# Female doing heart wings



## Fluttershy (Sep 16, 2012)

Apologies if I'm posting in the wrong section.

So, long story short, I have a gender-confused tiel! 

Harley is definitely a girl. 
1. When I bought her she was already two years old and still has the barred tail feathers and wing spots. Plus the paler face/cheeks.
2. She has successfully laid, hatched and raised three separate clutches of babies in her previous home.

However, she behaves like a boy.
1. Constant singing and whistling.
2. I know bat-birding is done by both genders, but she does it constantly! Several times a day, which makes me wonder if she's overly hormonal?

I've had her almost a year and only in the past fortnight she has started doing heart wings several times a day. She does the whole dance, shuffle and song while doing it. 

Could she have simply learned it from Harry, who does it a lot? 

If she has learned the heart wings from him, is it a problem? I've got no intentions of breeding them, but I don't want her to have any issues.


----------



## Mezza (Feb 19, 2013)

Another confused Tiel! LOL!

She can join Skiddles and Hank in this group. As they are both confused little girls too.


----------



## 22caity22 (Oct 3, 2013)

Haha, I don't think it's a problem, it can happen with all animals. For instance, my partner's male dogs pees like a girl and the female dog like a boy! A friend also had a female horse that would mount the males! I think animals just see the behaviour and decide it looks exciting or easier, or in some cases (such as a family member who bought a male dog when she already had a female and the male, a puppy, now pees like a girl) just don't learn anything different.


----------



## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

There's nothing wrong with it, she obviously enjoys it. And the bat birding isn't related to hormones, its her claiming what she views as her's, she must feel the need to repeat herself a lot!!! Are they on the long nights treatment?


----------



## urbandecayno5 (Oct 24, 2012)

Mezza said:


> Another confused Tiel! LOL!
> 
> She can join Skiddles and Hank in this group. As they are both confused little girls too.


Yup haha
The "I'm a girl but do male things" club
Its pretty exclusive


----------



## Fluttershy (Sep 16, 2012)

roxy culver said:


> Are they on the long nights treatment?


They sure are!

Glad to know she's not the only "confused" tiel haha! Thanks for that


----------



## allons_ykaylee (Nov 12, 2013)

Pardon my ignorance but what do heart-winging and bat-birding mean? Simon bat-birds quite often but I always figured he was just stretching. Sometimes it's clearly stretching but sometimes he flaps and it looks like he's protecting territory. From nothing. But I've never seen him heart-wing. Why do they do it?


----------



## Fluttershy (Sep 16, 2012)

allons_ykaylee said:


> Pardon my ignorance but what do heart-winging and bat-birding mean? Simon bat-birds quite often but I always figured he was just stretching. Sometimes it's clearly stretching but sometimes he flaps and it looks like he's protecting territory. From nothing. But I've never seen him heart-wing. Why do they do it?


Heart wings is where they sort of lift up their wings so from the back it looks like a big love heart. Often accompanied by a little dance/scuttling thing and some singing. Apparently it is what males do to flirt, I think? Correct me if I'm wrong, guys! There are some clips of it on youtube


----------



## allons_ykaylee (Nov 12, 2013)

Fluttershy said:


> Heart wings is where they sort of lift up their wings so from the back it looks like a big love heart. Often accompanied by a little dance/scuttling thing and some singing. Apparently it is what males do to flirt, I think? Correct me if I'm wrong, guys! There are some clips of it on youtube


That makes sense! Thank you! I just wasn't sure what it meant when a bird did it haha


----------



## moonchild (Jul 29, 2012)

It looks like Harley is a pied, which would mean you can't sex him/her based on facial markings; not sure about the tail barring. Has a DNA test ever been done?

Some tiels are gender-confused, it's true. But it's quite rare for females to do heart wings.


----------



## Izzy_Meadows (Jun 6, 2013)

Moonchild she has laid and raised eggs. I don't think DNA testing is necessary....

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk


----------

