Ask Lafeber

Alexandrine Parrot trying to touch my finger with its beak

Hi,
It’s been 3-4 days since I’ve got my Alexandrine Parrot. He lets me pet his beak but sometimes gets a bit angry, he doesn’t let me touch his head. He also accepts seeds from my hands, he eats the food I eat. When I bring my finger close to him, he opens his beak and gently tries to get my finger inside it. I get scared because he has a large beak and also because I think he’s biting me. So, is he actually biting me or is it something else?

Hi,

If he was biting you, you would know! Parrots use their beaks to explore and climb. He is going to check out your finger if you offer it to him. And he might put too much pressure or bite you. Parrots do not automatically know how hard is too hard, especially if this is a young hand fed bird. Whether this bird is hand fed or not, he is still settling in. No matter how tame a bird is, they do have the tendency to bite or clamp down on a finger when you put it through the bars of the cage. They may do this to be territorial or because they don’t recognize it as something connected to a person. It’s best to have a bird out of the cage to try to handle it. If the bird won’t come out on your hand, this is where stick training can be helpful.

Here are the links to our training and behavior pages, and these will be very helpful for you to understand what you bird is doing and how you should handle it.

Teaching Your Bird

Pet Bird and Parrot Behavior

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda