Do Your Guys/Girls Try To Comfort You?

[kendrafitz]

This morning something interesting happened.

Rosie's beak is a bit sharp lately, and she has been pretty pinchy. She has a ton of ugly pin feathers coming in around her neck. I think that is making her grumpy which then leads to the pinches.

I was taking Rosie for a shoulder ride and for whatever reason she pinched the top of my ear, HARD. I saw stars and bent over in pain. She put her face in mine and said "Sssss", over and over while giving me kisses. I had no clue what she was saying, but once I recovered and saw there was no blood we continued on our way.

A bit later we were preening and I hurt one of her pin feathers. She yelled, and I kissed her cheek, said "Shhh" and "I'm sorry." A light bulb went off. I think she was doing the same to me about my ear.

After her shower I asked her to do "beep beep" to the birdy in the mirror. She did, got excited turned around and pinched my upper cheek. It didn't really hurt, but I wanted to test my theory. So I acted hurt and sure enough, face to my face, "Sssss" and kisses.

I love that my girl was trying to comfort me by emulating what I do with her.

I was wondering if anyone has had a similar experience?

[plax]

That's really sweet :smilet-digitalpoint. Meaning, of course, her expressions of sympathy... not her pinches :friendly_wink:. Rosie seems quite empathetic about the pain she, herself, inflicts upon you, Kendra. Salsa either feels sorry or guilty if/when he happens to pinch me too hard.. and even on those rare occasions when he inflicts a hard bite upon me. Salsa's response to realizing that I'm feeling some pain is using his utterance in a very child-like voice (while he's looking directly at me) of "a[Users must be registered and logged in to view attached photos or hyperlinks] ... a[Users must be registered and logged in to view attached photos or hyperlinks] ... a[Users must be registered and logged in to view attached photos or hyperlinks]" several times in succession, similar to what many of us might say to our pets when they hurt themselves or experience a mishap of some type. These guys are usually pretty great as associating meaning with words or expressive utterances and then using those words or utterances appropriately.

[spiritbird]

How sweet. You both are so well bonded to your Macaws. I had a little breakthrough with Kobe today. He flew to where I was sitting on the sofa and actually landed right behind me. Then cautiously got on my shoulder and started preening my hair.

[kendrafitz]

Tony - do any of your other guys do that? I wonder if it is a GW thing...either to sympathize or cause pain and than sympathize? ; )

Dianne - Awesome! What a nice breakthrough. He is going to be your snuggle bug, I just know it!!! :)

[Mare]

I don't have a macaw but have definitely felt comfort/empathy from Amigo. It wasn't from a bite though, I was feeling down about something, really down and can't remember exactly why, it may have been my daughter's cancer/chemo journey. He took a few days off from trying to hump me EVERYWHERE, to just cuddling and being mellow.

[kendrafitz]

Mare - I had no idea about your daughter. Is everything OK now?

What a sweet boy Amigo is, cuddling with his Mama. Although I had no idea he tries to hump you. Lol. Is that all year or just during their breeding season? The worst I get from Rosie is the regurgitation, but she is still a baby and a girl...

[Mare]

At age 26, my daughter was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. She is now 6yrs. strong! At that time, Amigo was very in love with me and was a horn toad..all the time! I would have taken getting puked on, ANYDAY! He has mellowed with age and much more relaxed in this matter :). I've always felt that birds know how you are feeling, they're too sensitive to not know..just my opinion :)

[kendrafitz]

Strong is right!! I am glad to hear she is doing well. I can't imagine how stressful that must have been for your entire family.

Glad Amigo is less amorous now. ; ) Agreed about birds knowing how we feel.

[plax]

Tony - do any of your other guys do that? I wonder if it is a GW thing...either to sympathize or cause pain and than sympathize? ; )Well, Zaf gets really snugly and cuddles tightly against me a lot when I'm feeling a bit down. And he makes subtle cooey noises while doing so. As for Jack and Maynard... not so much. It may be that GW's are typically more prone toward appropriate vocal responses than other Macaw species. I'm not sure though.

[Casper's 2nd best friend]

Casper, after giving us a nip, usually says "I'm a good boy" to which we usually reply "no you aren't". Shows that he knows he has hurt us and is sorry really.
But he is very considerate if I nod off to sleep in the armchair whilst he is on my shoulder or lap. He just sits quietly until I awake, often having a doze himself. Margaret told me that one time he was on my knee and wanted to be on my shoulder so made his way very delicately without waking me up. And another time, when he needed to go back to his cage for a poo, Margaret watched him gently tickling my ear until I was awake. I wonder if this consideration for others who are asleep is because birds are communal roosters, all sleeping in the same tree - or don't parrots do that?

[Mare]

Jean-Pierre, I bet if Casper was trying to warn you of imminent danger,,you would have gotten more than a tickle in your ear!

[kendrafitz]

Jean-Pierre - Casper is such a sweetie! I love that he is so gentle and considerate when you are sleeping.

Does he reply when you tell him he's not a good boy? Lately when I say something Rosie doesn't like/agree with she adamantly says NO!, while bobbing her head. Kind of like a little kid stamping their foot.

[Casper's 2nd best friend]

Not yet, he just repeats it in his cutest voice. How can you be mad at a parrot who's like that.

[kendrafitz]

You can't!! :)