IndianRingNeck.com

I've heard both ways. Just wanted to hear from ya'll. I think Gracie would LOVE it but we haven't yet put a mirror in front of her. Thanks for the thoughts about it.

what could possibly be the issue with giving your bird a mirror... from what i can tell they seem to understand they're looking at themselves.. and they -love- it..

it will be an exciting experience... i think it helps keep them company too... at times my bird with nestle up right next to his mirror and just hang out.... other times he talks to himself.

I have a big mirror on the wall behind Billie's cage and she talks to her image when l am out of the room. Billie's cage aggression has lessoned. There are mirrors on the walls everywhere, Billie knows her relfection is not real.
AJPeter

Donovan wrote:what could possibly be the issue with giving your bird a mirror... from what i can tell they seem to understand they're looking at themselves.. and they -love- it..

From the books I have read that mention it, the problem they have is not realising it's themselves. They talked about birds having relationships with or vendettas against toasters and similar.

They were all books about parrots in general so perhaps IRN are smarter than other birds. But, according to wikipedia the only non-mammal to pass the mirror test is the European magpie. So maybe the IRN who don't have a problem with mirrors, it's just because they would be ok with a real bird too.

But, also from what I've read, mirror problems are easily solved by removing the mirror/shiny paramour, so it's low risk to find out whether your bird likes one.

I am wondering about this issue myself. Dudes will attack his quite a bit. On rare occasions he will look at himself quite sexily, pin his eyes and do the boy wing thing, regurgitate sometimes but hasnt yet pasted the mirror with it, but for the most part he seems aggitated looking in the mirror.

So I'm wondering, does he think its another bird? I have read somewhere that some birds can get annoyed when they look at themselves and think 'helloooo I can mate with that!' and then think their amourous advances are being turned down so go on the attack.

What are others thoughts on this? Maybe I should remove the mirrors!

I have a large wall mirror behind Billie's cage and she can strut up and down her perch watching herself often when l am out and come in suddenkly she is talkling to her image, her cage aggressiojn is high in front of the mirror but if l can coax her down to her door she allows a neck scratch or step up.
There is a metal mirror in her cage but she never looks at that. I bought her a plastic mirror but she was only interested in biting the surround. She likes beads and some today l bought she disicovered how to unhook the chain in five minutes.
AJPeter

So here's a probably complicated experiment to do with your bird and the mirror. To determine if the bird really understands it's an image of him or not. Good luck! lol From what I've read, and I'm still really on the fence about doing the mirror thing, if you make a mark on your birds chest, or somewhere he can see in the mirror. If he pecks at the mark on the mirror, then he doesn't realize he's the bird in the mirror. If he puts his head to his body and ttys to get at the mark on him, well, then he's one smart birdie. He can differentiate himself from the bird in the mirror.
I've also read that the bird that really doesn't realize this image is himself, can get very frustrated with the "bird" in the mirror that's not interacting properly with him. It makes lots of sense to me. I just don't know if I want to even try. But again, I do. But again, I want Gracie to not be antagonized by an image she doesn't know is her. I'm still researching! I definitely want to read ya'lls thoughts on this mirror thing! Please keep the posts coming. Thanks

At the moment I can't get near mine without a nip so will leave that experiment for another day! If someone can try it though, do let me know the findings

Anybody know how to wash felt tip pen mark off my birds chest without getting bitten? Another way of finding out if your bird knows the image is themselves is if they do not feed the mirror image. But if they feed or are agressive it might be best to take down the mirror for a awhile.
Billie displays in front of the mirrow ducking and diving, even running along the perch with her wings flapping but not feeding it nor as she does with me with her tail swinging side to side and nuzzling the image.
AJPeter