Accidentally Scared by Video

[eggplantbren]

Hi everyone,

Today I accidentally scared our young alexandrine. My girlfriend had recorded a video of him earlier in the day, and I wanted to watch it. Stupidly, I didn't even think that it could cause a problem that he was around. For the first few seconds the video was silent and he seemed extremely curious about it, but then the video-him made a noise and he freaked out with some screaming and a strong urge to fly (despite his unfortunate clipped wings).

He seemed on edge for about another 20 minutes, more anxious than we have seen him before, but after some quiet talking we put him back in his cage with some of his favourite foods and sang nursery rhymes. All seemed good after that.

Just curious if anyone else has any experiences with birds accidentally/on purpose seeing/hearing footage of themselves or other birds, and if it normally freaks them out? Is it something we should avoid forever or something that might be okay later?

[friend2parrots]

from what i've read on this forum, a lot of people have had really positive experiences showing their birds footage of other birds in youtube videos, including teaching them new words, etc, general all around enrichment for the bird.

unfortunately this hasnt ever been the case with my GCC. he doesnt freak out but rather gets defensive when he sees videos with other birds, esp if they are singing or vocalizing. he starts to pace in front of the screen slowly, swaying, with his body held up high, with his neck feathers puffy - a sign of territory defense in GCCs according to books on GCCs that i've read. ive since stopped showing them to him for that reason. i'm torn if i should try showing them again to him at some point, gradually, and help him understand that its ok ... so he doesnt miss out on the fun that a lot of birds on this forum seem to be having watching videos

[marie83]

Is it only my birds that are completely indifferent to bird video/noises whether they are the same species or not? Even when I turn the speakers up full there is no reaction at all.

[Polarn]

My birds doesn't care at all, not on tv/computer screens and definitely not IRL, they absolutely love the freefly events (indoors I may add to not create a fuzz about that particular word )