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 Post subject: Don't look at them
PostPosted: Sat Dec 10, 2016 12:55 pm 
Lovebird
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I will be watching TV, and I hear some really interesting sounds coming from one of the birds (usually Silver), and I naturally want to look and confirm who it is, and see (as well as hear) the performance. However, as soon as I start to turn my head, the cute noises stop. Why do they do this?



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 Post subject: Re: Don't look at them
PostPosted: Sat Dec 10, 2016 8:47 pm 
Conure
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Maybe because they're birds? They don't really have that reasoning process.


Last edited by Feathers on Sat Dec 10, 2016 9:53 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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 Post subject: Re: Don't look at them
PostPosted: Sat Dec 10, 2016 8:58 pm 
Lovebird
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Well, if it is what I think it is, chances are they want to do the act privately. ;) When you were a teenager, would you want to do the same thing in front of your mom?
Although given how naive Silver is, that would be very unlikely.


But in any other case, either he's making noise for your attention, or he has a bit of birdie performance anxiety. Alex would sing while I'm out of the room, then stop when I come in. Thought she was just shy, but I have a feeling she also does it for attention (Alex loves attention).

If it is just harmless singing, you could try praising Silver when you catch him doing it. Or without looking at him directly, you can whistle along to see if that encourages him. Whenever my birds make any kind of chattering or whistling noise, I usually say something like: "are you talking?", or just respond all like: "yeah?", "Oh really?", "Ya don't say." They seem to like it when they think they're having a conversation with me. :lol:
I have some unusually chatty hens though, and naturally Georgie is a chatterbox.



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 Post subject: Re: Don't look at them
PostPosted: Sun Dec 11, 2016 1:58 pm 
Lovebird
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Thank you for your comments.

It's interesting that Alex does something similar. Now Piper (male budgie) will chatter to me even when I am up close and looking right at him. Piper is a very self-confident bird.

I like the comparison to teenagers. Maybe that's something to do with it.

Whenever I hear Silver making a sound that, with a lot of imagination, could be the beginning of "pretty bird," I say it right back to him. This happens, again, not when I am looking at him, but while I am doing something else. He will answer me back, although not right away. Maybe five or ten seconds.

I think he really loves making noises, and seeing how they sound. I remember, when I was a kid, singing for a long time in bed at night before I would start making an attempt at sleeping. My brother did this, too (he sang, "I'm Popeye the sailor man," which I pretty much hated. But, that's another story).

So, I think it's not so much to get attention. I think he enjoys doing it, like I would play hopscotch all by myself for ages. So, I think he's just embarrassed to have me looking at him while he is doing it. I'm that way, in that I can play a musical instrument MUCH better when no one's in the room listening to me. So, I have to PUSH myself to actually play in front of other people, because I think it's a good thing to do. But, I don't think Silver would have that level of thought process.

Perhaps pushing oneself to do something "good" for oneself is something unique to human's.

Opinions?



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 Post subject: Re: Don't look at them
PostPosted: Sun Dec 11, 2016 3:00 pm 
Quaker
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I don't tend to put human emotions on my animals. Mainly because they aren't us. We're all biologically wired to react to different situations in the world. A lot of it goes to instinct, but personally I love watching how they behave when they aren't relying on only their instincts if that makes sense. I don't know if birds get more intimidated to practice in the eye of others, but Danny does do that on and off. I can be in the same room as him now and he'll still practice talking, but if I mute the TV to listen closer, he'll stop. I'm going to assume some are shyer than others, because Jaid will continue to do what he's doing regardless of what I'm doing.



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 Post subject: Re: Don't look at them
PostPosted: Sun Dec 11, 2016 4:25 pm 
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It's common for birds to stop singing when someone pays attention to them. With birds that aren't tame it's probably because it makes them nervous. With birds that ARE tame, it might be because they're more interested in seeing what you're going to do than they are in singing.



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 Post subject: Re: Don't look at them
PostPosted: Mon Dec 12, 2016 5:18 am 
Budgie
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I have the same problem in my aviary. Sometimes they do sing whilst I'm there but as soon as I move my head to see who's doing a solo, they all look at me going "What you looking at, bub?! Continue scraping our poop up, or else..."

It's also one of the reasons I put my go-pro in there sometimes.
Big Brother is Watching!!



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 Post subject: Re: Don't look at them
PostPosted: Tue Dec 20, 2016 4:37 pm 
Parrotlet
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I find my birds do this the most when I try and get a camera/phone out to film them doing it. As soon as that's out they just freeze up and stare. All the cute behaviours have stopped and now I look like I'm harassing them haha!


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 Post subject: Re: Don't look at them
PostPosted: Tue Dec 20, 2016 4:53 pm 
Lovebird
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I bought a good camera just under a year ago that has a lense where I can get close up from across the room. But, I haven't made the time to learn how to use it,



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 Post subject: Re: Don't look at them
PostPosted: Tue Dec 20, 2016 8:55 pm 
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A good zoom lens is VERY useful for taking bird pictures. Most of them aren't thrilled when you stick a camera right in their face, but don't mind if you can get the same results from halfway across the room.



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