Hello

I have a question about Dozy.

She loves scritches. I'll scritch her on the back of the neck/head and she will turn her head around not to bite but to take my finger in her in her beak. The movement is very fast. She isn't biting me. It's almost like her way of trying to tell me that I'm not scritching right - don't scritch here, scritch there.... Hope that makes sense. If she likes head/neck scritches so much why all the drama with the head and beak. BTW she has been doing this for some time. I notice my cockatiel does this too. What does this mean?

Thanks

Ollie does this. She'll bend her head clear down, beak to chest, feathers puffed up, cooing all the while just begging for a scritch. A few seconds into it she'll jerk her head up, grab my finger and either just hold it, or push it away. I like to think of the beak holding as an endearing gesture...sort of like handholding. When she pushes my finger away I know it's just another example of how she completely rules the roost around here. If I don't scratch her juuuust perfectly...it isn't good enough! I think they're just indecisive!

Sometimes I think it can be mutual preening. I have often seen 2 birds together each preening the other at the same time. They are not often passive the way they allow us to scritch.