Some birds are bullies !!!

SOME BIRDS ARE BULLIES. 

Today when we placed six adult male eclectus and one young adult female eclectus into an outdoor flight so they could experience sunshine and rain, but also do some socializing. Some individuals landed on the ground, then went over to the wire walls and climbed up on to a perch. Some flew to a perch and looked around. 

During these first moments in the large outdoor flight, these adult parrots were studying their new location, finding perches, doing some flying. One male climbed to a perch where a male was alreaady perched and started threatening him, reaching over to bite him. The perched male then flew off. Over the next hour I observed this same male approaching other males and threatening them. This is an indication of a bully, a male who threatens to attack other birds and will attack them if possible.

One of the goals of placing several parrots together in a large flight is to encourage social interaction.  The point of social interaction is that individual parrots interact in a positive way when in the flock. In the past with placing a number of adults into a large flight, I have observed that there may be a male OR a female who is focused on threatening others, being aggressive with others and starting fights.  

I always remove those individuals who are bullies from the flock for two reasons. First, they have a negative affect on the flock social interactions. Second, they can kill another bird. If the targeted bird is unable to flee, the bully can attack and kill that bird. However, the targeted bird may also die from extreme stress due to the constant chasing and no way to escape while becoming extremely over tired and very frightened. Bully birds need to be removed from the flock.  

Adult aruensis male, who is not a bully, just a beautiful boy!

By Laurella Desborough 

8/25/25