Sudden onset of Fearfulness

[entrancedbymyGCC]

In the last couple of weeks, Scooter suddenly seems to be startled by/afraid of objects he was never bothered by before. The scale I weigh him on being one example, and the sink he normally bathes in being another. If I lift or move any object around him, he gets upset and either alarm calls or flies off (he is clipped but can make it from my desk to the hallway without much trouble). Prior to this, the only thing that ever really set him off was lifting and moving the vacuum cleaner that lives next to his cage.

He'll be two in a couple of days. IS it fairly common for a maturing bird to suddenly become more reactive, even in a familiar environment? Are there nutritional deficiencies that can cause nervousness? (Magnesium deficiency in horses can exacerbate spookiness).

He will be due for a vet checkup soon, so I'll probably do that quite soon. He seems quite healthy, but I've always thought of him as fearless and happy-go-lucky, so it bugs me to see him suddenly shy and spooky.

[captwest]

Seems weird to me , usually get less spooky not more.Has he had any traumatic experiences lately ? Hope your not about to have a quake !!

[entrancedbymyGCC]

I'm not aware of traumatic experiences. Well, except our traveling periodically, which certainly causes behavioral anomalies. And we're gone again for a long weekend this weekend. I was able to weigh him this morning, so maybe he was just having a paranoid day the other day. OTOH, his weight is down a little -- he's usually 68g, sometimes 67g, first thing int he AM and he weighed 66g. I have no idea what the inherent scale accuracy is, but I'll be keeping a closer eye on the trend.

What about eyesight? Most of what sets him off seems to be visual, but birds are pretty visual critters anyway. What are the signs of poor/failing sight in a bird?

[captwest]

Hey i'm not too up on eye sight issues. i had a one eyed macaw at one time and his head would turn more than usual so he could follow you, but i can't imagine a two yr old having eye issues.

[kaylayuh]

Birds can get conjunctivitis (pink eye), cataracts, and absesses on their eyes just like humans can. If his eyes are looking particularly cloudy, that could be a sign of cataracts and may be what's spooking him. If it is a cataract, his vision would be extremely blurry and he'd have trouble seeing objects and knowing what they are.

An absess would also be fairly easy to see. Like an absess on a human eye, the area would be sore and swollen. I'm not sure this would cause any unusual jumpiness though.

As far as pink eye in birds go, I have no idea how someone would go about figuring that out. I can only assume it'd be similar to a human procedure. In any case, if you think it's an eye problem, you'd probably want to see a vet ASAP.

[entrancedbymyGCC]

No, no his eyes are clear. I was thinking more along the lines of a congenital problem with his visual processing or something equivalent to macular degeneration, not an injury or illness to the superficial eye.