Petting You Parrot's Head is Not Always Good

Lots of people will say “only pet your bird on the head because other places on the body will form unhealthy relationships.” The reasoning behind that is because of flock dynamics in the wild. Preening is a social and de-arousing behavior. It is done socially amongst the flock to keep plumage looking good and to build trust and bonds. Any bird in the flock could preen a birds head because it is an area that the bird cannot reach itself. But, generally, mates preen the body, wings, and rump because they are more sensitive areas, vulnerable areas, and can be arousing sexually for the bird. I will tell people in the general terms to just stick to the head.

But for some birds, the head is also an area that is sexual for them. The bird doesn’t just say “oh this touch is friendly because it’s on my head.” Parrots are not domesticated, and we stopped taking them from the wild in the US since 1992. They have real biological needs of reproduction. We basically give them everything they need to be hormonal for most of the year. Good food, vet care so their healthy, free from predation, nice temperatures, literally just meeting their basic needs can set them up to be hormonal. Parrots in the wild don’t have all of this, so they will only attempt to strain their resources for breeding once a year most of the time.

Birds are not like us. Petting is not a thing they always enjoy. We are very tactile in the ways we show our affection, and birds simply are not like that in the same ways. I always tell people if they want a companion that they can sit and pet and stroke and cuddle all day with, get a dog, not a parrot. If you do that with a parrot, you’re asking for increased behavioral concerns or concerns medically with sexual related problems like chronic egg laying and prolapsing.