Bird Screaming

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Wing It - Bird Behavior

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Be Careful What You Wish For: You May Get It!

Have you always wanted a talking parrot? You probably thought it would be fun and entertaining. A parrot's ability to speak and mimic human speech is one of their attributes that make them very attractive to their human caretakers. What other pet do you know of that can literally speak our own language? However, the species of pet birds that are most inclined to talk are generally highly vocal most of the time and have a tendency to scream—whenever and for as long as they desire.

Normal Screams

Parrots in the wild tend to gather in "flocks," or groups, primarily in the morning and evening. Instead of sending email or memos, birds will cy out for miles over the rainforest to signal the start of their twice daily gatherings. Some of their calls are utilitarian (to get everyone at the "club-nest" on time), and some seem to be out of pure joy to open or close the day (akin to a 19th century New England town crier),or some to simply create parrot "music" (unavailable for download on Napster of course!)

As Dr. Larry wrote in his book Cats on the Counter, cats have a variety of "calls" or meows that can signify a variety of needs and/or emotional states. Some cats meow or cry out when they are angry, frightened, in pain, or want attention.

Well the same can be said for pet birds. Birds or parrots vocalize to:

Facilitate "Contact Calls"-- vocalizations emitted periodically throughout the day in order to stay in touch with fellow members of the flock.
Facilitate "Alarm Calls"—sounding the alarm when predators or tresspassers are infringing on the flock's turf or the bird's nest.
Facilitate "Flirting/Love Calls" --the special sweet nothings members of a pair say to one another.
And to facilitate "Tribal/Flock/Clan Calls" – where flocks of parrots develop a flock or regional "language," to communicate to their local brethren (as with people "standing on line with their pocketbooks wearing sneakers" in the North East as opposed to "standing in line with their purses wearing tennis shoes" in the South West regions of the United States.)

Too Much of a Good Thing: Ricky Martin They're Not!

Parrots bond closely with their mate or flock, which is probably the way your parrot views its relationship with you. Parrots who form a close pair-bond with their owner, may constantly seek vocal interaction, such as the "contact call" described above that wild birds use. The first time you happen to stick your head in to room when your bird screams ends up reinforcing your bird's yelling gang-banging behavior big time!

Las Vegas slot machines, here we come! For now on, whenever your bird wants you to come, it will scream (Shades of Lurch in the Adam's Family, "You Rang?") If you scream back at him, all the better. Your bird now thinks he's engaging you in a conversation—"flock talk" if you will. As Dr. Larry wrote in his first book, Dogs on the Couch, whenever the owner of a nuisance barking dog "barks back" a reprimand ("quiet!"), it ends up only reinforcing his dog's barking behavior ("no!") What we end up with is this: "Bark!" "Quiet!" "Bark!" "Quiet"………and on and on.

The same phenomenon can occur with a screaming bird bird and it's human caretaker. He doesn't understand what you are saying. But he does know that he's getting an animated response from you and sends out for popcorn to enjoy the show! A parrot that has learned to scream incessantly will need at least six months to a year, to change and eradicate that behavior. Invest in earplugs and get set for the long haul.

Behavior Modification for the Chronically Screaming Bird

A pet bird screaming now and then throughout the day (the flock "contact call" from above) is as normal as you or I talking now and then throughout the day. A bird screaming non-stop for hours, however, is a sign that something is wrong. Here's how to attack the problem:

Veterinary Exam. First, have the vet examine your bird and perform careful palpitations (more in Chapter 19 on Avian E.R.) dropping and blood tests to rule out any injury, disease or illness. Your bird may simply be vocalizing its pain or discomfort. If your bird checks out fine physically, it is time to move on the behavioral front.
Lower Your Physical Energy & Slow Down. This has been one of the ways parrot behaviorists like Sally Blanchard has taught parrot owners to work with their chronically screaming parrots. Slow down, don't stress and be calm when working with your parrot. Even though we know parrots can do more than "mimic," they do take a lot of cues from their owner (watching facial expressions and body language—the metacommunication discussed above). A parrot that is learning "flock behavior" from you will learn to be loud and agitated if you are that way around him.
Extinguish Screaming Behavior. Ignore your bird when he is screaming. Don't go running back to him, which would reward bad behavior. Your bird likes your presence. Remove all incidental reinforcement for the screaming. When your bird screams, you must not look at the it, pet it, talk to it, feed it, play with it, give it a toy, or let it in or out or its cage. Doing any of these things right after it screams or vocalizes will only reinforce the behavior because in the bird's mind, it is being rewarded for screaming. You really must have "zero tolerance" toward all vocalizing. By subtly responding even to a low-level vocalization you are unwittingly training the bird to vocalize more than it needs to and thereby reinforcing the very screaming behavior that is at issue.
Praise good behavior. Look for chances to reward "quiet behavior." Don't fall into the practice of only noticing your bird when it misbehaves. Randomly throughout the day notice when your bird is quiet. Tell it, "Good quiet," toss it a treat or a toy, and keep on walking. The bird will figure out what type of behavior gets rewarded. Chronic screaming will decrease; quiet behavior will increase.
Don't You Scream! Speak softly. It is the opposite of your inclination to speak softly to a parrot that is vocalizing at the top of his lungs. Those lungs can throw a sound for miles throughout the rainforest (or your condominium community or neighborhood). Imagine what they do in close quarters. Speaking softly often models for your parrot the kind of vocalizations that are acceptable. This will cause your bird to adjust his decibel level to yours. Diane found this out when her parrot "Aztec," was happily screaming in the car when the radio was blaring. Diane often screamed back just to be heard! Having enough of this mobile heavy metal concert, Diane started to speak softly and turned down the radio volume to a quieter volume level. Soon Aztec was "chortling" happily instead of sounding off. From avian heavy metal to classical, in a few hundred miles!

