GREY FISHER
Birds crouch and extend wings to beg
 My 15-year-old red-lored Amazon, Chico, does some body-language movement that I would love to identify. He will lower himself, sort of crouching, with his tail towards me. He doesn't really open his wings up, but he lifts them away from his body, but it really isn't flaring, or spreading either. His head feathers stay smooth and he doesn't make any noise. He "moves," too - it's not a shake or ruffling, but he slightly moves his wings. Any idea what he is trying to tell me?
-- Jill Salcines, Thornton, Colo.
 IT SOUNDS TO ME as though you are describing a fairly typical begging behavior. You'll see this same posture in many species of birds with some variation. Frequently they will "pump" their wings excitedly but just as often all they do is raise them slightly as you have described.
This behavior is a normal one for a young bird, but many times it sticks around in the bird's repertoire of behaviors that work for getting your attention. I have an 8-year-old bare-eye cockatoo that uses this behavior frequently, and it works like a charm on me - mostly because I much prefer it to other ways of drawing my attention, such as screaming!
Grey Fisher is a trainer at the Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia. Previously he was a trainer with Natural Encounters, Inc., a world-renowned organization that helps zoos all over the world train birds and many other types of animals using positive reinforcement.
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