Birds can be hard to read when it comes to deciding if they love you or not. They aren’t like dogs who will lick you or cats who will purr and sit near you if you are a new bird owner who has other pets, you may be wondering if your bird loves you. Especially since you care for it and do your best as an owner, your bird may already be showing you that they love you, and you just don’t know what signs it is sending you.
Birds have multiple ways to show that they love their owners. Here are a few examples:
- Seek out attention by calling or screaming.
- Will sit near them when out of their cage.
- Mimic sounds or speech.
- “Jealousy” bites when they see them with another pet or person.
These are just some behaviors that birds who love their owners do. If there are disliked behaviors that birds do, even if it means they care, there are ways to ween the action. Promote desired practices the birds do with positive reinforcement and attention. The bird will learn the new behavior and do that over the old one.
Birds have multiple ways of showing affection towards their owners. It can be hard to tell as a new bird owner initially, but you can spot the signs once you know. Many new owners mistake behaviors, like screaming, like agitation or aggression. Screaming in giant bird breeds is normal, so long as it isn’t constant. Many bird get rehomed due to these behaviors rather than retraining the bird.
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Do Pet Birds Love Their Owners?
There Is No Proof That Birds Feel Emotion Like We Do
There are no studies that prove that any bird species feel emotions the same way we do. While that may be the case, birds have certain behaviors that may shed some insight into how they think. For example, they flutter their feathers when they are excited. They may bite when they are angry or want to be left alone. While they may not precisely feel emotions as we do, they do feel a type of emotion and can emanate it to us.
Birds Can Show How They Feel Through Actions
Many household birds can show their owners affection, such as love, only by wanting to be near them. These are the birds who cry out or scream for their owner’s attention. Birds are social creatures, and calling out is similar to how they would call to other birds in their flock. While the behavior can be annoying if done in excess, there is a reason behind it.
Birds Can “Miss” Their Owners
Larger birds, like parrots, can bond with a single person over their lifetime. These larger birds also have long life spans, which means it is possible to outlive their human owners. This event can cause birds to over-preen their feathers or lash out towards others who try to adopt them afterward. Although these are negative behaviors, it can be due to the bird missing their owner. These behaviors can be detrimental to getting the bird rehomed, so the new owners will need to be patient and caring with them.
How Do You Tell If A Bird Likes You?
Are you worried that your bird doesn’t like you? Well, luckily, there are a few signs that you can look out for to answer your question.
Birds Will Mimic Human Speech Or Inflection
Various bird species, especially of the parrot variety, will mimic human speech. This behavior is a sign that they care about you and their surrounding sounds. The more imitated speech that they share with you shows how much time they spend with you and how happy they feel. Other bird species such as the parakeet can’t mimic human speech. However, they can try to mirror the beat of a favorite song or even your speech pattern to show affection.
Birds Want To Be Around Their Owners
Many birds are social creatures and desire to spend time with others. While many birds in the wild spend their time with other birds, domestic birds will prefer their owners. Spending time can be flying around you while you’re relaxing on the couch, or hanging out in their cage in the same room as you. Being able to interact with you will help promote their happiness and social desires.
Birds Will Seek Out Your Touch
Many birds, especially wild turned domestic birds, can be fearful of humans. Whether it’s their approach or touch, birds may shy away or try to bite an extended hand. Abused birds can also be afraid of touch or certain sounds that remind them of their past experiences. Birds who care for their owners will seek out their owner’s contact or tolerate being touched. This action may take some time to change, especially if you only just adopted the bird or know of their rough past.
Can Birds Sense Emotions In Humans?
Birds are quite smart at detecting emotions in humans. They also are able to express their own emotions in unique ways as well.
Birds Can Form Emotional Bonds With Humans
Spending time with your bird can help form the bond between you two, especially if you adopted the bird young. They grow up with you as part of their ‘flock.’ This fact helps birds discern who they accept and feel comfortable around, and who they don’t. Once a bond is formed, the bird will follow you everywhere and want to be with you! This bond also shows that birds are emotional creatures so that they can sense emotions in humans.
Birds Are Very Observant Of Other Birds
Birds are very aware of other birds around them. Whether it’s because they are in their flock or possibly predatory birds, it doesn’t matter. Birds will watch others decide what the bird is going to do next or how they feel. Birds that you keep as pets can also apply this method to you. So, it’s possible that your bird can tell when you are feeling sad or happy, based on how you act or what you say.
Birds Use Behaviors To Express Their Own Emotions
Birds use certain behaviors to express how they feel to their human owners. Their feathers fluff up when they are excited, and they bite to let their owners know they are angry. Since they convey these emotions to their owners, it is possible that they can read their owner’s emotions. They may hear us laugh and know we are happy, or see us cry and realize we are sad.
How Can I Get My Bird To Love Me?
If you want to work on the relationship between you and your bird, there are a few ways to do so, which we’ll take a look at below.
Spend Time With Your Bird
As stated earlier, birds are social creatures. They want to interact and spend time with you. Incorporate them into your chores or watch TV with them in the room. This time together will form a stronger bond with your bird. This method is a great way to ease anxiety in birds that you have recently adopted or come from a dark past.
Feed Your Bird It’s Favorite Food
Pay attention to what foods your bird likes and feed it to them more often. You can also give them treats on occasion to promote positive behaviors. The more aware you are of your bird’s favorite foods, the more likely your bird will come to trust you. Trust can then lead to affection, such as rubbing their beak against you or wanting to be near you. It can also be a great way to win your bird’s favor if they like another family member or visitor more than you.
Increase Physical Contact With Your Bird
Touch is a great way to promote the bond between you and your bird. You can use your finger to lightly pat your bird’s head and beak or stroke its feet. Make sure to stay away from its back, wings, and tail. Those areas can increase sexual arousal in birds when touched and may entice aggression. The right kind of touch can increase the likelihood that your bird will feel more comfortable around you.