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A couple of days ago, I saw something with Smokey I've never seen any bird do, at least my birds. He was in a box on the floor playing and following Missy around. He went in the box, backed up as far as he could go with is tail up in the air and started weaving back and forth with his whole body. It looked almost like some kind of snake dance or something. Only did it for a few seconds, but it was really a strange movement.

Naw, he wasn't following along to the beat of the music

Any ideas?

Oh yeah, the boxes are just open boxes.. not suitable for nesting, as the rest go in and out as well.

Was it like the excited get me out of the cage type dance? Maybe he was showing off to missy.

It sounds to me like he claimed the box as a place to nest then was protecting it....

I honestly don't know what to make of it. It was just a slow weave of his body from side to side, never moving his feet. Certainly different for sure.

Oh yeah......I have seen that with Sherwin. That's a protective stance. He's basically saying stay back, this is my nesting spot and I'm here to protect it. Sherwin was doing the very same thing when he would find his way inside of a bag. His behavior got more and more aggressive though and I had to keep bags away from him. He eventually started charging at me when I came near the bag and would make the most horrific growling noises.

Ok.. I guess it's some sort of claim to territory or something. He never did that with Coco, but that was a whole different set of circumstances.

A tiel Growling?! Now how cute is that?

Have you ever heard the growl of a wildcat? That's about what it sounds like, and believe me, it's for real. Beak open and ready / willing to bite! It scared my wife so bad, she wouldn't even touch Chibi when he did that several months ago, and he was just playing!

Yes - it's a very different sound!! I laughed when I heard it for the first time only because it was this big sound coming out of my normally sweet and loving birdie! I knew he was just going through the motions as far as protecting his "nesting spot". Once I removed the bag, the behavior stopped. While he was exhibiting all of that nesting behavior....I'd tell him "Yes Sherwin, you would make an awesome daddy!! Look at how well you would protect your babies!!"

Update on the weaving motion.... Think I know what it is now.

This morning, Missy was out of cage and Smokey was in the nestbox. I peeked in so he could not see me, and he had his chest / stomach over the egg making the same slow rocking (best I can describe) motion ON the egg. I can only assume he was gently rocking the egg rather than turning it. Dunno if that is really what it's all about, but I do know the mother/father pair will periodicaly move the egg, or turn it. I'm looking into a very low light camera so I could record events in the nestbox in real time. My curiosity has almost gotten the better of me, but I think I could mount one discretely enough they'd never know it was there. How about a live birdy-cam ? Ever want to know what they do in the dark in the nestbox? I guess you could call that "Invasion of privacy" in the most obscene ways... Maybe not!

lol!!

I would take a look!

My tiels did the same thing on their eggs, fertile or not.

chibi-tori wrote:... I could mount one discretely enough they'd never know it was there. How about a live birdy-cam ? Ever want to know what they do in the dark in the nestbox? ...

Some breeders began doing this as soon as cams came on the market. VERY interesting and a lot of knowledge has developed from their efforts. Sad stuff too, like watching parents go crazy looking for babies who've just been pulled for hand-feeding

Paca

Poor birdies looking for their babies. I don't even want to imagine how bad they felt that their babies were gone.

The rocking motion is a protective stance... meaning to "keep away or I WILL attack". It's just the male protecting his (potential) family and doesn't want any disturbance.

Sam - this is so EXCITING!! Thanks for posting your observations. I doubt if I'll ever be able to witness these events myself, sooooooooo ..... I would LOVE to see your birdy cam

I would love to know Do they REALLY sleep 12 hours? I don't think Luna does, we keep her covered for 12 anyway, well we'd like to keep her covered for 12, most of the time we keep her covered for 12, on my days off I keep her covered for 12 - unless H gets antsy for her and she is chirping because she hears me.

Let us know when you've got it on line!

Jo