Does my lovebird have OCD?

[linked90]

Hi all - I have two female peaches: one is 4 years old and the other just turned 1 this week. My question is about my older bird. She is a gorgeous bird but I adopted her from a family that did not take the time to socialize her with people while she was young. She spent almost all of her time in a small cage and was mean and afraid of people when I got her. They believed she was a male which I saw immediately that she was an understood female (aggression, nesting behavior). I gradually socialized her and she is pretty bonded to me now. Also, she loves people! She has a few strange behavioral tendencies that I feel may have been caused by her being isolated early in her life. My question is about one behavior in particular that she does repetitively like someone who has OCD. Whenever I have her out, she will eventually start to do this gentle nibble with her beak of my finger or ear or face over and over and over again. I have noticed she doesn't just do it with me but also with some of the bells in her cage or company I have over like other family members. Is this a nervous behavior/anxiety related? Or is this something female lovebirds do? I'm not really sure how to discourage the behavior either because she will continue to do this repetitive nibble with her beak for awhile until you move her or put her away. I'm not even sure it is possible for lovebirds to have OCD but any advice would be great.

[Bubblelady]

Is she trying to preen you, maybe?

[linda040899]

Sounds like she's grooming you and that's what parrots do with each other. It's normal behavior. :)

I'm glad to hear that you've spent time with her and socialized her so that she trusts you. Good job, human slave..... :whistle: They train us very well!

[linked90]

Thanks guys for the response! I would say that she's grooming me except the way she "preens" is very different. With this, it is a repetitive nibble to one spot over and over and over again until she gets tired or I put her away. It is very odd to observe because of how quickly she repeats this behavior which is what makes me think it is anxiety driven. And! If you try to pet her back while she is engaging in this behavior she only temporarily pauses and then continues. It is almost trance like! The longer she does it the more pressure she puts into the nibbles though she never actually bites you. I should really get it on video because of how bizarre it is. My other lovie (who I got as a very young bird) never does this so thats another reason why I believe this could be a result of trauma from her prolonged isolation.

[linked90]

I don't know if this information helps! But Kiki also was hand-raised from a breeder so my second thought was that this behavior is stemming from her wanting me to "feed her" as a mate. She does this behavior mostly with the tips of fingers - whether they be mine or someone else's. I have read how female lovebirds, especially when they get super nesty, expect the male lovebird to feed them. It still doesn't make a lot of sense as to why she does this behavior almost every day and why she does it so vigorously or repetitively...