Bird Going in Circles

[Saraph18]

Hey everyone!

I just got a new Linnie 3 days ago and he's my first bird. The first night he was home he was very tired from I'm sure the stress of the day (vet visit and going somewhere new) and went to sleep pretty much as soon as I cut the lights for him. However last night and tonight I have noticed that right about the time I would turn the lights off for bed he starts to climb/fly in circles around his cage (he does this both with the lights off and with the lights on). Like a vertical loop of his cage, mostly he climbs but occasionally he flies from one spot to another. I would say he does this for at least 15 minutes.

Has anyone experienced this? I'm fine with it if it's normal but it seems a bit crazy to me...and a big difference from how easy he went to sleep the first night.

It occurred to me that he could just not be getting enough energy burned off during the day (maybe???) but we're not at a point yet where I can take him out (still having trouble getting him to take treats from my hand).

Any advice would be great!
(also sorry if this was addressed anywhere else in the forum, I promised I tried to search for this first)

[Wolf]

I have no idea as to the actual cause of this behavior, but I am certain that it is not a normal behavior. It seems to me to be a fear induced behavior, although there could be another cause for it.
I am going to take a shot in the dark on this, so please understand that I could be wrong. OK, I am thinking that this is fear, I would assume that this bird is probably sitting pretty much in one place without moving during the day, which is a normal fear based reaction to there being something in his cage that he is afraid of. If this is true or mostly true, take out everything except for his food and water and perches. Then give him a day or two to relax and then add no more than one thing to his cage every couple of days. If he moves to a point as far from what you add as he can find take it back out.
I am assuming that you have various toys for him to play with in his cage and they are new to him and that there is more than one scaring him.

There could be something in the room that he is afraid of. This one doesn't sound quite right to me but watch to see where his attention appears to be focused and look to see what is there, if you see something move it to another spot and note his reaction.
Are you covering his cage at night? If so try not covering it. He could be afraid of the dark, try putting in a night light. If you try a night light find as dim of one as you can that will provide just a little light but not much as too much light when he sleeps is not good either.
Make sure that you have at least one perch as high in the cage as you can, allowing for the birds height, I am guessing that the perch would need to be about 8 to 10 inches from the top of cage. Birds usually sleep on highest perch as they feel safer.
That pretty much covers what I can think of without more information as to the birds background and placement of the cage and so on. Hope that this helps.

[Saraph18]

Thank you for the suggestion, Wolf!

OK, I am thinking that this is fear...

He does not stay on one perch all day so while I don't think he's totally comfortable in his new home yet I also don't think he is completely fearful. He moves from perch to perch, climbs the bars a bit, preens, and eats well (only plays with toys a LITTLE). The first day he was EXTREMELY quiet and the second day he started to chatter and make noises so I definitely think if anything he is more relaxed since his first day here (and his first night is when he did not make the circles -- but he was super tired that whole day).

He does have several toys and all of them are new to him. There is one toy I have never seen him play with yet so I may remove that to see if that helps at all.

I do not cover his cage at night, but I do turn off the lights. He does have a perch pretty much as high in the cage as it can be for him to still fit on it (with some reasonable room to spare).

As to any more additional information I can provide is he did come from a breeder that my avian vet knows and is a year old almost exactly. His cage is in the corner of a room so he is against two walls. He is on a good diet (credit to the breeder) and eats harrisons and fresh fruits/veggies... I actually have offered some treats (nutriberries, millet, seed mix) and he won't take them not even if I leave them in the cage and am not offering them by hand.

[Pajarita]

Linnies need a lot of flying so it might be that he needs more exercise and the fact that he doesn't step up for you should not deprive him of it. But, for the first few days, one should leave them alone so they can get used to us, their new home, schedule, etc so not letting him out is OK for now. Is his cage in a busy spot? Because he needs a bit of privacy and quiet so he is not so stressed out. Try putting his cage against a wall and covering it with a towel or some large piece of material so he feels protected in there (walls prevent predators from catching them).

He needs to be exposed to dusk in order to get sleepy. If you just turn off the light, he won't be drowsy at all because he hasn't yet produced any melatonin.

I don't agree with night lights for birds. It messes up their endocrine system. People say they prevent night frights but the only birds of mine that actually had them was because there was a sliver of light from a street light across the street shining on their cage through the window their cage was against. Once I eliminated it (put black out curtains on this window, drew them after the sky turned completely dark and opened them before it became lit with dawn), there were no more night frights.

[Wolf]

Although I did suggest it, I really don't use them for my birds. I have an Amazon that came from a bad environment and I did have to use it with her for a short time as she went totally ballistic without any light at first and I was afraid that she would hurt herself. It took about 2 weeks of turning the light off after she went to sleep and then back on every time she woke up and back off after she went back to sleep. She now complains very quietly at night if there is a light on any place she can see it, when she is ready to go to sleep. She also now sleeps almost the whole night through without waking up.
I don't know what else to suggest at this time. It could easily be that he just hasn't had enough exercise during the day and doesn't get exposed to dawn and dusk. The light from dawn and dusk is apparently the factors that keep his biological clock in proper sync and resets it when it is out of whack.

[Pajarita]

Linnies are very flighty little birds and he hasn't been there but a few days (left his family and flock to come to a human home with no other birds, a situation that would scare any little bird), Wolf, so I think that has a lot to do with his behavior.

[Wolf]

Sometimes I get so confused!!

[Saraph18]

Thanks for all the replies. He did it again yesterday but it was for much less time this time, like maybe 5 minutes. So I'm hoping it will go away as he gets used to his new home and flies around more in his cage (which is pretty big) because he's more comfortable (still don't want to get him out because I would have very little control of the situation because he's not that used to me yet... but I promise I plan to make sure he can come out of his cage to get exercise)... I am following pretty much everything by the book, I used to work for a board certified avian vet so luckily I've gotten some good education about birds and a lot of handling of them, but this is just a problem I had never heard of.

[Wolf]

I have never encountered this one either. I do have an Amazon that weaves while hanging from the top of her cage. I am now wondering if this thing you bird is doing might be the same type of behavior. not the same behavior but, the same type.

[Pajarita]

Linnies behave more like lovies than amazons but without the aggression. They are little things.