Regurgiation behavior?

[sora no tori]

For the past couple of days, when I first took Conrad out of his cage in the morning, he'd do something a bit odd. He'd sit on my finger with his wings drooping and make whimpering noises in between sneezes. Sometimes he head-bobs as well. Anyone seen this? Is he trying to regurgitate? He's almost 15 weeks old if that helps.

[liz]

I really don't know. Myrtle tries to feed me but yours is very young.

[sora no tori]

Yeah, that's the main problem. If I were just reading this, I'd say regurgitation in a heartbeat. But, he's just so young. Idk.

[Naurthon]

This sounds more like begging behavior than regurgitation.

[sora no tori]

Begging? Begging for what?

[Naurthon]

In the wild, young birds often beg food from their parents for several weeks or a couple of months after fledging, and their begging behavior is similar to what you described. I'm not sure what part of the world you're in, but watch the wild birds in your area during late Spring/early Summer for comparison.

When I re-read your post, I noticed Conrad is a Senegal. It is possible that what he's doing is the beginnings of his "skirt dance". It's a courtship behavior, and you can probably find some videos of it by searching "senegal skirt dance". My Maxwell does this dance where he droops his wings down like a skirt and turns in circles while vocalizing. It is really charming and endearing and I try to discourage him from doing it to prevent him from becoming (more) over-bonded to me than he already is.

Conrad is awfully young to be doing any serious courtship behavior, which is why I'd think what he's doing is begging behavior. Both the skirt dance and regurgitating are behaviors you'd expect between a bonded, mated pair. I don't know how early Senegals begin these displays, however.

[sora no tori]

Oh, I see. Thank you. That's very helpful

[sora no tori]

Guess we can go ahead and dismiss the begging hypothesis, Naurthon. Two days ago when he did it again, a piece of carrot from earlier in the day suddenly appeared in his mouth. Guess I just have an early bloomer on my hands.

[Naurthon]

I guess so! Gotta love precocious parrots!

[sindy_tech]

My 4.5 month old brown head does this as well. She does it to both my partner and I. We've had her since she was 2 months. She was soooo sick we have just recently been able to cut down to one hand feed a day. Hopefully she doesnt over-bond