Does your bird enjoy petting?

[Kathleen]

It's interesting how birds choose people in that way.

Does your son enjoy interacting with your bird otherwise? Do you let him participate in taking care of her?

[Michael]

She has picked my smaller son as "soul mate" and apparently she treats him as mate.

She treats me as "simple flock member", although she binds well with me, she does not allow me to touch her and she is territorial towards me (which she is not towards my small son)

So how come you feel safe outdoor flying her without a bond? Or do you use some major food management? I know Kili is bonded to me and unless she is scared (good reason not to outdoor fly her) that it's harder to get her to stay off of me then on me.

[Natacha]

I'm surprised I haven't posted here before..

Piper loves for me to scratch (pet) her head.
Shade loves that as well.
Joey has enjoyed me scratching his head for a while and has brought this to a new level as demonstrated in a video (Cuddly Joey) I posted somewhere else.
Zuri likes me to do some times, some times she doesn't. She has her moments.
Petey...haha yeah Petey likes getting her head scratched by my boyfriend. Loves it. I like to keep my fingers intact so I haven't really tried yet...

[TheNzJessie]

my budgie doesn't like being petted right now around his face and back. but since i ahve started handfeeding him for clicker training he is trusting my hands a lot more and im able to touch his chest and scratch under his wings sometimes. with time and patients (that comes with trust) he will get there.

[kimbo]

my sennie loves neck and head scratches from me and can last a while. but my husband is the chosen mate and will be more animated when keith enters the room, clacking beak, pinning eyes and shouts. then trys to feed him but we do discourage this behaviour. he nibbles keith quite hard, is that part of it?

[bmsweb]

Our Cockatiel is a real pain . . if you put your hand in his cage he usually drops his head for a scratch. Also when on your hand, he will drop his head waiting for a scratch! Its like having a cat in the house

[lzver]

Senegals are pretty easy to tell when they are too wound up. They do something called a skirt dance. They droop their wings next to their body and hold their heads low. The boys often make a funny whoop, whoop, whoop sound. That dance means they really like you. They will also try and feed you by regurgitating.

Both Lucy and Jessie do this ALL the time. When I have them out with me and hanging out on the couch, after 5 or 10 minutes, they both start to do this. It's even a shorter time frame right how - I'm assuming because its that time of the year and they are more hormonal. I try to discourage it and put them back in or on their cages. I feel bad, because I don't want to discipline them, but I don't want to encourage it either.

On the topic of petting, both Lucy and Jessie love their head scratches. Anytime I'm close to them, the drop their head and solicit scratches. I can pet Jessie just about anywhere. I love flipping him over onto his back and giving him belly scratches. Just recently, he started putting is head back and he just enjoys it - he doesn't try to turn over right away now. Since Lucy is molting right now, I spend extra time giving her scratches these days. She loves them, but usually only tolerates for a minute or two. Lately, I can go on for over 5 minutes before she tells me she's had enough.

[entrancedbymyGCC]

Our Cockatiel is a real pain . . if you put your hand in his cage he usually drops his head for a scratch. Also when on your hand, he will drop his head waiting for a scratch! Its like having a cat in the house

You may find your GCCs the same. Scooter positively begs to have his head rubbed and would seemingly like it done 24/7. Sometimes when you offer a finger to step up, he rubs his head on it instead. He'll pop out of my keyboard drawer to rub his head on my forearm to ask for more head rubs. As you say, much like the cats only MORE insistent! At least he doesn't require it in the middle of hte night.

[Pola]

Tuppi loves being scrached, he would want to be petted 24/7

Cookie only likes being petted before going to sleep

[bmsweb]

Bugger I didn't know that about Green Cheeks! Looks like I will be providing Head Rubs 24/7