Is your Senegal Parrot a bully?

[Michael]

If you have a Senegal Parrot along with other parrots, do you find your Senegal Parrot trying to bully the other birds (including chasing, biting, attacking, or just plain trying to make them go away)? If your Senegal is a bully, does it go after bigger parrots or smaller than itself? Have you found any solutions to these issues? How old is your Senegal Parrot and does it fly? Does age and flight impact their bullying behavior?

[Natacha]

I have a 5 year old Senegal and am proud to say she's NOT a bully - in fact, she's probably my friendliest parrot, always trying to approach the others for a preening session or just to play, never aggressively, and I would know what that looks like since I do have a bird who acts that way a lot of the time and some that do occasionnaly.

She is fully flighted too.

[Natacha]

I'm going to come back and add that I actually hate this type of generalization by species. I think how a bird was raised might also change how they act. And I also think it depends on the individual bird themselves.

In that regard, yes I know Senegals that are bullies, but I also know a fair number that aren't, just like I know a number of birds of other species that are bullies and others of the same species that aren't.

[apollosparents]

If you have a Senegal Parrot along with other parrots, do you find your Senegal Parrot trying to bully the other birds (including chasing, biting, attacking, or just plain trying to make them go away)? If your Senegal is a bully, does it go after bigger parrots or smaller than itself? Have you found any solutions to these issues? How old is your Senegal Parrot and does it fly? Does age and flight impact their bullying behavior?

Thats a lot of questions Michael. I couldn't answer a yes or no survey because she is only a bully sometimes. Let me answer them as well as I can:

Bully?
Yes and no. Sophie loved, then attacked her best friend Crash, a Quaker after a few years almost killing him. It's like as she matured, she just decided to hate him. Now they are seperated in different rooms. If out of the bird room, she seeks him out and tries to go to his room. If I let her, I KNOW she would go and try to bite him through the bars. He loves her soo much I think he would lay there and let her kill him (this is what he did when she attacked him)
Other than that, she lives with two Blue Crowns and they swap out cages with each other all the time. She only nips at Thor if he sits on her swing or takes a toy from her she is playing with. I have seen her try to get a bead on him and bite one time when he swooped down and tried to land on my shoulder (which he was sitting on) but one can expect that type of behavior from any animal, especially a parrot under the circumstances.
I can tell you she has no problems standing her ground to any of the birds or anyone for that matter and even though she is the smallest species in the house (and one of the smallest senegals I have ever seen) She doesn't back down. She possesses "raptor like" behavior and attacks her toys and anything that rattles. She always goes in feet first when attacking to grab it and viciously attacks with her beak while hanging on with her claws. When my son was little, he had toy snake and we left it in the living room. When she saw it, she flew to it and grabbed ahold with her feet while attacking the head..

All that said, she is also the first I will let children hold or strangers. She doesn't get spooked, never bites, and the only worries I have is her trying to steal someones jewelry, especially earrings. She can take them faster than you can put them in without harm to anyone.

Solutions?
Sorry, but no. Her aggresion towards crash seems as programmed and calculated as a general going to war. It is almost as if she is genetically hardwired to do this. There is no "trigger" for the behavior. She sees him or hears him and off she goes to get him. Through the cage, I notice it is certain noises and body language of crash that gets her going. She always seems fixated on his eyes but she cannot see his pupils because they are very dark like your Truman's. I know that senegals in the wild and in captivity react very much to head bobs and eye flashing and beak movements of other senegals and even ourselves.

Age/Flight
As she has gotten older, she is much more passive with our other birds. She used to chase off Ozzy and Thor from her cage but never truly attack. Then she tolerated, now she is accepting. However; she still hates crash just as much as the day she attacked him.
She is 7 and is fully flighted. She is smart and surveys before flight and flies in a straight line. She rarely hovers. If her landing site is compromised, she will turn and recalculate but her general flight path is towards Crashes room most of the time.

[Mona]

Hi Michael:

Interesting question and hard to answer.

I have three Senegals. Two males and a hen. They all have very different personalities...

Having said that, I do believe that Senegals have a "species tendency" to fly AT other birds. It is not always aggressive. Babylon has always had the tendency but since I bring her to a fly building, she flies WITH other birds. In other words, it started out as "play" and seems to have remained a "play behavior". In that way, I may have modified it to keep it from becoming an aggressive tendency as she has matured. She has never "bullied" or acted aggressively at the fly building where she has lots and lots of room to fly big sweeping flights. It is just a fun activity for her. When other birds start flying, I often cue her to go fly with them and she joins them and they will fly big loops together.

Having said that, she will fly and push other birds at home. I don't think it is always because she is aggressive TO the other bird, so much as she is possessive about an object. In other words, she wants an object...the other bird is near the object...she really gets in a snit about it and will fly and try to push the other bird away from the object. I do think Senegals can be pretty "object possessive" which makes sense when you consider how important a perceived good nesting sight is for them to reproduce.

As far as getting along with other birds, I have been fortunate in that so far, I have not seen a stubborn determination to attack another bird. I do get squabbles, but the birds also can mellow out and get along fine with each other. It's not always predictable.

I did have a tragedy happen when Babylon pushed another member of my flock at my home....so it isn't something to take lightly.

As far as my boys....they are both INCREDIBLY STUBBORN. I think I would say Hard -headed....but they are not necessarily "pushy". Once they get focused on something, it is really, really hard to change the focus. I usually try to identify possible problem areas and get ahead of it by avoiding those sorts of situations. I have no luck talking Senegals out of ANYTHING. I occassionally have luck distracting them though.

Senegals are just incredibly smart, smart, smart little critters. They are also extremely affectionate and seem to have a highly developed social acumen. Do they bully? Not sure if that's how I would describe it. I would say that they may want something that we don't identify...i.e. a good looking nesting area or good looking chew...and they may get possessive about it. They aren't passive. They are pretty determined if they are healthy and have some freedom to act. Like most parrots, if they want something, they can be pretty determined and smart about figuring out how to get it. More than other species though, I think they can be more FOCUSED....I think they can be more determined than other species.... a little bit of a terrier dog mentality going on there.

Okay..Fun discussion but pretty busy so gotta go.

THANKS!

Mona