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Male lovebird mating behaviours

Zara

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I thought that this dissected video could help others who are confused or unsure about their lovebirds movements and want to see if maybe their bird is trying to mate the other bird, a human or an object.
It also clarifies a few things that I say to people by seeing it visually - especially the wing flick (tick or however you want to call it) and the walking backwards (not as much as a moonwalk :lol:). I´m not an expert on terminology, these are just my observations and the adjectives I chose to describe the actions.

Timestamps are listed below;


0:12 Walking backwards
0:13 Wing flick
0:14 Fluff up
0:20 Shake head
0:21 Scratching
0:27 Fluff up
0:52 Shake head

1:08 Shake head
1:11 Shake head
1:12 Wing flick
1:15 Fluff up
1:16 Regurgitating/feeding
1:20 Scratching
1:22 Regurgitating/feeding
1:28 Shake head
1:30 Scratching
1:32 Regurgitating/feeding
1:39 Scratching
1:44 Shake head
1:46 Walking in circles
1:47 Wing flick
1:48 Regurgitating/feeding
1:55 Scratching
1:57 Regurgitating/feeding

2:03 Shake head
2:05 Regurgitating/feeding
2:08 Walking in circles
2:10 Beak rubbing/banging
2:12 Shake head
2:14 Shake head
2:16 Regurgitating/feeding
2:24 Scratching
2:27 Shake head
2:28 Regurgitating/feeding
2:37 Beak rubbing/banging
2:39 Shake head
2:40 Walking backwards
2:44 Scratching
2:45 Walking in circles
2:46 Regurgitating/feeding
2:50 Beak rubbing/banging
2:51 Shake head
2:56 Beak rubbing/banging

3:02 Walking backwards
3:03 Wing flick
3:04 Scratching
3:12 Wing flick
3:14 Shake head
3:16 Flock call
3:18 Fluff up
3:20 Beak rubbing/banging
3:23 Walking in circles
3:24 Walking backwards
3:25 Fluff up
3:27 Regurgitating/feeding
3:31 Scratching
3:38 Beak rubbing/banging
3:51 Beak rubbing/banging
3:59 Walking in circles

4:00 Shake head
4:03 Walking in circles
4:08 Walking in circles
4:15 Flock call
4:18 Flock call


It´s worth noting that;
-flock calling is not specific only to mating
-beak banging can mean excitement, and beak rubbing can be a warning before a bite (similar to eyes pinning in larger birds)
-Fluffing up can also be a sign of frustration/getting angry if done alone (sometimes accompanied by beak rubbing).

Usually the male will make a loud clicking sound whilst doing all of these movements (hense where the title ¨clicky dance¨ comes from) and will stop making the sound when actually mating.
Sydney didn´t click so loud in the video because this is not his mate - he clicks very loudly for his boing ;)
 

DoubleTake

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@Zara are you station the actions listed on your time stamps are solely male behaviors?
 

Zara

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@Zara are you station the actions listed on your time stamps are solely male behaviors?
No. You can see in the video, the female (Adelie) is regurgitating and fluffing up also.
It is more to just show what sort of actions the male makes - I hope that makes sense :)

Also, we have to remember that sometimes the opposite sex can do things that usually pertains to the other, like paper tails.
None of my other females will regurgitate to their male because their role is to be fed, not feed. But as you can see, Sydney didn´t actually feed Adelie so she took it upon herself to fill in the gap and feed herself :lol:
 

DoubleTake

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No. You can see in the video, the female (Adelie) is regurgitating and fluffing up also.
It is more to just show what sort of actions the male makes - I hope that makes sense :)

Also, we have to remember that sometimes the opposite sex can do things that usually pertains to the other, like paper tails.
None of my other females will regurgitate to their male because their role is to be fed, not feed. But as you can see, Sydney didn´t actually feed Adelie so she took it upon herself to fill in the gap and feed herself :lol:
Okay, maybe my reading comprehension isnt 100% yet. Only got 4 he's of sleep last night lol. Think it was the title of the video that confused me with the intentions of the time stamps. I was actually discussing with my friend about our birds. Although Loki does the mounting, Penelope does the feeding.

At 1:17 it almost looked like Sydney was about to spreading his wings lol.
 

Zara

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Think it was the title of the video that confused me with the intentions of the time stamps.
For example... I was telling @Duel about walking backwards and wing flicking... and I have no idea what he would have imagined - batman doing the moonwalk maybe?, so a video really clears it up. Also in the video you can see Sydney did it a few times, one was like 3 clear steps, other times it was one suttle small step hense the time stamps to mark that this is what is it. If I just posted the video, a lot of the movements may go unnoticed ergo not helpful for anyone.
Jaime and Nube both do all of these movements however their wings don´t open as much as Sydneys did where you pointed it out.
Sydney makes his iconic ¨Pi-pew¨ as well as everything else, however that is specific to him and my other males don´t do that.

Although Loki does the mounting, Penelope does the feeding.
Now that would be an interesting read. I suppose the possibilities are endless for female female couples. We wouldn´t be able to talk about them so generally like we can with male female couples.
 

Duel

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My bird walked in circles and did everything in this video except for the wing flick and head shake, if he walked backwards I probably didn't notice. He did bang the cup with his beak though and there was a clicking sound he kept making when regurgitating/moving his head up and down.
 

Duel

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Update on my bird: I just observed him dancing to the cup again and he did absolutely everything including the headshake and walking backwards except there were no wing movements at all for the wing flick. He even started banging his beak on the cup and rapidly hit it while having his mouth on it like he's going to drink out of the cup. Starting to think I should get him a friend even if its another male.
 

Zara

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Starting to think I should get him a friend even if its another male.
In an ideal world, we would bring home a buddy and our bird will be happy. However, I bought a second bird for my first and they didn´t get on. They would call to one and other and fly together occasionaly but were forever housed apart. Some birds will be friendly with the second, other times they hate one and other.

Do you have something in his cage that he can mate with? a boing or a stuffed toy? Stop showing him cups because he can´t physically mate the cup and so by him being with a cup is getting him all worked up and there´s no happy ending.
 

DoubleTake

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Update on my bird: I just observed him dancing to the cup again and he did absolutely everything including the headshake and walking backwards except there were no wing movements at all for the wing flick. He even started banging his beak on the cup and rapidly hit it while having his mouth on it like he's going to drink out of the cup. Starting to think I should get him a friend even if its another male.
Get the bird for you and not for the bird unless you plant to just bird watch and not interact. If you are still working on the bond then I would hold off. If you dont have time and just want to bird watch then get him a friend, preferably the same species if you get another lovebird.
 

Duel

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Of course it would be another lovebird since there would be a better chance of them getting a long than if it's anything else. I also plan doing some form of training with Snick first even if it's just him flying to me on command so that I can have a strong bond with him. I would say we already have one since he flies to me if I open his cage and walk away, loves to preen himself when he's standing in the palm of my hand and takes naps either in my hand or on my shoulder leaning on my neck (I love the warmth my neck feels). Theres one there but I'm looking to strengthen it more before I even decide that I want a second bird. I would also try to bond with the second bird though if I got one.
 

Zara

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Theres one there but I'm looking to strengthen it more before I even decide that I want a second bird.
That´s a good idea :)

I would also try to bond with the second bird though if I got one.
During quarantine is a perfect time to lay the foundations and spend some quality 1 on 1 time :)
 
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