If you’re a cockatiel owner, and have been keeping this bird for a bit, you may have noticed some odd behaviors in your bird, behaviors like the bird swaying side to side.
This article will look into why your bird is doing this and what to do.
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Cockatiel swaying side to side:
Odd behavior may simply be something that your bird does on occasion, and it may mean nothing, or, it may be an indicator of something going on in your bird.
Here is why your cockatiel may be swaying side to side:
Defensiveness:
If you’re raising a female cockatiel, who is sitting on her eggs, then the bird may be doing this as a way to protect her young.
Mother birds are quite defensive of their eggs and will act aggressively if a threat comes close to their eggs.
Your mother cockatiel will suddenly not be ok with anyone coming near her or her eggs.
The mother bird will also hiss at you, have her crest flat against her head, and, will have her mouth slightly open like she is about to lunge at you when defensive.
What to do:
If your bird is defensive, then you shouldn’t get close to it unless you really need to when giving her food and water.
The bird will lay her eggs and start raising the chicks. She will go back to being relaxed once her chicks are old enough.
The bird is scared:
Another reason why your cockatiel may be swaying side to side may be because the bird is scared or has anxiety about something.
Some cockatiels will rock and hiss when you switch off the light.
These birds don’t have the best vision at night.
If you switch the light off at night, the bird may become startled and start to sway side to side and hiss.
This may also happen if the bird sees a predator in the area.
What to do:
The bird will become startled because it suddenly can’t see you.
You can keep the bird from being startled, and keep it from becoming anxious, by leaving a night light on in the bird’s room.
The light will help the bird see that there are no predators in the area and this will help the bird calm down.
Use a night light that only weakly illuminates the space, this will allow the bird to see but will not disturb the bird as it sleeps.
Boredom:
Another reason why your bird may be swaying from side to side may be that the bird is bored.
If your bird’s space has been the same for a while, and if the bird hasn’t had any stimulation for a while, then it can become bored.
These birds are quite intelligent so they need a lot of mental stimulation.
What to do:
You can choose to play with the bird to stimulate it, or, you can enable the bird to mentally stimulate itself.
Do this by giving the bird lots of new toys to play with.
You can also mentally stimulate the bird by getting it out of its cage and letting it fly around.
If you choose to let the bird out of its cage make sure to birdproof the room that it will be flying in.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other bird related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Why Does My Bird Put His Head Down?, Why Does My Cockatiel Sit In The Corner?, Why Does My Cockatiel Flap Its Wings Really Fast?, Cockatiel Sleeping On Me, String Stuck In Chicken’s Throat, How To Save A Choking Chick, How To Tell If Your Chicken Is Choking, How To Stop A Chicken From Choking, Baby Chick Choking On Water