BONGO BIRD
Breeder's of Beautiful
Eclectus Parrots
African Greys and Biting
The Great Power Game
By Liz Wilson
I reach into the cage of Freddie, a nine month old African grey who
is boarding with me. I say Up, but he doesn't obediently climb onto my
hand like he normally does. He puts his head down instead, offering the
back of his neck to be petted. As he does, I note that he is looking up
at me out of the corner of his eye.
To those inexperienced with greys, this might appear to be a bird
that is being docile, innocently soliciting a good scritch. But those of
us that know and love greys, this is NOT a submissive bird. A truly
submissive grey will put its head down also, but it looks down or closes
its eyes. In other words, it will not be looking up at you.
Sucker..!!!
Indeed, Freddie will bite me if I fall for the
head-down-for-a-scratch routine. In the world of boxing, I believe this
is called The Sucker Punch. What is actually happening here is that I am
stating my dominant position by giving the Up command. Freddie is
resisting my dominance by refusing to step onto my hand, and putting his
head down instead. If I am inexperienced enough to fall for this ruse
and reach for the back of his neck, he will respond by biting.
What Freddie would have established in this little exchange was that
he was dominant, not I..which is exactly what he was trying to do. Since
inexperienced African grey caretakers often don't understand a grey's
body language, they might conclude that the parrot is unpredictable --
soliciting attention, then viciously lashing out without warning.
Normal, Healthy Behavior
There is nothing "evil" or "bad" about this
behavior, and it is definitely NOT vicious -- it is simply unacceptable.
In actuality, it is perfectly normal and healthy for an adolescent
parrot in the wild to start challenging other members of their flock to
see who out-ranks whom. The challenges increase in intensity when aimed
at another flock member who is at equal or lower rank. This is normal.
This is nature's way of teaching young psittacines to compete with each
other, to make themselves stronger, to increase their potential for
success. To strive to survive, as it were.
This perfectly normal, healthy parrot behavior leads to problems only
if that adolescent parrot is a member of a flock composed of humans who
have never established their own dominance over the bird. When no humans
have established themselves as flock leader, then the parrot is in
control...and if the parrot is in control, then it rightfully concludes
that IT is the flock leader.
Bonnie Doane used a wonderful line in her book, My Parrot, My Friend.
She asks, "Whose problem is it, anyway?" In this situation,
the parrot doesn't have a problem. The human is the one with the
problem, because the human doesn't know how to deal with the situation.
Back to Freddie...
As to Freddie the posturing grey, I have learned how do deal with
this not-so-subtle power play. "UP, Freddie," I say, pushing
firmly at his lower abdomen with the side of my right hand and
simultaneously using my famous Left Hand Distraction Technique. This is
a highly technical maneuver which entails suddenly waving my left hand
in the air at the same split second that I push with my right. The
parrot is generally so distracted by the silliness with my left hand
that it forgets what it was trying to accomplish and steps right up on
my hand. Then I, always the graceful winner, lavishly praise the bird
for its good manners. In this way, I have circumvented the standoff
without anything happening that would necessitate my reprimand. The
confrontation has been resolved without violence, and I have won this
round.
"The Teething Stage"
The motivations of an adolescent grey who is biting are not at all
the same as a baby grey who is biting. From my experience, baby greys
(as with bappies [baby parrots] of other species) bite/nip more as an
experiment. It is doubtful that they understand that their beak can
cause pain -- they are more likely simply trying out various methods of
interacting with the world and their human caretakers. This stage, often
laughingly called "The Teething Stage," could probably be
likened to small children who pinch.
A tragic scenario is often acted out during this stage. The bappy is
learning to explore with its beak and sooner or later, it encounters
those wondrous things called human fingers. If humans make the mistake
of using their fingers as toys in the bappy's mouth, sooner or later the
baby will bite down harder than the owner of the fingers might like. If
the humans respond to this accidental nip by yelling (as in "OW, NO
BITE!!!"), then they have inadvertently taken the first step
towards actually teaching their bappy to bite.
Why, you say? Because parrots really seem to enjoy it when humans
yell at them. Since they often scream simply for the fun of it, it is a
fallacy to think they perceive yelling as a reprimand. On the contrary,
they seem to interpret yelling as positive feedback. This is what Sally
Blanchard calls the Drama Reward. So the baby parrot will nip again,
since the human inadvertently rewarded it for nipping. Sooner or later,
the experimental nips will actually hurt the human (physically as well
as emotionally), and the human's response becomes something like
"YOU BAD BABY, YOUR MOMMY (or daddy) LOVES YOU, HOW COULD YOU BITE
YOUR MOMMY??? (or daddy). The bappy hasn't a clue as to what is going on
-- it thinks this is a fabulous new game. You know, grab a finger and
your pet person makes lots and lots of WONDERFUL noise!
