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The bluffing stage in aviary birds

Posted: Wed Oct 30, 2013 4:46 am
by InTheAir
Hi everyone,

I would like to get an idea of how this "bluffing" concept relates in a bird only situation.
Has anyone observed it in young aviary birds interacting with each other? If so, can you please share your observations of how the interactions start, progress and end, and also what age this occurs at.

The information in regards to human/bird interactions that is widely available is far too ambiguous to be completely accepted without further research.


Regards,
Claire

Re: The bluffing stage in aviary birds

Posted: Thu Oct 31, 2013 8:54 pm
by InTheAir
Anyone?

Re: The bluffing stage in aviary birds

Posted: Thu Nov 14, 2013 3:43 am
by InTheAir
Can I take this lack of response as proof that my hypothesis, what is termed bluffing in pet birds is completely due to human error in handling, is correct?

Re: The bluffing stage in aviary birds

Posted: Thu Nov 14, 2013 3:15 pm
by SunniDai
I am only responding to let you know that we are out here, we just may not know how to respond to this particular question. :)
As for bluffing being a result of the handling, I've never observed aviary birds to see if there has been any correlation to this hypothesis. You do bring up an interesting question, though. One that I wouldn't mind knowing the answer to, as well.
Dana

Re: The bluffing stage in aviary birds

Posted: Thu Nov 14, 2013 5:17 pm
by InTheAir
Thanks for the reply, Dana.
The whole concept just confuses me, even the name for it. I feel the term "bluffing" would mean threatening to bite, but a whole lot of bird sites describe it as actual biting. ...
From what I have read on forums, it commonly seems that it gets used to justify bites which could have been prevented by watching the birds body language and responding to it appropriately. ..
I guess I need a flock of juveniles in a giant aviary so I can watch them for a year... it sounds like an expensive way to answer a question though. :lol:

Re: The bluffing stage in aviary birds

Posted: Thu Nov 14, 2013 8:41 pm
by sheyd
I actually witnessed this yesterday in my 12 week old parent raised youngster. I meant to post here to tell you about it but- forgot :roll:


Dad was on the perch youngster also likes (see youngster below on perch).
Youngster decides he wants to be where dad is...flies over, lands just above where dad is perched, and proceeds to growl at dad- dad doesn't budge- youngster lunges at dad, and dad lunges back- youngster boofs up pins the eyes and lunges again at dad- this time dad flies away- youngster gets desired result- the perch to himself.

Would of happened all in about the space of 10 secs

So there you go :)
Image

Re: The bluffing stage in aviary birds

Posted: Fri Nov 15, 2013 12:46 am
by InTheAir
Thanks Shey!
I recently got an aviary raised girl of similar age. Introducing her to our current bird has not gone down well. She copies him quite a bit, but generally only goes near him to chase him off so she can steal what ever he is playing with. She is only just hand tame and we haven't had any aggression from her at all.
I hope this is that bluffing stage and she's not just a total witch....

Gorgeous pic btw. I've been stalking my new bird with the phone camera after she has been preening to try to get a pic that shows off her wings like that. I guess you need a pretty good camera to capture the colours? Most of my pics of her have made her look a muddy grey colour.

Re: The bluffing stage in aviary birds

Posted: Fri Nov 15, 2013 4:51 am
by sheyd
no problems :)

We have his sister 'Samus'- she was supposed to go to my mum, but mum is not well and is spending a lot of time in hospital- so my partner has 'adopted' her.

anyhow,
'Chocobo' our mature 5yr old h/r male (see avatar) is very wary of her- even though there has been no attack- but if you watch, she will first narrow her eyes- and then raise the feathers slightly around her beak--it's an attempt for him to remove himself from her proximity- which of course he always does- the only time she's 'boofed' right up and threatened to bite is when I brought him in too close . We are taking things slowly --


On the pics- I took that one with my iPhone :lol: it does make the colours a lot better if the subjects are outside. I have a Violet Blue Pallid- who if you take pics of inside appears 'most definitely grey' :lol:

Good luck with your new bird :D

Re: The bluffing stage in aviary birds

Posted: Fri Nov 15, 2013 1:45 pm
by InTheAir
I hope your guys settle their differences too.
Best wishes to your mum.

