# moody bird?



## skrillex (Jul 2, 2011)

So last night I had skrillex out of his cage with me and sat him on my shoulder to watch a movie on my pc. I lay in bed and he watched with me from my shoulder. Last night though he sat on the pillow behind me and after about twenty minutes of him just moving around behind my back I decided he needed to get out from behind me (ii didn't want to accidentaly hurt him) when I put my finger back for him to step onto he hissed and tried to bite, then i had to just pick him up  he hated this of course but even once I had him out from behind me he still wanted nothing to do with getting on my hand or just sitting with me? This morning he was better but I was wondering if any one knew what was going on or if he was just moody, he is three months old.


----------



## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

Iv noticed alot of tiels get a bit nasty while being on the shoulder when the owners want them to get them off but its nothing to worry about, lol they are always moody


----------



## Lulu The Tiel (Apr 11, 2011)

Lulu loves sitting on my shoulder or right on my chest. Sometimes if I go to move her she gets snippy with me. It's normal.


----------



## casualrepartee (Apr 28, 2011)

and when they refuse the step up, its very healthy to insist that they do so, or resort to picking them up. Tiels are very smart, and were you to just give up, they take that as a lesson that they're a step closer to flock leader! If they're making eye contact with you, they may start to consider you a peer. By picking them up and placing them where you want them, they won't like it...but a physical pick up certainly sends the "until you can pick up me up or resist my hands entirely, i'm top tiel here" message.


----------



## lordsnipe (Nov 11, 2010)

tiels can't communicate to you how they feel except with their beak, so by him nibbling on your finger, he's trying to tell you that he doesn't want to move.


----------



## Mentha (Jul 11, 2010)

I worked for a lady who raised birds, she would not let anyone put a bird on their shoulder. The reason being in the wild the more important bird gets the higher perch, higher nesting site etc. As mentioned above, when a bird can see into your eyes it considers itself an equal or even your superior in the flock. That's another reason not to let them on top of your head. It's easier just not to allow your bird to sit on your shoulder so you maintain the top flock position. Once they think themselves your superior, you will have a rough time training them or keeping them from being nippy and grumpy when you do something they don't want you to.


----------



## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

> The reason being in the wild the more important bird gets the higher perch, higher nesting site etc.


This is an outdated viewpoint. We used to think that parrot flocks have a dominance-based hierarchy. They don't, although more aggressive individuals will tend to win more fights than less aggressive individuals. 

Still, it's obvious that birds often act sassier when they're in a relatively high position. Reasonable explanations for this is that the bird feels safer when it's up high so it's likely to resist coming down. Also, the higher position has a tactical advantage in a fight - the high bird can strike its opponent's head but the best the low bird can do is to strike its opponent's feet. This might make a bird in a high position instinctively more likely to fight than a bird in a low position.

Some links putting the boo-hiss on the dominance hypothesis:
http://www.naturalencounters.com/images/Publications&Presentations/Height_Dominance-Steve_Martin.pdf
http://www.behaviorworks.org/files/articles/The Struggle for Dominance 2001.pdf
http://www.realmacaw.com/pages/pbdom.html
http://www.eclectusparrots.net/dominance.html


----------



## skrillex (Jul 2, 2011)

So do you think iits bad to have him on my shoulder with me? I have never herd anyone say this before, or the whole being at eye level with you bit either. I just thought they liked to be as high as they could and prefered it be near you, he hasn't tried to get above my shoulder before.


----------



## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

It's OK to let small birds like cockatiels on your shoulder or head if you want to. Large, unpredictable birds like cockatoos and Amazons can rearrange your face from that position but a tiel can't do much harm if it suddenly decides to bite you. But the tiel isn't likely to launch a surprise attack anyway. The worst behavior problem you're likely to have is that the bird might not want to come down when you ask it to.


----------

