useless!

*Very cute lovebirds btw!
I found this interesting bc my parrotlet does this Non stop and I’ve learned as soon as I hear her fly toward me I put my hand on my head and she lands there as well. Ducting did not work for me. Lol
 

Leih

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I gave up... My lovebird loves to land on my head BUT she's never pooped in my hair. I think she realizes that would be inappropriate. She likes to get a pellet, fly to my head and eat it, then repeat, which I dislike because of all the pellet dust. Hats are pretty much the best way to curb the behavior. Hopefully they will find something else to land in instead.
 

Gav

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7/27/18
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I gave up... My lovebird loves to land on my head BUT she's never pooped in my hair. I think she realizes that would be inappropriate. She likes to get a pellet, fly to my head and eat it, then repeat, which I dislike because of all the pellet dust. Hats are pretty much the best way to curb the behavior. Hopefully they will find something else to land in instead.
These stinkers keep pooping </3 They're silly and I wouldn't normally mind them up there, but the poops are small and unpleasant to get out. One of them landed on my shoulder the other day, so I'm maybe making progress with them~ Of course I think they only did it to give them a chance to jump on my pizza...
 
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