WHY Does ATLAS Stand On His Wings?

[Dani]

This behavior is so endearing and makes me laugh and wonder what is going on in his birdy brain???

He holds his wing, sometimes both, one in each foot, while he is resting or falling asleep. This causes him to slip and sometimes completely FALL to the bottom of his cage! I'm scared he will hurt himself!

He will even do it while sitting on me when we are watching TV.

He is so cute when he is doing this, I'm just worried because it causes him to fall quite often. Will he ever learn? Is this a macaw thing?

 

[prettyinpink]

He's holding his wings?

Do you have a picture?

 

[Holiday]

Nope, not a macaw thing that I know of. Sounds like an individual idiosyncrasy.

 

[Dani]

I don't have a pic but maybe I can explain it better. He grasps his flight feathers and then perches with them grasped in his foot. I can try to get a pic, he's done it since day one. Ok, I did find a pic of him when he was 5mo. old, it shows him reaching up and grasping his wing, then he puts it down and perches on his wing. Sometimes he'll do it with both wings.

 

[prettyinpink]

I've never seen or heard of that!

 

[Greycloud]

I think it is adorable! He must find comfort in it.

 

[jeme3]

That's hilarious! What a cutie!

 

[Lauren and Jack]

he is beautiful.... maybe its like sucking his thumb.... lol never the less... he is just adorable!

 

[Bokkapooh]

Gra use to do it with just one of her wings. But two? That's oober cute. Have you tried preening his flight feathers? My birds love that

 

[BraveheartDogs]

That is super cute. What a clown. If you laughed at it or reacted he might keep doing it to get you to laugh or react

 

[melissasparrots]

That tends to be a baby bird behavior, but its usually macaws that I read about doing that past the baby months. I think its a self calming mechanism. Kind of like giving themselves a hug. Possibly give him some snuggle toys or ones that hang down that he can perch under and grab onto. Unfortunately, that tends to be the kind of toy that can be a strangulation hazard but is often enjoyed by birds that do that sort of thing. Maybe there is something else you can think of that he can hold onto and drape over himself while sleeping that wouldn't be dangerous. Maybe something with a bunch of paper towels raining down that he can snuggle with?

Possibly also experiment with different perch textures. If he's not a rope chewer, then having a rope perch where he sleeps might help. The softer texture on the feet might make him feel more secure and stable. Of course, if he's like mine he'll have the rope perch chewed apart, unraveled and made dangerous in 20 minutes. But some are good with them.
Melissa