In addition to these suggested interventions, you can employ what's known as the "Model/Rival Method," of parrot behavior modification developed by Dr. Irene Pepperberg. This parallels the "participant modeling" technique used in treating the bird-phobic student teacher in Chapter 3 on Ornithophobia. As with this case, the owner of a screaming bird should select a person in the family or another bird as the "Model/Rival", and begin "modeling" or demonstrating the desired positive behavior of being quiet or whistling, followed by a reward on one hand, as well as demonstrating the negative yelling behavior that you want to eliminate on the other hand, followed by a punishment, so your screaming bird literally "witnesses" what gets a pay-check and what gets a pink-slip. Model whispering, being quiet, playing or soft vocalizations as good behavior, and loud squawks as bad behavior.
Redirected Prevention: Morph screams into a more pleasant vocalization. What if…? What if your parrot still ends up being very vocal but instead of screaming, he began to sing a song, whistled or whispered? That isn't nearly as offensive to your ears as screaming is! Just as Dr. Larry wrote in his dog book about die-hard digging canines being redirected to digging boxes, or in his cat book regarding clawing or aggressive cats being redirected to scratching posts or ping-pong ball chases, redirect your bird to "toning down" its loud vocalizations to softer whistles and singing.
Distract your parrot. If you know that a vocalization will happen at a certain time, prevent the unwanted behavior. For example, if your feathered companion vocalizes when you get home from work but before you release him from the cage, or when you're on the phone, stop the behavior before it starts.

Before anything else, go and give your parrot a treat the moment you arrive home. After freshening up you can come back and give him some quality time before he starts screaming for you. Use the "contact call" also, so he's acknowledged. If you get a phone call and know your parrot will try to react or compete with you in the conversation, give him something to shred or eat before you start talking.

Remember, your dog, cat or bird thinks you're talking to them when you're on the phone since they hear you speak but only see and smell you in the room. Hence, our beloved canine, feline and avian house members conclude we are talking to them and expect an answer in response. Redirecting your bird BEFORE you get on the phone to a newspaper or piece of corrugated box to peck and play with, should help keep your large pet bird busy and occupied.

For smaller birds, you may want to use a fresh branch, sheet of paper, or a piece of junk mail. This serves as both a distraction and reward for your former screamer. The key here is to give your bird something fun to do just before it begins its screaming marathon. Behavior problems in birds (and humans) tend to take place in specific places, in certain situations and with particular people. Use this behavioral principle to your advantage by having the bird engage in appropriate alternate behaviors (whistling, singing, pecking toys or performing non-vocal tricks) in the locations and times a day where it vocalizes the most.
Allow Natural Avian Expression at Daylight and Dusk. Keep in mind that it is natural for parrots to greet the day loudly and excitedly (We should all be that enthusiastic in greeting a new day. The late University of Southern California educator Dr. Leo Buscaglia, aka, "the Love doctor," once said that he saw life as a gift that we are given when we are born.

What saddened him greatly was the fact that most of us come to the end of our lives with never having even taking the wrapping paper off! And here, our pet birds serve as shining example of hour to greet each day with full zest—devouring and relishing their gift.) In the evening pet birds naturally call out to gather the flock. Don't expect these avian-appropriate vocalizations to end.

And you probably don't want to rent an apartment in a tightly knit complex if you plan to get a macaw or cockatoo. Given their powerful and far-reaching vocalizations early in the morning, you could wind up being lynched by your new neighbors! The good news is there's no "barking" from our feathered friends during the middle of the night to disturb your fellow residents.
Change The Ambient Noise Levels of Your Home and Lifestyle. If you're the owner of a screaming pet bird, you're going to have to meet it half way: there's no way around it. A parrot will naturally match his noise level to that in your household. If you've got the stereo blaring, people talking and a TV on all at once, in the same room with your bird, then you're more than likely to end up having an equally loud, boisterous, screaming pet bird. Moving the bird to a quiet area of your home (its nest) or toning down the excessive noise levels of your activities, will go along way in successfully treating your bird's screaming behavior.

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