Help Identifying these birds and behaviors

[Leigha]

[Leigha]

Hello all. My boyfriend’s mother has these two birds and I wanted someone to identify them if they can. My pictures are crappy, but it was snowy yesterday and I took them with a cell phone. But yeah, they have grey heads and lime green/yellow feathers on bottom.

Also, she said when she had one, it used to be nice and follow them around the house and ride on shoulders and stuff. But when she got the second, they became aggressive…They’re both mean little buggers right now. I wanted to know how I could get them nice again.

Thanks for the help 🙂

[Kelly]

Oh, I think they might be Senegal Parrots. But, that’s just a guess from your pictures. I’m no bird expert just an animal lover. I have a friend that had several different varities of parrots and when she paid too much attention to one and not enough to the other they would get jealous and become nasty with her, biting and such. She did get their behavior turned arround by dedicating more time with them. But, it took a while. Hope this helps. You could also call a vet. and tell them about their behavior. The Vet. might be able to offer some advice. Good Luck! 🙂

[Jennifer]

From your photos, these are almost certainly Meyer’s Parrots.

Parrot behavior is very complicated, and it is hard for people who are new to parrots to understand. We are used to training other mammals… dogs, horses, cats (cats CAN be trained, but .. well.. you know. cats.). Mammal societies work on a dominance based logic. Parrots do NOT. People using dominance based training for birds often end up frustrated, and with ‘mean’ birds. Parrots understand hierarchy to some degree but not dominance; and the two terms mean very different things when dealing with training parrots.

Here are some great articles to get your boyfriend’s mother started:
http://rationalparrot.com/biting.html

They need to make every interaction positive. Start small and work up, using positive reinforcement to establish firmly in the parrot’s mind that everything to do with their people is GOOD.
Also, if someone tells you that you need a single parrot if you want it to bond to you, that is bunk! Total hogwash. It is an old myth that has led to some parrots being unnecessarily lonely in solitude. Sometimes yes when you have more than one parrot they DO bond to each other. But this only knocks you (the owner, not necessarily you Leigha) out of the equation if you let it. You can still be great friends with your parrot even if they have a bonded mate or friend! It just takes patience, time, and trust. Positive reinforcement.

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[Leigha]

She doesn’t spend any time with the birds anymore, they’re mostly kept in their own room alone all the time except for the occassional passerby, so I’m thinking that’s why their behavior has turned aggressive. And of course the “kids” (17-23) tease them so that doesn’t help I’m sure. Jake and I are possibly going to be renting a condo soon that allows animals. I’m thinking of taking the birds. His mother has already offered them to me if I want them and can have them. I want to make them happy and friendly again if I can.

[Leigha]

I googled the Meyer Parrot for images, and most of the images show those birds having yellow on their wings and heads. “My” two don’t have any of that, and they’re also not quite as vibrant green. Could that be nutrition related? She just feeds them bird seed feed crap (I know that’s horrible) I tried to feed them some fresh fruit once and they got all pissy with me and tried to get my fingers instead…well, one of them did, the other stays in the middle of the cage and just watches me. But even that one will open it’s beak at me and “threaten” me.

[Leigha]

Thanks for the info too, I read that article through, I’ll read it through again when I get home from work 🙂 I’m also interested in any other information you have I could use. Diet needs and all that. Have any good websites for that too? (Off to work, thanks!)

[Jennifer]

Thought I saw yellow on the wing in one photo but I looked again and I now realize it’s a toy! Oops, I am very sorry about that. Upon closer look, they are more likely to be female red bellied parrots? (females lack the red/orange colors: http://www.avianweb.com/redbelliedparrots.html ) It’s hard to tell. It’s a species of Poicephalus, though. http://www.avianweb.com/poicephalusinfo.htm

I’m not sure how long she has had them on an all seed diet (fruits are okay but high in sugar) but it can lead to a number of health problems in parrots, from nutritional deficiencies, to more serious problems such as fatty liver disease and such.

Here is some good reading. Also I will recommend anything by Barbara Heidenreich of Good Bird Inc. as she has some of the best parrot information out there.

http://rationalparrot.com/diet.html
http://rationalparrot.com/screaming.html
http://rationalparrot.com/tease.html
http://rationalparrot.com/flight.html
http://rationalparrot.com/zoosafety.html
http://rationalparrot.com/nei.html
http://www.goodbirdinc.com/

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[Leigha]

AH! That looks like them 🙂 Both females. Yay thanks! Those links are great 🙂 I’m going to have some interesting times, to be sure. I had a good time with one of them yesterday actually, fed her peanuts and sunflower seeds and only got bit once when family started showing up to watch and she got all stressed out.

Thanks Jen 🙂

[Jennifer]

Good luck! It seems you have a great training tool (sunflower seeds) and it will work wonders as a reward treat. Getting them onto a healthier diet is going to be the hardest part more than likely, especially if they grew up on junk food. It took me almost two years to get one of my parrots onto a good diet! It can be a trial in patience. Be careful of peanuts, as they can sometimes be a vector of aspergillosis, which can be fatal for birds. If they love peanuts (and most parrots do), I can recommend hese peanuts are safe: http://www.phoenixforagingrolls.com/Amazon-Jungle-Peanuts-organic-and-sustainably-harvested-021.htm

Parrots are their own thing, but can be rewarding lifetime companions as well. 🙂 With proper diet and care, those two girls could live 40+ years!

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