sudden personality change

[marie83]

Well harlie my 'tiels like a different bird the past two days.

Usually she's a complete coward, she happiest in her cage or on top of it. Occasionally she will fly over and come spend some time with her flock either landing directly on the back of the sofa or on top of my head. She will step up and occasionally accept kisses on top of her head but is still scared of hands.
If she is feeling very brave she will sometimes climb down the sofa onto the seat but this is usually brief.
She usually stays by me for 30 min or so before flying back to her cage. If we are lucky we get a couple more "visits" from her. Then some days she won't leave her cage at all

The past two days she's been everywhere, landing on me anywhere I am in the room- usually it's on my head but it's been on my shoulder, on my back and even on my arm.
She doesn't think much of my boyfriend but will sometimes step up for him.
The last two days she is landing on his head and shoulders. She's been flying back and from her cage non stop. She's been landing just about every where and on anything- normally she won't go near anything - bit of newspaper on the seat? Forget it she acts like it's a landmine even though her cage is lined with paper and she's happy to walk on that.

So she's been on the floor! The computer monitor, desk and keyboard. She's been right up to the mice whilst they were active and had a good long look into the tubs. She went and sat on top of the other tub of mice. She's started approaching ollie and holding her ground when he protests as she gets closer. I had to intervene yesterday as I was scared he was going to take a chunk off of her. A bit later she then flew right over his head whilst he was climbing over the sofa and landed right in front of him- quite a risky thing to do but I managed to distract him before he went chasing her with beak wide....


I don't know what's caused these sudden behavioural changes but I like how her agility and flying ability has improved. If I thought I needed an extra pair of eyes in the back of my head I definitely do now- there's no way she would escape ollie if she keeps rubbing him up the wrong way, he is the lightning bird.

[Wolf]

So what do you think has changed?

[marie83]

I haven't got a clue Wolf.

The way we are with her is the same, the room is the same, her diets been the same for the past year and a half (well subtle changes as I play about with the ingredients a bit from batch to batch). She seems in the same state of health.

Maybe its just the length of time we have had her, she used to panic if I even walked in the room. I've had to take things to the extreme of slow and steady to even make slight progress. Maybe something has just finally clicked that no harm will come to her from my partner and I or her surroundings. Its been such tiny improvements for so long and very much 1 step forward and 10 back at times that its taken me by surprise to be met with such a massive change all in one go. She's usually such a quiet bird and now she's just "on the go" all the time.

[Wolf]

I don't know but many people and animals have a learning curve wherein they learn only so much and then seem to go into a holding pattern or a plateau until they finally finish processing what they have learned and then suddenly they start all over again at an accelerated pace. I wonder if this is what happened here.

[marie83]

Sounds plausible but her behaviour extremely different which makes me doubt that theory. Today she jumped inside the rabbit cage briefly- its one of those metal ones with the big plastic tray underneath (with fairly high sides) so it was no accident.

I guess she might have bashed her head on something which has given her amnesia so she's invented a new life for herself lol.

[Pajarita]

How old is she? How long have you had her? What kind of light schedule is she on? Also, has it been raining lately over there? One more thing, is she now more vocal than before?

[Wolf]

How old is she? How long have you had her? What kind of light schedule is she on? Also, has it been raining lately over there? One more thing, is she now more vocal than before?

Sounds like you think that she has entered a breeding cycle and is looking for a nesting area and a mate. I thought of that as well though I didn't say so, but where does the rain come into the equation?

[marie83]

Not 100% sure but ive had her about 8 years. She was at least 1 year when I got her but thats as much as I was able to confirm. Shes on natural light cycles bar where I create an artificial sunset - shes out of breeding condition now, stopped her mating call and started her moult. Shes laid once before but dudnt behave anything like this. We had a fairly dry summer really so it is raining more than it was but hasnt for. For a week or so.

[Pajarita]

The artificial sunset might be no longer working and, this, combined with the recent rainfall might have triggered something in her. One thing I can tell you and it's that no bird should be molting right now (did I misunderstand? because we are smack in the middle of the winter) so her endocrine system is definitely not attuned to the seasons.

I have this theory. It's one of my 'off the wall' ones because it's not based on any type of scientific research or even in Nature (but then, it would never happen in the wild) but, in my personal experience through observvation, female birds that reach a certain age without reproducing go into some sort of a middle life crisis, their life clock starts ticking real hard and would react to it by going into condition off-season and even laying for the first time in their lives.

[marie83]

All my birds always have moulted straight after breeding season and all my research pointed to that being correct. Details on the artificial sunset are on the set up thread approx 3 posts down on the housing board.