Behavior

Many thanks to Parrot Island for the video

Caique Behavior- why does my caique do that? I don’t understand what it means when he….

Welcome to our caique behavior page- our manual to the mannerisms of caiques. We will walk you step-by-step through the basic behaviors that caiques display, and explain what those behaviors mean. Lets begin!

Hopping
Hopping is an enduring caique trait. As exhibited in the video above, caiques can hop efficiently, and its not an uncommon behavior. In other countries, caiques are valued for their hopping abilities and are called ‘the dancing parrot’. A caique hop here, a caique hop there, do the caique hop! It has never been explained the reason that caiques hop, but I notice three specific times when mine hop.
1. When they are trying to get somewhere faster
2. When they are over excited (usually occurs after a hard playing session)
3. When they are MAD. A mad caique hopping at you- watch out! The caique hop is simply a cute mannerism that is genetically ingrained in the bird. Does it mean something? It can when paired with the environment- watch your bird closely and see if you can see when he or she hops the most.

Eye Pinning
Caiques have expressive faces, especially their eyes. Because of the reddish color of the eye, it is easy to ‘read’ a caiques eyes. One noticable behavior that caiques exhibit is ‘eye pinning; or simple ‘pinning’. This is when the pupil contracts, and dilates quickly, causing the ‘red’ of the eye to get large, then small, then large again, then small again, in the same sequence in a short amount of time. Pinning occurs when the bird is excited (usually on the verge of being over excited) or angry. Amazons exhibit eye pinning most noticeably. One of my caiques always exhibits pinning when he is most excited, right before he does something like biting.

Regurgitation
Eww… my bird is barfing! Is he sick?

There are two types of regurgitation a) I love you, let me feed you and woo you or b) ugh, I feel sick mommy… There is an obvious difference between the two. The ‘affectionate’ regurgitation is made with a fairly straightforward motion, the bird just brings up the food from its crop and either keeps it in his mouth, or either makes it a gift to you :) Its a token of affection, really! I notice that all my birds, when they regurgitate with love, they couple it with a certain mannerism. Both my caiques bob their heads and talk- one says ‘ hello, hello’ and the other whistles the wolf whistle. ‘I don’t feel good mommy’ regurgitation the bird will snake his/her head from side to side, and actually expel the foodstuffs from the mouth (that doesn’t always happen with ‘love’ regurgitation). ‘Love’ regurgitation is a normal occurrence between a bonded bird and its owner, and/or a mature bird in the spring months.

Stalking
A behavior exhibited by a caique that is defending his/her territory, challenging someone in the territory, or a mad caique. Eyes are pinned, feathers on the head and ruff, sometimes the whole body, are fluffed out, giving the bird a larger then life appearance. Wings are held slightly away from the body, and the bird usually paces to show what a ‘big and mean’ bird he/she really is. This behavior usually instigates the start of the caique attack mode.

The Beakiness of Caiques
Caiques use their beaks for absolutely everything- eating, climbing, playing. Its basically a third arm and viewed as such. Because caiques use their beaks so much, they are described in text as being ‘beaky’, meaning using their beaks to a large extent.Some people may view normal beaky caique behavior as pre-biting, or even biting. This unease can lead to biting behaviors. Example- a caique will go beak first onto a perch when stepping up. This is a way of making sure the perch is secure, and testing the footing. Seeing a bird stepping up at you beak first can be unnerving.

The Sounds of the Caique
Caiques make many unusual, unique and enduring sounds when they are happy, content, even mad. Learning to associate what sound goes with what scenario will help you to read your caiques body language and behavior more effectively.
Purring is a sound that I find my caiques make when they either see something (usually out the window) that they are extremelly interested in. Or, when they are content and I have just rubbed the right spot their necks. This sound I refer to as purring, and sounds rather much like a loud cat purr with a bit of bird squawk thrown in.

