Senegal "Dance" Behavior? Courtship?

[Eurycerus]

Leia has done this quite a bit to varying degrees. This is the most boisterous one I've seen. For some background, in this particular case I had just come home and I always talk to her and say hi and ask how her day was, what she did, just to be friendly and let her know I'm not trying to scare her. She began this dance which appears to be friendly but I can't be sure. She really let her wings droop this time, usually she just splays them from her body a bit and prances back and forth, spinning in circles. I proceeded to do a bit of target training to assess her mood and she was very responsive and not aggressive. Is this a friendly dance asking for attention or is she upset? (is she a dude btw?)



(not sure if the embedding is working? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnusSba93xg)

EDIT: In addition just today she got excited on my hand. Extended her wings a bit from her body and made this strange cute noise repeatedly. Her eyes were pinned (in an excited non vicious way) and she rubbed her beak and gently bit my hand. I swear this is male courtship behavior, not sure though. Help! Also on the weekend she did it to my brother's hand and we were confused. It was nearly impossible to distract her (him?) but I did eventually extract her from both situations. What do you think guys?

[marie83]

No idea on the sex but may I ask how old she is?
Is she tame?
Her behaviour doesn't look scared or threatening to me but I've never had a senegal and each species has variations on their behaviours. To me with no experience of sennies she looks happy to see you, if she wasn't happy then I doubt she would turn her back to you unless it was to try to get away, which she doesn't appear to want to do.

Hopefully someone with experience of sennies will be along to help you soon with more detail opposed to my guess work.

[terri]

I would think this is I want to come out and see you dance My caiques do a version. [looks like shes starting to get used to you!]

[Eurycerus]

I hope you both are right because it's a little intimidating she's doing it just now on top of her cage and i came sort of close to talk to her and she made this breathey noise kind of like hissing but i swear she just wants attention so it's confusing

I'm leaving her alone and she apparently makes the noise even without me near.

[terri]

With your addition note.It might be hormonal [dont encourage it] You know to just scritch her head right? Both males and females can exhibit this behavior.

[Michael]

This is Senegal courtship behavior and you must stop encouraging it. Sometimes it can be onset from just too much excitement. The problem is that it encourages sexual and hormonal behavior such as:

-Egg laying
-Aggression
-Jealousy (attacking other people)
-Becoming too dependent on you and depressed when you're gone

It is best to avoid the things that lead to this and rethink what you're feeding the bird. You can see Kili doing the same kind of behavior at the very end of this video. This is proof that it's from excitement and not defensiveness or such cause I got her excited with all that petting. But when this started I knew it was time to stop.

[Eurycerus]

I agree regarding stopping it but i am mystified! I have had her for a week. I do not touch her at all except for step up because i don't think she trusts me enough. How is this happening so fast?

I do work a nine to five and she does get excited to see me but i can't really change my schedule. Also why would she do this so quickly? And to my brother who she just met? And on the weekend i do not work so it's not like she got excited because i had just come home.

I know the dangers and only would have expected this after we have solid trusting relationship.

What do i do except let her calm down and ignore her for a bit? How do i change my behavior? I'm trying to work on trust building so this is confusing.

[Michael]

Bird is probably really hormonal, imprinted on people, has strong urges, demonstrates them to "generic concept" of people and not so specifically you (no offense). Sometimes Kili will perform this display towards others just in case it might work (mostly given up on me cause I ignore). Just having a lot of pent up sexual urges, too much food, and nothing better to be doing can lead to that. I'm not too surprised about it happening so soon. This does not necessarily means the bird trusts you, won't bite, and things like that (kind of independent stuff).

Start another topic about reducing hormonal behavior when it is observed, explain in detail the bird's feeding, sleep, and attention schedules.