Favoring an Eye?

[Kween]

Hi everyone;

Sushi is doing rather well and doesn't seem sick in any way, but she does this thing where most of the time she'll close one eye and just use the other. It's always the same one that she'll be closing, and she does it when she's content, sitting there and looking at me talk to her. Is this a normal thing, or is she partly blind in one eye, or is there a draft coming at her constantly from that side, or something? Hahaha, I sound like I'm overreacting, but I just want to make sure I don't disregard anything right now, since this is my first time with a pet bird.

[wilkiecoco]

kiwi does the same thing - he also does it when he is very relaxed, but seems to be watching out for evil things at the same time! so he sleeps in my hand with one eye open and one eye closed. I never worried about it before, I just assumed it was normal bird behaviour. i'll be interested in what other members say. :)

[Janie]

Oliver did that in the first week after I adopted him. I took him to the vet and he did give him something (I have no idea what it was) that was added to his water for a week or so. Needless to say, he never did it again a single time after I took him to the vets office (typical) and I don't think anything was really wrong with him but the vet must have decided that a wide spectrum antibiotic could be used incase there was a real eye problem. That was 4 years ago and I've never seen Oliver do that again.

Having said all of that, I have also seen my other two birds close one eye but rarely and not for a long period of time at all, maybe a couple of times in the 2 years I've had them. If it's something you are seeing Sushi do a lot, I would question why it's happening. Maybe it is normal behavior for some birds but unless some members here who've had lovebirds far longer than me say it's OK and something they've often observed in their birds, I would want to be sure it's not a medical issue.

I'd like to see what others have to say.

[chromasnake]

I've noticed the same thing in all my birds, parrot or passerine, when they are comfortable and just hanging out with me. Since they just focus with one eye at a time anyway I figured it was normal, but I'm not an expert, either.