"Helicopter flutter"

[ScotDeb]

My female lovebird occasionally jumps an inch or so above her perch and does what I would call a "helicopter flutter" - sort of flying in place - for a few seconds at a time. Is this some kind of communication with her mate? Or is she trying to tell me something? I've never seen the male do this? And it is not when she is wet from a bath? Deborah

[BarbieH]

Hi Deb;

My Sammy does that when he's excited and happy. We call it his Sammy rain dance, and it never fails to make me laugh. :lol He's a boy. I don't think it's a gender or courting thing.

I think some birds also do that when they exercise their wings in their cages. They flap so hard they lift up a little bit.

[bellarains]

Both of my birds do this, and I do have a pair, so not a gender thing. The only difference is Bela does this, and then does a little burn out type run through the cage, while Lacey is a bit more lady like about it:lol I think it is a burst of energy, and they are exercising their wingies.

[butterfly1061]

My lovebirds don't do this, but my dad has a Red Factor Canary who does. First time I saw him do it, I sat and watched him for the longest to do it again. We call it the Helicopter thing too :lol

[LauraO]

When I first saw the title to this post I was reminded of my lovie Squeaker (avatar), because he actually sounded like a helicopter when he flew around. It didn't matter what kind of wing clip he had or where he was going, he always had that distinct flutter sound8) 8) .

[Z28Taxman]

Hi Deb;


I think some birds also do that when they exercise their wings in their cages. They flap so hard they lift up a little bit.

Ditto did that with is ladder once. He was flapping away and he lifted off, ladder and all. Scared the daylights out of himself so he screamed at it for 10 minutes. :rofl:

[chris_lynn]

whenever we used to put a sheet over our birds cage he would hold on to the perch and flap as hard as he could because this would lift the sheet and make it fall off