Hormonal Behavior
A hormonal caique can be an…er…interesting thing to deal with. Caiques are known for their good natures, but like all birds, they do go through a hormonal period where they seem to adapt to an alto ego. From talking with other caique owners, I found that male caiques are more prone to displaying aggressive behaviors in the spring then females. From my experience, I also found that the first springtime hormonal rush is the worst. Like a human teenager, the bird is experiencing lots of changes- growing up, maturiting both physically and mentally. Much like human teenagers, with the first rush of hormones the bird is confused, as all the new feelings and experiences are new to him/her. The second spring is much easier and more relaxed. My male was really nasty the first spring, but has considerably mellowed.

What does hormonal behavior look like? Hormonal behavior comes in all different forms, but is most commonly exhibited in:

  • Regurgitation
  • Increased Screaming
  • Increased Biting
  • Sexual behaviors- i.e mounting a perch
  • Nest Building

If your bird is showing an increase of any of these one behaviors (espicially the biting and/or screaming) do not automatically write it off as hormonal. The hormonal rush comes once a year, according to the birds natural breeding schedule. If your bird is exhibiting excessive behaviors when not in breeding season, he/she may have developed an undeserable behavior that needs to be approached in a methodical manner to be modified and replaced with a more desirable behavior. I have seen many people write off screaming,biting and lunging behaviors as hormonal- even in the dead of winter!

Feather Picking
Yes, caiques can feather pick. There is no parrot that I know of that cannot/will not feather pick, and do not let anyone tell you otherwise. I have heard before that caiques do not featherpick, they are not ‘prone to it’ etc etc. Just because they are not prone to it, does not mean that it does not happen! Ahem, rant over.

Feather destructive behavior in pet parrots is more common then some may think. There are a multitude of reasons as to why a bird may mutilate its feathers including but not limited to : boredom, food allergies, physical health problem, sexual frustration, a substandered environment. A bird that picks its feathers should be taken in for a complete diagnostic checkup at a qualified avian veterinarians to rule out any physical problems.

What does featherpicking look like? It can appear in several forms. The feathers can appear broken or split. Feathers can appear shredded, the quality of the feather take on a blackish gleam, due to overpreening. Bald spots on the bird when not in molt (and even in molt- bald spots are not normal for a molting bird) are an indicater.

There are so many possibilites, reasons, theories that I am not even going to touch the surface as to why/how/when/where. If you have a featherpicking parrot, and the bird has been cleared of all physical symptoms by a vet, there are some things you can try.

  • A change in diet- Roudybush offers a special Rice Diet for featherpicking birds
  • More foraging activities- if a bird is busy working for food or treats, it cannot be shredding its feathers
  • Preening toys around the cage. This helped my plucker, espicially those peacock feather toys. She preens them instead of her own feathers
  • Daily bathes
  • When molting, as featherpicking birds seem to be more sensitive to molts then fully feathered ones, spritz with a mixture of 1 part aloe juice to 3 parts warm water. The aloe soothes the skin and helps the overall condition of the feathers
  • Birds are beautiful, if they are fully feathered or not. Love your fid for who he/she is.

Tail Wagging
Another cute mannerism personified by caiques is tail wagging. When a caique is really happy or content, he/she will shake its tailfeathers vigoriously. This is usually coupled with a vocalization from the bird indicating that it is happy.

Surfing
Caiques are leaf bathers in the wild, meaning they bathe by rubbing their bodies over wet foliage. In our homes, they act out that same instinctive behavior by rubbing on soft articles of clothing, or another caique favorite, human hair :) This is known as displaced leaf bathing behavior, and completly normal. It is commonly referred to as ‘surfing’ by caique owners. Birds will exhibit this behavior all year round. If you really want to see your feathered friend have some fun, offer him a small, fluffy handtowel, or even some clean, wet lettuce!
Interested in learning more about parrot behavior? Behavior Works is Susan Friendmen’s website. Susan Friendmen is an excellent avian behaviorist, who runs the Yahoo Parrot BAS group, and teaches the online Living and Learning with Parrots class.

Mattie Sue Athan is a parrot behaviorist and author of two books referenced on this site. Her website, Positively Parrots is highly recommended for those seeking behavior advice.