Nila flew straight over to her the first time he saw her and tried to approach her nicely, she freaked out and flew away.
He did feed her through the bars of his cage once, he hasn't tried again though.
Nila is the irn equivalent on a labrador puppy with other birds, he follows them around trying to get them to be his best friend. He's even tried to befriend butcher birds through the window, he's now avoiding the new bird though.
They are both fully flighted, so we just watch that nothing gets out of hand and leave them to it.
The new ones grumpy face is really funny at the moment because she managed to get passion fruit juice on her head which makes her raised feathers look like spikes. It kind of suits her.

I'll try to take pics while she is by the window. She's violet edged, to the naked eye her wings look amazing.

Re: The bluffing stage in aviary birds

Posted: Fri Nov 15, 2013 7:07 pm
by sheyd
Love the edged... one of my fav mutations- post a pic :mrgreen: -for inside, it will help to be between the light and the bird.

you probably know that my parent raised youngster is also SL Edged- you can make out some dilution in his flights- his overall colour is like 'avocado flesh green' I can't wait for him to mature :)

Re: The bluffing stage in aviary birds

Posted: Sat Nov 16, 2013 2:55 am
by AlphaWolf
Hi, Intersting topic, kudus to you for bring it up :D My little aeronaut is around 9 moths old, does that mean he is past the bluffing stage?

Re: The bluffing stage in aviary birds

Posted: Sun Nov 17, 2013 2:53 am
by InTheAir
After a whole weekend of trying this was the best picture I could get of her.
Image
It doesn't really do her wing tips justice though.

Alpha, I don't know sorry.

Re: The bluffing stage in aviary birds

Posted: Sun Nov 17, 2013 8:28 am
by MissK
She's pretty. She looks emotional. Like she's just not quite comfortable with everything?

Re: The bluffing stage in aviary birds

Posted: Sun Nov 17, 2013 3:41 pm
by InTheAir
MissK wrote:She's pretty. She looks emotional. Like she's just not quite comfortable with everything?
You're right. She doesn't like me coming up behind her with a phone, she was open to the possibility of flying away. She saw her reflection in Daves phone when she was playing on the floor the other day and freaked out!
She has still not fully adjusted to living in a house. She seems to want to move out and join a rainbow lorikeet flock. She learning to speak lorikeet quite well.

Re: The bluffing stage in aviary birds

Posted: Sun Nov 17, 2013 4:48 pm
by sheyd
she is lovely- great pic- shows off her colours wonderfully :)


Don't worry- about her acting like a brat at times our (my partners) 12 week old think she rules the roost too- might be a girl thing :wink: - Choco doesn't really need a bird friend as he has us- we know from past experiences that not all birds will become friends- though it's nice (for us) if they do. Funnily enough- he gets on better with aviary birds than one's that are tamed.

Kudos to anyone working with a bunch of tamed birds and getting them all to get along. :)

Re: The bluffing stage in aviary birds

Posted: Sun Nov 17, 2013 4:57 pm
by sheyd
AlphaWolf wrote:Hi, Intersting topic, kudus to you for bring it up :D My little aeronaut is around 9 moths old, does that mean he is past the bluffing stage?
I have never been bitten by Chocobo- not once. Maybe it's because I've been around his species for more than 20 years and can read their body language fairly well.

'Bluffing' will happen- through out the birds life- since birds can't talk you need to look closely at how they're reacting to the situation (whatever it is) at the time.

Choco has bitten my partner and my teenage son- his warnings though subtle, were ignored/missed *shrug*

I also haven't been bitten by Samus or her other edged brother (now rehomed) although they have bitten (not hard) others- I don't really think that 'bluffing' is a stage- I believe it's more of a reaction to a stimulus or trigger.

though this is just my thinking :) and am open to hear what others think

Re: The bluffing stage in aviary birds

Posted: Sun Nov 17, 2013 9:58 pm
by MissK
Keep talking it out. I've never seen "bluffing" but it's interesting to me. I wish I knew what macaroon named it "bluffing" though; to me it sounds more like "aggressing". "Posturing" might be a happy medium, but I get the feeling these birds are willing to follow through.

Shey, that young "green" (pardon me) bird stretching is just beautiful!

Re: The bluffing stage in aviary birds

Posted: Mon Nov 18, 2013 2:52 am
by InTheAir
Sheyd, that's why we bought an untame, parent raised bird. We thought she would be more a birds bird! :lol:
She seems to think she's a rainbow lorikeet, contact calls them all the time.