I went to a bird show today...

[avianxandra]

there were some GCCs in a cage... I leaned in a bit too far and they all come to the front of the cage to try to bite my nose.
Every time I leaned in they did it, and they seemed perfectly happy, not angry or anything...3-5 of them at my nose(as well as hair pulling)
Eventually I tried to take some pics with my phone(couldn't get any) of them and they wanted to eat my phone too.

Is this normal or were they upset?

 

[Birdbabe]

My friend has some of them in her store and they nip at me all the time, even though they were handfed and are tame.

 

[Laurul Feather Cat]

Remember their cage is their territory and you are invading their territory when you lean in like that. They probably all think of themselves as a flock and you are also assaulting the flock when you lean close.

 

[avianxandra]

I didn't know... I'm sorry to them, they all seemed happy...

I feel horrible now.

Glad that I know so I don't make the mistake in the future - and no, I really don't need to be told that I'm a horrible bird owner....

 

[webchirp]

Don't feel bad, they do sound like they liked you and wanted to investigate. They are very curious littles. Sometimes when they are overly excited they will bite as well.

 

[Sadieladie1994]

You are not a terrible owner and we all are learning new things. •Cages are birds territory. •They also were in a strange place so feel safer with what they know and you just might have presented a different picture to them.

 

[avianxandra]

I'm sorry if I seem whiny as well... I just HATE even making the slightest mistake and I feel like an idiot especially considering that it was likely more stressful for them.

 

[Cyreen]

If my little GCC is anything to go by, unless they were making a LOT of noise you probably didn't upset them. They had their peeps and you were just one, I doubt they were too worried about you - just curious.

Hana flies to the front of her cage and nips at me through the bars in anticipation of getting out. She also does the cutest little somersaults while clinging to the side in the hopes of getting scritches. She's shameless.

 

[AmberMuffinz]

I really highly doubt you stressed them out! Don't worry about it and stop giving yourself such a hard time. Greenies are such high energy, bossy, confident guys I really just think they wanted to check you out. When a bird is scared of you they will likely flee to the back of the cage away from you. I have also met greenies who were not hand friendly and they wanted to bite me when I got too close lol. I mean, they are already at a bird show so I imagine if they have been there long enough they more or less got used to all the buzz (not to mention they like busy anyway lol.)

 

[Laurul Feather Cat]

Alex, I did not mean to cause you to feel badly when I mentioned they were feeling territorial. I just wanted to point out you should look at your actions from the bird's point of view when you interact with them. To us, we are being curious and interested when we hover over a cage or get our faces up close to them; but birds are prey animals and hovering can feel threatening and very, very close in your face positions can feel threatening to them. The others are correct in stating that although the birds may be acting out with their attempts to bite, the birds are also curious about you and trying to get your attention at the same time. More than likely, you did no harm to them other than a brief surprise or scare and they recovered quickly.

But when working with parrots it is important to remember they are not domesticated animals who look forward to meeting humans and forging bonds with humans and that they are also prey animals that may be spooked by our actions. You put your hand out to a dog and he will sniff you and wag his tail because his domestication protocol says you are being social with him and wanting to interact. Birds, however, still have their totally wild instincts of a prey animal and are limited to responding by either flying away or cautiously interacting; during the cautious interaction, a light nip to warn you they are unsure of your intentions seems like a good idea to them: they do understand and have experienced the phenomenon of once bitten, twice shy!

 

[avianxandra]

Thank you very, VERY much for the info... I typically don't get really close to smaller caged birds as they are more fearful, but whenever I walked by they almost seemed to wait for me to go up to them, which is mostly why I misinterpreted.
I even watched one roll around in that tiny cage and chew on EVERYTHING else in sight...

 

[Clueless]

Alex,

I'm still learning about birds and constantly make mistakes. I've beat myself up so much that I'm probably black and blue on the inside.

I could give you soooooooo many don't do's that I HAVE done . . . . it would make you want to thump me in the head!

We learn from our mistakes - which is a positive that we need to remember.

 

[Nyx]

I wouldn't worry about it, from my experience with my GCC they are pretty fearless birds in such a little package lol

 

[kathykeltsy]

Hi there. I'm new and making my first (I think) post. I saw a little GCC in Hawaii at a pet store and when I got close to his cage he got very excited and even rolled around on his back, looking so cute and animated. I took that to mean he was excited to see me and wanted out of the cage! It was one of those enclosures made out of acrylic so I couldn't put my finger near him, ( probably would have) but because of how he acted it won my heart over and now I'm getting my own little conure in a week or so and I couldn't be more excited!
I wonder if those little guys weren't playing with you? Everyone I see seems so playful to me. Of course they could have just been protecting their cage like the others have said.

 

[avianxandra]

Hi there. I'm new and making my first (I think) post. I saw a little GCC in Hawaii at a pet store and when I got close to his cage he got very excited and even rolled around on his back, looking so cute and animated. I took that to mean he was excited to see me and wanted out of the cage! It was one of those enclosures made out of acrylic so I couldn't put my finger near him, ( probably would have) but because of how he acted it won my heart over and now I'm getting my own little conure in a week or so and I couldn't be more excited!
I wonder if those little guys weren't playing with you? Everyone I see seems so playful to me. Of course they could have just been protecting their cage like the others have said.

One of the conures in the cage was rolling around on his back, actually!

 

[kathykeltsy]

It was! Like doing sommersaults or something... So cute and so obviously trying to get our attention. I was hooked right then and when we got home I started researching conures.
Your little budgies is adorable! I have 2 blue one, a boy and girl, Chirp and Pipsqueak and they are the 2 that started it all. Now I'm hooked on parrots