How do they tell??

[Honesty]

This is something that I've wondered about for a while. What cues do parrots use to differentiate male and female in humans?

It's not rare for parrots to prefer one sex over another and I wonder what they use to tell us apart. Codie loves most women and hates all men!

What are your thoughts on this subject?

[Debra]

I'd like to know the answer to that myself. Lucy hates all women but loves men.

[Honesty]

It is very strange! It seems once they decide on a gender they prefer, there is absolutely no way they will warm to the other :(

[Mare]

That's a good question, Wendy! My cockatoos sure know, maybe it's a hormone thing. I do know that once they choose a human for their mate, most everyone else is lower on the list of acceptable replacements, although Amigo is fickle and will flirt with other gals, he always comes home to mama :)

[Grey]

well, there are obvious physical differences, as well as differences in pitch and timbre of the voice, possible chemical signals, etc...

[Pinkbirdy]

I always see [at my house] . Its the different tones in are voices. also they can sure recognize us too.

[Turquoise]

Well, in my house they go by the one who wears the pants!! (The one in charge~~Tha'd be me~~LOL)

I truly don't know if mine prefer females to males cause we just don't have folks over enough to see any difference. I do know that my flock does not like Jerry and will not allow him to hold them unless I am not in viewing site and he asks them to step up. Then they will reluctantly do so, but always searching to see if I am anywhere. Once they see me they bite him! LOL

The only other people they have seen in the house since coming to live with me has been my grown nephew Jarman and my son Jory. They were not impressed with either one. Peta my GCC was the only one who loved Jerry and let him hold her. She was my re-home and the lady who had her first said she hated men. Peta hated her ex-husband when he was still in the home. With Peta it must have been the person and not the gender she was basing her opinion on. :)

I don't know if it has anything to do with which gender hand feeds them, but all of my macaws and my ekkie Leyla Belle were hand fed by female breeders. My Rose Breasted Too will be hand fed by a male, so I will see if it seems to make Dakota like Jerry.

[Honesty]

Codie was hand fed by a female breeder so, you could have a good point there De'Andrea :)