Friday, January 30, 2009
Bird Bites & Body Language
By Linda Costello
Explore the diaries of daily life with large birds.
Photo courtesy of Linda Costello
One thing about owning birds is that at some point you will get bitten. |
One of the best ways to have a good relationship with your bird is to pay attention to its body language. The one thing you can predict about owning birds is that at some point you will get bitten. Having lived with parrots for over 22 years, I used to say I was never bitten too badly. But I can't say that anymore!
I was misting BOO, my blue-and-gold macaw, when she didn’t want a shower. I didn’t notice, because I was talking with my daughter, Valerie, who came for a visit. In BOO's attempt to do damage to the water bottle, she bit me instead.
I have gotten bites over the years from my birds, but never one quite as painful as this. She got right under the inside tip of my middle finger, near the nail bed on my right hand. The other birds never really bite me, but BOO bit with all her big beak’s strength!
I don't blame BOO. It was my fault. If I had been paying attention, then I would have noticed how irritated she was with the spray bottle. It’s funny how we can be hurt by our birds, but instead of getting mad at them, we blame ourselves. We forgive them for things that no one else would ever get away with.
As bird people, we cannot relate to someone who, upon seeing our wound, says something outrageous like, “That bird would never get away with doing something like that to me!” They just don't understand.
Before I had birds, I have to admit I was one of those people who thought that way. I have a home video taken in 1987 when my then 16-year-old daughter, Shanley, brought home a wayward budgie that had landed on her head at the park. She was baby talking to it and kissing it. I said “Ewwwww, don’t kiss it!”
When I watch that video now, I have to laugh.
That couldn't have been me talking!
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