Hi.

I have a Budgie named Snowy. I wondered what are particular feather raising meant. He lifts his feathers on his back just below the neck, at certain times. I dont know if its happy, sad or what.

It can mean a lot of different things. It can mean that the bird is getting reading to fluff all its feathers, or that they want their head to be scratched. If the bird is looking at someone in an unfriendly way, it can be a threat display. There are probably lots of other meanings too. Is there anything in particular going on when Snowy does this?

He looks like hes listening to what Im saying. His head is down a bit. He does not like being touched, so I doubt hes asking for a head scratch. He does talk, so maybe he is listening, so he can repeat it. His other feathers are neat and not flattened down like he frightened.

He's probably listening! Birds do pay attention to what we say, and he would concentrate more if he wants to repeat it later on. I don't know if this is common behavior for a budgie who's focusing on something. Birds do have their own individual quirks, so it might be something that all budgies do or it might be a special behavior that only he does.

Well he is a unique bird, as he had an accident when he was quite young,. He flew into a door. I thought he was going to die, as it was obvious he'd hurt himself severely. He cannot preen his tail feathers properly, so he hooks his tail in his swing, so he can bend it around to reach it. Its currently bent one way because of this. Sometimes he also hooks his wings on his perch and stands on them. He does that less now, but he used to do that a lot.

It sounds like he's a good creative problem solver!

I see my budgies do this for two reasons (mostly what Caro already said).

1)
If they preen eachother the receiving budgie does it, but turns his head down and the part that needs tending to towards the 'partner'

2)
When a budgie that they don't like comes too close, or they want to be left alone, they also do it, but with open beak towards that budgie. (I like to think it is to protect the neck part when it would actually come to a fight, much like the male lion has manes to protect his head/neck)

I enjoyed reading about how smart your budgie is! Smart way to reach his tail!

He is a smart bird. I cant let him out though, as he flies in a straight line and doesnt stop till he hits something. He does not need any more head injuries. He also never flies up to his top perch, always takes the ladder. Jumping and climbing his usual thing. He does fall more than your average bird. He also makes the sound my phone makes. I kept checking for messages till I realized the cheeky boy was making the sound.

It sounds like he might need to learn his limitations, like what walls are and why it's not a good idea to smack into them. If you'd be willing to clip his wing feathers, you'd be able to let him out so he could explore with a lot less risk of a dangerous crash. You could always let the wing feathers grow back after he's learned what's safe and what's not safe.

He was never overly smart as far as flying went. I saw him try to land on the ceiling cornice, because of the straight line of the roof might make it look like a perch. He then dropped down into a light fitting. He would also fluff up most of the landings back to the cage. Once he tried to land on my daughters face! It was kinda funny, as you could see his little feet 'running' as he tried to get a grip on something.


His wings were trimmed when we tamed him, but I had to let them grow out as his flying was so bad. He was ending up in all sorts of places. Behind the couch, behind the TV, usually crashing into something.