black mask personalities

[ittyandrita]

ok, i know each bird has their own personality, but i'm wondering in general, are black masks more timid than peachies? my "foster" Baxter ( ha, totally kidding myself... ) is much more cautious and reserved than my two peach faces. also, i would appreciate any little tidbits about black masks personalities and such. thanks

[graushill]

I don't have peachies either, so I can't really compare, but from what I've heard and experienced with my flock I would say masks are more skittish than peachies. I have a flock of 6 masks, out of which two are hens. For the most part my 6 get along with each other, but they do squabble and I've had the ocassional bleeding toe although thankfully nothing serious. As for personalities, I think they all are different. Nemo is shy and quiet, so quiet in fact that had I had him as my first bird I would have been conviced lovies are among the quietest of birds :). He likes music and will sit all puffed up and blinking shyly at me if I sing to him. He's very gentle and a great dad. Pontus, my older hen, is as close to a perpetual motion machine as any bird I've ever seen. She's a very laid back little lovie for the most part and I can honestly say she's never bitten me, not even when she's nesty. She loves shredding and you have to be very careful when she's out lest she chews us out of house and home. Bubblan is playful, curious and loves attention. If I'm talking to one of his other cage mates, he will immediately scramble up to where we are and put himself literally in my face until I give him proper notice. If I'm paying attention to one of the birdies in the other cage, he promptly hangs upside down because he knows mamma can't resist him in his bat mode. Pidget is a tiny, feisty little thing that will always respond to you if you talk to him (Hi Pidget, how are you? Beep. Oh really? Cluck, and so on and so forth). Piccolo is a vain, regal, spoiled hen. She knows she's cute and she uses that to her advantage. Elmo is just this sweet, loud, bumbling character. He loves Nemo and Piccolo but he tries to be friendly with all the others.

I love my masks, and I accept the fact that they don't like hands. It doesn't matter all that much to me but I wouldn't say no to a hand tame velcro birdie ;).

Gloria

[Mummieeva]

I have had peach-faced and masked both. By far Masked are the more reserved and more skittish in my experience. My masked were more of my lookers and peach-faced the do it fast birds.


Steph

[ittyandrita]

thanks everyone for replying. i'm just trying to get a feel for baxter's personality and don't want to misread things because i'm expecting him to act just like the 'other' lovebirds.
also- have you found the eye shape test to be accurate? i know its not supposed to be 100% but just curious

heatherJ- i get that haughty hen stare everyday from lovie rita, i hear ya on that one :)

[dani]

I've never owned a peach-face, but I've come to realize that my Haku, who is a masked, will never be very outgoing or sociable. He likes interaction and he likes to listen to me talking, or to the other birds, but he is terrified of hands, and is very skittish. Judging from what others have said, I think that this may be a general masked characteristic but I can't be sure. I've accepted his reserved, observer- type personality as just who he is, and I love his careful, thoughtful little manner.

[ittyandrita]

ah, that is exactly how i would describe baxter, careful and thoughtful. he's afraid of my hands, and doesn't approach me, but once he's on my shoulder or being held he turns into a little cuddle bug. i think he forgets i have the scary hands.

[wilkiecoco]

okay - i looked at all the photos, and each one looked the same to me. :( >o this sexing is not easy stuff!!! :)

[Eliza]

I've always read that masked and Fischer's lovebirds were more reserved, shy, skittish, etc. With that said, I'd imagine that like peach-faced lovebirds, each bird is an individual and has the potential to develop into a human-interactive cuddly lovie.

Example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F2xrBhinw8

[ittyandrita]

i guess this is my thing- sometimes he loves to cuddle and will just sit there for hours getting scritches and preening my hair (he even gave me kisses on the lips! i know saliva is bad for them but i kept my mouth closed 8o
anyways, then some other times he acts completely terrified of me. do you think maybe its because he doesn't know the step up command so my hand coming at him is scary? he loves to sit on my chest when i'm laying down (dont worry nowhere inappropriate) and get scritches and does the 'eye's closed in ecstasy' thing so i know hands dont totally terrify him. i'm just confused! if anybody has any insight into this, how to work with him, etc. he's been showing a lot of interest in noises from the bird room and he and jeffrey have been calling back and forth. so i'm getting excited for quarantine to be over. also, this morning, he started playing with a toy! i was soooo excited now we just have to work on those veggies...

[LauraO]

I think teaching him the step up command is absolutely necessary and he should get it in a day. Even my tame birds don't really like hands coming at them and often run from me when I try and grab them. Of course, I don't just randomly chase my birds and will only manhandle the ones I know can handle it, meaning they are tame and not scared.

I've had three masked birds and a bunch of peachies. To me, my masked birds are very different and not as tame. We even handfed our slate masked bird and while she's not untame she doesn't like to step up or be caught. Then there's my first bird Zimber. He's seven and was a crazy pet shop bird. Over the years we've worked with him on his own terms and he's pretty tame. He still doesn't like to be touched but I can kiss him, touch his beak and play tons of games. He's actually a total PEST and I grab him and give scratches as payback. In the past, this used to keep him at bay for some peace, but not anymore. Nowadays he just keeps comin' back for more:rolleyes: .