Regurgitation???

[kendrafitz]

Rosie goes through stages where she constantly tries to regurgitate for me. She does her head rocking, feather poofing, beak open thing and I say "ICK, no, Mommy is NOT hungry. Thank you." Sometimes I run away from her b/c she will not always take no for an answer. (By running away, I mean I just move out of her reach)

Anyway, she seemed to have forgotten about it for about a month or so. Then, this weekend, she remembered. Unfortunately, I forgot. I wasn't paying attention and she filled my shirt sleeve with a huge amount of nuts. YUCK. Since then I have been on watch and we are back to our routine.

Now here is the thing I am curious if others have encountered. My sneaky little devil figured out a way to regurgitate without doing her whole "dance". Basically to get around the whole rejection by Mommy I think. Yesterday she firmly clamped onto my wrist (her beak was way open) and then just regurgitated. No real other motion. I thought I must have missed her "dance" somehow, but nope. She did it again today. And looked so darn pleased with herself and started doing her happy trill. Ugh. I know she is not throwing up and it isn't a sign of being ill as she is acting/eating/pooping normally. She just figured out another way to bring up her lunch without giving me a heads up. Has anyone else noticed this with their birds?

[Pinkbirdy]

Yes ,Harlow does this as well .Sometimes shes more bound and determined to do it than others. I feel as If shes trying to sneak it too.

[kendrafitz]

How funny! So smart that they think of new ways to get past Mommy. Just like every other kid I guess. :th_naughty:

[Pinkbirdy]

I don't know if its a female thing ,or because their young.

[kendrafitz]

That's an interesting point. Hopefully someone else will have similar experiences and we can compare and see. :)

[ShellyBorg]

YES, My Demon does this. The other day the little monster jumped the computer screen to the front of my shirt and then stuffed the beak full UP MY NOSE. UGGG!

Paris is 10 and she will get sneaky once in a while, but for the most part we have it down to head toss, head toss, then I get the look of " you want some?" I say no thank you and she goes back to licking me like a puppy....

[kendrafitz]

LOL!!!! Shelly, that is hysterical!!

[ShellyBorg]

Wait till You get it in the ear! paris has done that one! LOL

[Turquoise]

Too funny gals!! :th_LOL:

Roscoe will try to feed me as well, but I get him off the notion by playing with one of his hanging toys if he is on his perch. He's so greedy he will quit in a hurry to save his toy form me. He is not nearly as determined to feed me as ya'll describe your girls. Maybe it is more intense in female birds. Ruby Jewel is just beginning to act as if she wants to feed me since she is much younger than Roscoe and it seems GWs are slower at maturing into everything than other macaws.

[Honesty]

LOL Shelly, that is hilarious :)

Codie does this to me, but the strange thing is, he only ever does it with peas :th_shocking: I end up with a long line of peas on my leg :th_hehe:

[PlaxMacaws]

As most of you know, Zaf is a male. Lately he's been a terrible regurg monster! He's 25 years old and he pumps up these HUGE globs of goop that typically have the consistency of a wet paste with nut chunks mixed in here and there for texture. Whenever I notice his head bobs coming on, I always rush to put him on the nearest perch or on his cage top. But he always refuses to release my forearm when he's in 'that' mood... so I have to insist pretty intently until he gives up his grasp. The question is always whether I can convince him to let go before he dumps his matter on me - both of his big feet are quite strong again and working very well now!

The worst and the most sneaky part happens if/when I fall asleep with Zaf on my chest. He's inclined to use that particular situation as a planned opportunity to deliver his payload to me. He'll awaken just so he can regurg all over me while I'm still asleep. It's NOT pretty! And I'm telling you that the globs of goop he brings up are immense! He fills his huge lower beak to the absolute brim with that stuff each time. Thankfully he doesn't try to dump it all on me... he enjoys re-biting up the chunks and swallowing most of the matter. But he's insistent on sharing some of it with me as well. I'm so privileged. NOT!

I'm not sure why his behavior in this regard has intensified of late. Obviously he's experiencing a hormonal surge for some reason. I'm so hoping that it winds down soon.

[Honesty]

Not a nice thing to wake up too :( Hopefully his hormonal surge will pass soon!

[kendrafitz]

Oh wow! Zaf takes the cake!! Funny guy!!!!

I wonder if it has gotten more intense bc of all the tlc and extra get better attention? He may be so grateful & feel an even stronger bond than before!

[PlaxMacaws]

I wonder if it has gotten more intense bc of all the tlc and extra get better attention? He may be so grateful & feel an even stronger bond than before!I think that's probably part of it. But I'm speculating that another big factor is that I've left Zaf's large kennel carrier next to his couch. He is able to enter it and spend as much time as he likes inside of it during the day. It's essentially serving as his nesting cave - not my intent at all :(. In the wild, Hys nest in caves that are on the sides of cliffs. So my thinking is that the carrier is triggering Zaf's nesting drive... which unfortunately may be what has been urging on his regurg/feed behavior.

Salsa does the head bob/pump motion once in a while. But he mostly keeps the small amount that he dredges up to himself. He's only 5 years old, though.