regurgitation????

[Army.Wifey1990]

So my new bird gabby. EVERY time i pick her up,ill tell her pretty gabbie or good girl gabbie and ill scratch her neck or just pet her. she starts regurgitating...then i see her swallow it. if she gives me a kiss she will rub against me then regurgitate. my husband she doesnt do it at all..she will even fly off her cage and land at my feat and start regurgitating. i got her at 10am this didnt start till 330. is she ok? jake doesnt do this at all! neither does kiki.

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[liz]

I don't know. Myrtle tries to regurgitate to feed me but when I tell her no she swollows it. She is a year old and only does it when she is head level or above.

Someone else will get back to you.

[jaimmorr]

I have just started reading about birds and doing research, but from what I HAVE read, it seems that birds do this to show extreme affection for something/someone. They (at least some species) do this when trying to mate with another bird and apparently they are seeing you (or I've seen some do it with stuffed animals and such) as their mate, pretty much they "love" you. But, please don't take my answer as a sure thing, as I am just beginning my journey into bird world. :]

[liz]

I have just started reading about birds and doing research, but from what I HAVE read, it seems that birds do this to show extreme affection for something/someone. They (at least some species) do this when trying to mate with another bird and apparently they are seeing you (or I've seen some do it with stuffed animals and such) as their mate, pretty much they "love" you. But, please don't take my answer as a sure thing, as I am just beginning my journey into bird world. :]

Very good answer but you forgot the love the bird felt as a baby when it was given warm food from a parent or a human. That is why Myrtle tries to do it.

[Army.Wifey1990]

Thats what i thought. she seems really attached to me. She will call for me everytime i step in the room. Shes increibly sweet. She loves to groom my ears and hair? its such a different personality than my jenday conure.

[liz]

Thats what i thought. she seems really attached to me. She will call for me everytime i step in the room. Shes increibly sweet. She loves to groom my ears and hair? its such a different personality than my jenday conure.

If so - just calmly tell her no and touch her on the beak. She will understand.

[mcDaur]

your bird i sreally attached to you. but i think it may cause some problems too

[jrz2az]

This is fascinating. I've seen this over the past week or so that my rather new African Grey, Izzy , has been regurgitating food when I am holding him/her (we don't know, but I proclaim her a female) or when she's out of the cage near me. So it's because she's extra attached to me? We've noticed that she likes me best, out of the 3 men who live here (my fiance and two roommates) presumably because I'm home all day and clean/feed/talk to her. She also started nuzzling her head to mine while she's on my shoulder, which is adorable. I know I need to research more because I've heard that her becoming too attached to me can become a problem.

So she's trying to feed me? She always wants to be ON me, and when I take her out of the cage to put her on the perch on top, she clings to my fingers and wants to stay with me and climb on top of my shoulder. I think she feels most safe with me, since she's new.

But anyway, this is about regurgitating. I haven't seen her do this with anyone else. Interesting. I'll tell her No and touch her nose and hope it stops. (eww... lol but sweet)

[liz]

She can be more attached to you but make sure others give her attention too. That way the attachment won't be a problem.

[Shelby]

From what I've read, regurgitating is generally a male behavior. Birds will display mating behaviors based on seasonal changes, triggers in their environment, and their relationship with the person they are regurgitating for. I've heard that removing all cubby-holes, snugglies, and nest-like toys from the cage will help reduce some of the mating behavior, as well as reducing the number of daylight hours to about 10 hours. (I assume this is because there is less daylight in the winter and birds don't mate in the winter.) This can be done by covering the cage or moving it to a dark and quiet place in the house.

You can also try cuing a trick. This will distract them from regurgitating. (i.e., the bird is regurgitating for you, so you give it the cue for "spin" or "go to perch". In order to perform the trick you just cued, the bird has to stop regurgitating.) I don't know if your bird is trick trained or not, but I recommend starting to train it ASAP. There are so many benefits from training!

Good luck!