silly question, upset birdie

[rebeccaturpeinen]

could it be that my birdie doesnt recognize me just cos im wearing glasses today?? i normally wear contacts but i have a problem with my eyes so cant right now. i hardly ever wear my glasses and he really looks at me differently today... i thought that maybe he would atleast recognize my voice.... or maybe hes just cranky today, dont know.

but could a small thing like glasses be something he would get upset about? he wouldnt even come near me.... i tried to take off my glasses (but then couldnt see much) but Joey looked at me like he was saying "you aint fooling me, you are the glasses person trying to disguise as my companion person, go away!"

[zazanomore]

I wear glasses, but I guess my birds are used to me with or without glasses. Some birds are just finicky. I've heard stories of people getting new shirts and that upsets the parrot. I think he'll just get used to it.

[Michael]

You know what's a good idea is to let your bird watch you put whatever on. That way they can learn the transformation while knowing it is you. For instance, when I wore my Halloween costume, clearly I looked like someone else. Yet my parrots still responded and recalled to me. I suspect it's because they learn to recognize the face regardless of clothes and because I let them see me put it on during trial fittings a few days prior.

[Natacha]

could it be that my birdie doesnt recognize me just cos im wearing glasses today?? i normally wear contacts but i have a problem with my eyes so cant right now. i hardly ever wear my glasses and he really looks at me differently today... i thought that maybe he would atleast recognize my voice.... or maybe hes just cranky today, dont know.

but could a small thing like glasses be something he would get upset about? he wouldnt even come near me.... i tried to take off my glasses (but then couldnt see much) but Joey looked at me like he was saying "you aint fooling me, you are the glasses person trying to disguise as my companion person, go away!"

Very possible.
My parents' African Greys, well at least two out of the three, are scared of my dad when he puts his glasses on (only when he reads).
One of those greys is scared of me when I have a brown sweater on.

And one of my parents' cockatoos wants to attack my mom each time she comes home from a new haircut. After a day or two he's ok but that initial "shock"...not very pleasant.

[SpeedyNyC]

Mmmm... This makes me think. I wonder if getting a couple of different masks would be an effective way to make younger birds more social towards strangers. Maybe if I frequently expose them to "multiple people" (really just me with different masks on) they won't be so scared of meeting new people. Do any of you think this can work?

[captwest]

I don't see that it would hurt, let me know how it works out.

[SpeedyNyC]

Well, this would actually take some time if it even works at all. Plus I need a young bird which I don't have, yet.

[captwest]

Well we've got eggs fixin to start hatching anyday now and after that we'll have about 3wks of relative peace and then all hell breaks loose with beggin babies.

[rebeccaturpeinen]

interesting idea!!