Just had my nose pierced by a Senegal!

[ishael]

Please keep in mind that this isn't a post about bashing Senegals. I may talk negatively about this particular parrot but I in no way dislike Senegals in general. Every bird is different.

I work in a pet store with several small to medium parrots; two sets of Conures (Two black-cheeked and two Rose Crown) and a Senegal. Things are at a bit of a lul with our parrot sales so we are not getting any in lately.
The Senegal, named Sasha, is known to be 'moody' and a little unpredictable. She has been at the store for almost a year and is probably about 1 1/2 yrs old. When we bring her out to play on her little playground above her cage, she can get grumpy if anyone disturbs her. Today I took her out because a couple was eyeing her up and she posed and chewed on things and delighted them on top of her cage. She ran from me when I went to put her back in, but I didn't let that stop me and I put her back in without complaint.
Later in the day, I was re-arranging all the parrot cages since the people that I work with seem to have absolutely no clue as to how to set up a decent parrot cage and make it interesting and functional for the animals and appealing to customers. I did all the Conures first and then moved to Sasha's. I am not afraid of parrots in the slightest, so Sasha does not scare me. I kept her in the cage while i moved things around and even stuck my head in at times. She pulled a couple of strands of hair out, which hurt, but didn't seem angry. When I went to move a specific perch she was getting a little crabby and getting in the way, so I put her on top of her cage. While I was moving the perch and screwing it in from the outside, she started kind of "charging" at me. I am no real expert on aggressive parrot behavior and I stupidly assumed she was being friendly.
My face wasn't super in her face, but she all of a sudden grabbed my nose (lower part of her beak on the inside, outer on the outside) and used that momentum to thrust her feet and claws on my face. I batted her away and rushed to the bathroom where I nose was gushing blood and it now looks like I went and got my nose pierced. I was super shaken up and ended up crying a bit, but about an hour later I went and held her just to make sure I wasn't afraid. And I'm not, she's just a bird, she isn't evil. But now even my boss won't hold her because he is afraid of her.

I'm wondering if maybe she is territorial? Or if its a "mood swing"?

[mrbowlerhat]

Ouch, that must've hurt! I'm glad you didn't end up being afraid of her.

Sounds to me like she really didn't want you to touch that perch of hers, and got quite annoyed when you did, and then (from her perspective) you didn't respect her warnings, so the bite sounds like a perfectly natural reaction. I'm personally pretty sure she won't unexpectedly attack anyone, since she did warn you before, even though you didn't understand her at the time.

[marie83]

Ouch, poor you but lesson learned I guess though.

Yes it probably was territorial with the length of time she has been in the shop but might be something else, possessive over a certain toy or something. Either way its probably best to put her in another cage out of sight in future whilst cleaning to avoid stressing her out as I'm sure your not in a position to spend enough time training with her.

[friend2parrots]

sorry to hear about your nose-bite, i just got one myself from my and it was quite upsetting too. i agree with the posters above, that the bird did what was natural to it. like you said, it was just being a bird. parrots are wild animals. even the tamest sweetest most relaxed looking parrot will exhibit instinctual aggression when provoked or if its dealing with a stressful situation.

i'm glad that you are working in that store because i think the parrots will benefit greatly from interacting with you, because youre willing to look at things from the birds point of view. all the best

[marie83]

i'm glad that you are working in that store because i think the parrots will benefit greatly from interacting with you, because youre willing to look at things from the birds point of view. all the best

agree with this, well done to you

[ishael]

Ouch, that must've hurt! I'm glad you didn't end up being afraid of her.

Sounds to me like she really didn't want you to touch that perch of hers, and got quite annoyed when you did, and then (from her perspective) you didn't respect her warnings, so the bite sounds like a perfectly natural reaction. I'm personally pretty sure she won't unexpectedly attack anyone, since she did warn you before, even though you didn't understand her at the time.

Yes that was probably what happened; kudos to her for defending her turf even at the expense of my nose. I probably should have seen it coming, but I don't really interact with her much because she is known to be aggressive at the "drop of a hat", as it were. You'll be scratching her head through the bars one moment and the next she is biting your finger... I try to stay away from her because I don't want to develop a fear, but there is one other employee who really understands the parrots and handles them well, so she can be friendly, you just have to know the signs of aggression when they do spark up.

Ouch, poor you but lesson learned I guess though.

Yes it probably was territorial with the length of time she has been in the shop but might be something else, possessive over a certain toy or something. Either way its probably best to put her in another cage out of sight in future whilst cleaning to avoid stressing her out as I'm sure your not in a position to spend enough time training with her.

Exactly... Usually if I'm moving things around its when I'm doing a complete scrubdown of the cage and I can bring everything on the back room and put her on a little playground a few feet away. But the last time I did that was months ago and nobody has changed things around in that time. :/

:( sorry to hear about your nose-bite, i just got one myself from my and it was quite upsetting too. i agree with the posters above, that the bird did what was natural to it. like you said, it was just being a bird. parrots are wild animals. even the tamest sweetest most relaxed looking parrot will exhibit instinctual aggression when provoked or if its dealing with a stressful situation.

i'm glad that you are working in that store because i think the parrots will benefit greatly from interacting with you, because youre willing to look at things from the birds point of view. all the best

Yes I 100% agree! And thank you, I really try to give the parrots a good home there because it is much more stressful for them than the other animals since they are so sensitive. And parrots are pretty misunderstood and ignored by the majority that work there, so their cages are always sub-par.

[mrbowlerhat]

she is known to be aggressive at the "drop of a hat", as it were. You'll be scratching her head through the bars one moment and the next she is biting your finger...

Ah, I can totally relate to that! Sounds pretty much like my Miley, so I now never cuddle with her close to my face or without watching her carefully.

[GreenWing]

Sorry you got bit. In the past with my own Sennie I've received a vicious bite when she was angry with me, and it's really painful. 'Hope your nose is doing okay now.

I agree with the others in that it sounds like Sasha was ticked about the perch and attacked you after what sounds like a tantrum

Maybe the next time you see her, wiggle your tongue at her... this is Senegal body language for "hey, I like you, let's bond." It works with Tiki and she wiggles her tongue back at her flock members all the time, especially when relaxed and affectionate. Hopefully, Sasha will then be friendlier with you.