# Tiels in public = super annoying attention



## Dressagebird (Feb 3, 2016)

Bit of a rant I guess. My little 6month old baby boy tiel is diaper Harness trained and sits on my shoulder when out and about, (only in places where I'm sure he won't be frightened)). 

So far we've been on the bus, on the ferries, to the busy markets to buy veggies a lot, to the bottle shop (my bad, long week), once sneakily into the supermarket when I needed to buy a battery quickly. And he's already starred in a scene in a short film that I was in. In the car he prefers to be on the seat than on me, but never any problems at all. 

The only thing that annoys me is people. People shoving their iPhones in my face is very irritating for me. I've had a few lovely conversations with bird owners because of him being there on my shoulder, but I think randomly videoing someone is very rude. I would never dream of jamming a camera in someone's face because they were holding a cute dog. If people would ask politely I would be happy to pose for a photo or even let them have a photo with him on their finger. 

Anyway, sorry for the rant, but I'm sure there's other people that have had this happen. 
I guess I'll learn to deal with it, but I don't like people treating me like I only have a bird on my shoulder because I'm desperate for attention or something. He's my bestie and he wants to be with me. 
Anyway, lots of love to all of you and your tiels. Xxxx


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## Janalee (Jul 25, 2012)

*'tiels in public*

I have never had Bennie out in the open as I don't have a harness for him, but I can see how that would happen. A few times I have taken him in his cage to the nature center where I work, but have pretty much stopped doing that. People always poke their fingers at him and do other annoying things. I also think it stresses him out to be around so many people when he's used to being just with me. 
I think you can expect that if you take your bird out in such public places. And i think it may be stressful to him, too. I think people should know enough to respect his personal space, but unfortunately they don't.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Agreed. I recently drove across the country with my flock, and we had a bunch of people coming up to us at gas stations and rest stops to knock on the car windows and exclaim "omg, there's a BIRD in your car!!" To which I am always tempted to respond "OMG, how did that get there?!"


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## shaenne (Apr 19, 2014)

Honestly it infuriates me when people invade my personal space just because I have an animal with me. Like you can stare and coo and point all you like, but for the love of god, keep your hands to yourself! And keep your camera/phone out of my freaking face. It would be like me shouting that I love someone's top and then run over to them and start grabbing at it to feel the fabric.

The only thing I expect when I take my animals out in public is for people to have enough respect to not get in our faces, and if they can't show us that respect, I am not afraid to tell them to back off. I really hate it when people use the fact that there's an animal in public as an excuse to be invasive and rude.


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## TamaMoo (Jan 12, 2014)

enigma731 said:


> Agreed. I recently drove across the country with my flock, and we had a bunch of people coming up to us at gas stations and rest stops to knock on the car windows and exclaim "omg, there's a BIRD in your car!!" To which I am always tempted to respond "OMG, how did that get there?!"


That reminded me of a long forgotten memory of a friend. Someone once exclaimed to him, 'OH! You're BLACK!', to which he responded with "OH MY GOD! How did that happen? No one ever told me!", while frantically patting his arms and face. He has such a way of getting his point across without stooping to someone else's level. The guy who said it sorta slipped off, trying to be unnoticed.

I suppose having a shirt printed, front and back, asking people to get permission before taking video/photos may work. Then again, they'd probably be focused on the bird and miss the shirt. Humans can be so annoying.


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## Lunawolfsong (Mar 31, 2016)

I've taken Kirby to the pet store, on walks, etc, but I've never had that problem. People will sometimes point and say to their buddies, thinking I can't hear them "Is that a bird?" or "Did you see the bird on her shoulder?" etc, which I find kind of funny, but also kind of annoying that they're whispering when they think I can't hear them. So far, though, most people will ask politely if they can take pictures and ask me questions about Kirby, which is great practice for him because I work at a bird rescue and he's a little educator; I take him on events and he helps educate the public about birds. 

I agree with shaenne's approach, though. If people _were_ getting into my face, I would tell them to back the heck off and stop stressing out my bird. I would also confront people taking videos of me because it would intrude on my privacy. I don't think you should tolerate these people's behavior.


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