Indecisive Hand Signals
This scenario generally happens when inexperienced owners are not
clear in their signals to the parrot. For example, when offering a hand
for the bird to step up, novice owners often aren't quite sure of
themselves...so their hand motion is uncertain. The bappy may wish very
much to climb on, but like a workman unsure of the stability of a
ladder, it reaches with its beak (which in this case is functioning as a
hand) to steady the human perch. Humans who are afraid of that beak
generally respond by pulling their hands away. Now, the bappy is REALLY
confused!
The next time the human's hand is offered, odds are very good the
bappy will grab fast with its beak -- after all, it doesn't want that
hand to go away before it has had a chance to climb on -- and the human
jerks away.
If this scene is repeated, and it generally is, the bappy will learn
that its beak is a source of power -- that it can make its human go
away. The bappy doesn't really want its person to go away, but it's lots
of fun to be in control, so the behavior will happen again and again.
Once again, the baby has no idea that it has done anything wrong.
Fear = Lost Control
If humans are afraid of being bitten, they will often unconsciously
pull away when a grey (or any other species of parrot) reaches with its
beak. In this manner, the bird learns to use lunging and biting as an
effective technique with which to control humans, and that bird will
remain in control for as long as the humans remain afraid. Parrots can
sense when someone is frightened and will take advantage of it every
time. If people cannot get over their fear response, then they will
probably never gain control over the bird.
This is generally what happens when normally well behaved greys nip a
new person to whom they have just been introduced -- your new boyfriend,
for example. The bird senses the human's fear and responds to it. When
you think about it, it makes a great deal of sense -- here is an
intelligent young parrot who weighs approximately one pound, who is
being encouraged to step onto the hand of a 150 lb. human who is, as far
as the empathic parrot is concerned, radiating waves of fear. In that
situation, I would bite, too!
Other Mistakes To Make
So what else DON'T you do? You don't under ANY circumstances use
violence against the bird. If you do, even if you don't physically harm
him, you risk doing permanent damage to your relationship with him.
Generally speaking, parrots don't apparently use violence against other
flock members in the wild, so your grey simply will not understand your
use of violence against him. Odds are good he will never be able to
trust you again.
There is much outdated and incorrect advice being given to people
about biting parrots. People are often told to grab the bird's beak,
shake it and yell NO!! This does not work because we have now realized
that grabbing a parrot's beak ("Beak Wrestling") is considered
to be play behavior between parrots, plus the drama reward of our
yelling. So once again, in our effort to give negative feed-back to
parrots, we have only succeeded in rewarding them.
It also doesn't usually work to punish by putting the bird in its
cage, because by the time you get him there he's probably completely
forgotten the connection between biting you and being locked up. Yes,
African greys are intelligent, but we're talking about an intelligent
human two year old, here -- not an intelligent adult. Obviously, he
can't bite you again because you've removed him from your vicinity, but
you haven't taught him anything about NOT BITING.
So What SHOULD You Do?
Enough of this stuff about all the things that don't work -- just
what exactly does? Actually, it is quite simple. If you have already
established a relationship of what Sally Blanchard calls Nurturing
Dominance with your parrot, then he already perceives you as head of the
flock and he is already well trained to step onto your hand when you say
Up. To then thoroughly reprimand that bird, you need only do the
following things immediately.
First, show him your displeasure by giving him a REALLY DIRTY LOOK --
what Sally calls "The Evil Eye". I'm really serious about this
-- you have to look at him as if he were the lowest of the low, or pond
scum, or something you might find stuck to the bottom of your shoe.
Parrots are extremely empathic creatures who watch our facial
expressions closely. He will understand your displeasure if you give a
tremendously dirty look.
Then, make him step from one hand to the other over and over, while
you keep saying Up in a very firm but not loud voice. Do this several
times in a row and you will be amazed at the difference. This is a
non-abusive, nurturing technique with which to give a parrot negative
feed-back because psittacines really understand this as a reprimand. We
call this technique "Laddering" and it is an exercise in
control -- reminding your grey that YOU are the alpha in the flock, NOT
him. If you are firm and consistent, reminding him of this will put him
back under control. And without the positive feed-back that he
inadvertently received before, the biting should end.
When dealing with a bappy grey in the Teething Stage, it is also
quite simple. When the baby bites too hard, say No in a firm voice and
give the baby a very dirty look. The bappy will understand that you are
unhappy and will try very hard not to do it again. Under NO
circumstances should you yell.
"Growing Out Of" Unwanted Behaviors
Biting behaviors are commonly seen at various stages of psittacine
development, and African greys are no exception. However, this stage can
and will become permanent if it is not handled correctly. It is
important for baby grey owners to understand that. Waiting for a parrot
to "grow out of" an unwanted behavior NEVER works. Also, the
longer the behavior is allowed to continue, the longer it will take to
eliminate it. The good news is that from my experience, the
establishment of clear, loving, and consistent controls through the use
of proper, nonaggressive training works every time.
And an African grey that is well behaved is truly an exquisite
companion!
