Having Birds Near Your Face

Letting your bird nest you face is not always desirable. It has nothing to do with the false information of “bird dominance” (which doesn’t exist and the scientist who claimed this redacted their findings in further research). Your bird CAN be on your shoulder with no problem.

The problem lies that they are incredibly close to your face with a giant beak that can do serious damage in a sensitive area. Birds communicate with their beaks. When they’re on your shoulder, you can’t see their body language (and barely feel it through their feet) and they may not be the most stable on your shoulder. If we ignore body language, bites will happen as a more direct form of communication. If your bird is unstable, it will grab onto anything to hold on and feel stable.

Never say “my bird would never bite me.” Munchkin, my double yellow headed amazon, my little baby, bit my lip if y’all remember that when he was starting with an eye infection about a month ago.

So, calculate the risks and the individual bird. What is the birds history with me? What are some environments the bird gets overstimulated? Is there a history of aggression or fear? What is the environment like right now? What are we doing?

Merlin, my blue and fold macaw, and I were sitting alone on the bed while I worked on my computer. It was calm, I am still, so I am okay with it. I know Merlin can’t be on my shoulder if other people are around and not when I’m walking. Those are instances when he is unbalanced due to underlying health conditions from his long-time neglect, and he gets overstimulated when others are around leading to aggression.

Always make the best calls for your birds! We always want to avoid putting our birds in situations where they feel the need to bite. It’s for our safety, for the birds mental health, for the relationship between you two, and for respect for your bird’s comfortability.