Hitting his beak against me?

[OshiYoshi]

Hi there, my Jenday Conure Skittles does this weird thing that just makes me curious. When I'm holding him and talking to him, he hits his beak against my finger. He doesn't seem like he's upset-- he gives me kisses and stares at me while I'm talking to him, and he nods his head up and down. But then he just hits his beak against my finger. Not hard, but he'll do it repeatedly for a few seconds and start nodding his head up and down again. I'm just wondering if this is anything to worry about behavior-wise. He's not biting or nipping, but I just don't want to encourage anything that might lead to that.

Is this anything bad? Or is something good?

Thanks in advance!

[Pola]

i am not sure but i think that he might be preening you.

[entrancedbymyGCC]

Scooter does this sometimes and it is distinct from his preening. I read somewhere that it may be a way of declaring "ownership", but I haven't been able to confirm that. I asked about it here and the most common suggestion was that sometimes beak banging can be aggressive, but like Skittles, Scooter does it when he seems to be affectionate. Other suggestions were exploring behavior or beak rubbing to clean his beak -- Scooter does also sometimes rub his beak quite vigorously, especially after a bath, but that is yet again different.

[issy]

Are you sure he is not tapping?

I've taught Sheldon to tap against any surface and he loves doing it. He will mostly do it when he is playing or very excited. =D

[entrancedbymyGCC]

Are you sure he is not tapping?

I've taught Sheldon to tap against any surface and he loves doing it. He will mostly do it when he is playing or very excited. =D

Scooter did this just a little while ago. I was drinking my morning coffee from a mug with a picture of a hummingbird on it, and he was tapping the picture vigorously. Excited but not overtly aggressive.

[OshiYoshi]

That's probably what he's doing. He does it when he's cuddling and it isnt hard and he seems to be doing it when he's enjoying me.

I just didn't know if it was something to be cvoncerned about because Yoshi, my quaker, will rub his beak on the cage bars when it's not his turn for outside time. (I don't let the other guys out when Skittles is out. Wanna do the quarantine thing.)

Thanks so much for the responses.

[TheNzJessie]

my rainbow lorikeet did this, it was never agressive it was in sorta like a loving form he would slide his beak across my finger or arm the like nibble (preen) in then bang his beak against it he would also do it to his food dish and his favorite toys so maybe its a ownership thing they do?, i dont think it would be anything to worry about if he is not showing any aggression, but im not an expert. this is just my personal experience, and only my hand raised birds do it so maybe it has something to do with that to =]

[alight15]

same thing happens with my budgie...but he's doing more of a rubbing type movement,and sometimes if I've been holding him for a while and have been real still; he even rubs his head against my fingers(though he doesn't let me pet him)maybe it's just a sign of trust/security.