INSECURITY

A Possible Cause of Plucking, Screaming or Phobic Behavior

by Jane Hallander

This article is reprinted from Grey Play Round Table, with permission from the author.

Now, imagine what happens when the same species is taken from its parents at a very young, impressionable age and hand-fed by humans. Since Grey parrots are so intelligent, they quickly imprint on humans. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines imprint as an indelible distinguishing effect or influence. Instead of imprinting on their parents and learning the natural ways of wild parrots and their flocks, hand-fed Greys learn that food comes from a spoon and is often the same food their human handlers eat. They learn that mutual preening comes from a human's hand, rather than another parrot's beak. They learn that family pets, such as dogs and cats, are to be chased and tormented, rather than avoided as predators. They see their humans as their friends and fellow flock members, because, after all, those are the ones who gave the baby birds their meals and warmth.

Unfortunately, this utopia of bird to human relationship has one flawed edge. Our African Greys are still very much wild animals. One or two generations are nowhere near enough time to erase centuries of genetic patterning, often called instinct. Instinct is the species' way to insure its future existence. For instance, parrots are prey animals. They are eaten by predators, who are the parrots' natural enemies. Because they are prey animals, they have physical attributes that allow them to escape - wings and a loud voice to warn flock members. They also have instinctive signals that alert them to possible danger - violent aggression toward parrots usually indicates a predator, is an example. While we can change their learned behaviors through imprinting, we cannot do anything toward changing instinctive responses and behavior patterning in an animal that is so many generations away from being domesticated. Domestic animals, such as dogs, have had many of their genetic behavior traits bred out of them, leaving them all the more susceptible toward complete imprinting on their human caretaker.

When parrots cannot cope with an event, they fall back on their instinctive responses. If other Greys have raised them, they will have learned all about predators, making it easy to know what they should fear and what not to fear. If a human is physically abusive to a parrot, the parrot's instincts immediately alert it that humans are now predators and it reacts accordingly. If a parrot is removed from its human flock to another room, its instincts may tell it that it's been abandoned. In the wild, abandonment means becoming some predator's lunch. The hand-fed parrot doesn't know why, but it feels insecure when its cage is placed away from the flock, so it screams or pulls its feathers out.

Sometimes a Grey's owner takes a trip, leaving the juvenile parrot with another family member of a professional bird sitter. When the owner comes back, their once normally feathered bird has pulled many feathers out and, in its nervous insecurity continues to pluck from that day on.

If the flock leaves a wild grey, when it's at an age that it hasn't learned enough to provide for itself, it is a sure death sentence. Instinctively, a young (less than a year old) bird will do anything it can to stay with its flock. If we leave our carefully nurtured birds when they're that young without first acclimatizing them to the new surroundings, we take the risk of undermining their trust in us that we won't someday leave them again, helpless and unable to fend for themselves. For that reason, I always recommend people take the time, before they take that long awaited vacation, to let the young Grey get used to the people and surroundings of its temporary home. Take it to the bird sitter's a few times before you leave on an extended trip. Let it spend time with the new people, while you are also present. Then leave it overnight several times, before the longer trip. It's an extra effort that may well keep you from coming back to a featherless parrot.

People are unlike an African Grey's natural predators. There are no rules written for us. Even wild birds have not been taught by their parents that humans eat them, although that does occasionally happen in Africa. Therefore, we can be either - a friend or a dangerous predator. Our job is to be aware of what happenings can turn us into predators by triggering instinctive responses in our parrots' minds.

Excellent examples are the many phobic birds that have experienced great pain at a human's hands, while their owner watches. There are veterinarians who advocate pulling primary feathers to help damaged feather follicle growth. I don't agree with this practice due to the intense pain and discomfort caused the parrot - so much pain that the bird often regards anyone associated with that pain a much feared predator, including the owner watching nearby. I have done numerous consultations with people, whose Greys are completely phobic around them, but behave normally with other people. These birds don't know how their human caused them so much pain, however their genetic patterning as prey animals tells them that the humans who did it are threats to the parrots' lives and must be feared.

Phobic parrots are the most heart rendering to deal with, because much of the time their owners love them dearly and have no idea why their parrot won't respond to their love. Believe me, it is much easier to prevent phobic behavior than deal with it after it happens.

We can prevent many of the instinct-driven insecurities that occur with our hand-fed parrots by simply being aware of the animal they are. Parrots are prey animals by nature. That means they react to danger with a flight response. In other words, they won't stick around to confront their enemies. Try to anticipate what may frighten your Grey. Sometimes it's as simple as a new toy or piece of furniture. Let the bird become familiar with the object from a distance over a few days time period, before placing it in or near the cage. If you are doing home renovation work, such as installing overhead track lighting or anything with a lot of loud pounding, move the parrot to another location. In the wild, predators often come from above, so track lighting installation, with the parrot's cage under the overhead commotion is a sure way to frighten a bird into thinking you and the overhead lights are dangerous predators.

Put yourself in the parrot's position as a prey animal that still relies heavily on wild, instinctive responses. If something would frighten you in that situation, it will probably frighten your parrot. Don't make sudden, quick hand motions around your Grey, especially its head. Predators come from out of nowhere, with lightning fast movements to kill their prey. Your bird is genetically programmed to fear sudden, fast movements.

We often pride ourselves on being able to raise our companion parrots to become, in our own minds, little humans. They love us, talk like us and eat our food, however they are very different beings than us. Since they are in our care, it is our responsibility to understand them, not try to force them to understand and become human-like.

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