Budgie Question - Clucking, shaking head, pupils shrink?

[Parakeet]

A lot of the time (actually most of the time), when I put my hand into my budgies' cage to play with them, they will nibble on my finger like it's food and then jump onto it and off (1 of my 2 budgies does this) The other one will sometimes nibble on my finger and sometimes do a head twitch thing and its beak keeps hitting my finger and at the same time its pupils will get smaller for a bit (& it'll cluck lightly). I was just wondering. Does this mean anything and is it normal budgie behavior?

[liz]

I don't know budgies but it sounds cute.

Do you ever let them out to play?

[Parakeet]

I open up their cage door a lot and they quickly come out (almost always) and then they just walk around on the top of the cage biting on the rings from the toys (the piece that connects the toy inside the cage to the top of the cage). My cage is round at the top, so I'm not able to put any toys on it.

[liz]

They love to climb and hang off of things. A piece of rope hung on the side is entertainment. A crumpled peice of paper becomes something to attack and tear up.

Key Budgie in the search and see what you come up with.

[Jenny]

Sounds like eye pinning to me, but I don't have any experience w/budgies.

http://www.avianweb.com/communicatewithyourbirds.html

Parakeet, does your budgie's beak hitting your finger seem intentional? If so, pairing that w/the eye pinning would lead me to think your budgie is exhibiting aggression, although Lord knows I'm no expert. If it is aggression, I realize your budgie isn't hurting you, but you don't want to purposely irritate your birdie.

How familiar are you w/bird body language? Barbara Heidenreich has a DVD that provides the basics, & it's helpful because it's not just a verbal description - you can actually see birds exhibiting the behaviors people talk about.

http://www.goodbirdinc.com/parrot-store-dvds.html