Nervous Conure?

[Naomi1295]

Hello everyone!

Zelda is doing great! She's only nibbled too hard a handful of times in the past few days, and most of the time is was my fault for not reading her mood correctly.

I now have a question about something else! Zelda absolutely LOVES all the attention she can get. If she's awake, and we're home, we usually have her cage open so she can venture on top of her cage or come to us.

The thing I'm wondering about is, sometimes she will chirp and act like she's trying to fly over to me. It seems like she's nervous that I'm too far away or something. BUT, As soon as I get to her cage to come pick her up, she stops the chirping, fluffs up like a little cotton ball, and acts like nothing ever happened.

Is this a normal behavior? It happens a few times a day, and these are also the times that she seems to get a little nippy.

Thanks!

 

[Tiel Feathers]

Sounds like she’s asking to be with you, and got what she wanted. She’s teaching you well!

 

[Monica]

This is a common behavior, especially in clipped birds.


Flighted birds who have great muscle and confidence would just fly on over!


Depending on the circumstances, it's usually either a begging or "I want____" kind of behavior, or in fact a nervous or afraid kind of behavior.




My late Jayde displayed both types within the first year I had her. She wanted human attention so badly, but was afraid of it at the same time. She was clipped originally so couldn't fly, and would want to go over to a human for interaction, but would not dare leave her cage. If someone walked over to her cage, she'd scamper away in fright!

Once Jayde learned that it was "okay" to leave her cage, but wasn't comfortable being away from it for an extended period of time, she'd display the nervous behavior. It was similar to wanting attention, but the noises and body language different. When she wanted a person, she would point her body towards them and chirp. If she was nervous/afraid and needed the safety blanket of her cage, she would point her body away from me and her vocalizations were clearly "I'm scared" kind of noises. I *always* paid attention to these very clear cues and would immediately take her back to her cage. She eventually learned to come to me when she was frightened rather than going to her cage.