Sydney has developed a habit that I think I need to break her of.
She has a stainless steel water dish. It's a great dish, and she loves to take baths in it, but she has recently started looking at her reflection in the sides and bottom of the dish. At first, I thought it was kind of cute, but now it seems like she's almost obsessive about it and she will stare at her reflection for several minutes at a time.
I think it stemmed from me moving Digby and Lenore to my bedroom. I did it partly because their new cage doesn't really fit anywhere in the living room, and partly because I wanted to get Sydney into a main living space. Since I moved Sydney into the living room, she has started chirping a lot--I think calling for the other birds, though it doesn't really sound like a contact call. She has also started the reflection staring.
In light of this, I've been trying to bring Digby and Lenore upstairs to visit more often, but they don't seem to like her very much, especially Digby. Lenore is sociable with her, but he obviously doesn't like her as much as she likes him. And while Sydney tries to be friends with Digby, Digby will have no part of it. Digby gets very mad at Sydney if she gets too close.
I've also tried giving Sydney more time out of her cage than she was getting, but it doesn't seem to help either. If she's out of her cage, she looks for a reflective surface, and as soon as she's back in her cage, she goes to her water dish to look at her reflection again.
Undergoing Maintenance…
6 years ago
Are you sure Sydney is a girl? I have heard male birds are more likely to be interested in mirrors. I know Squeaky is obsessed with shiny reflective surfaces and if he has one he does nothing else but sing to it. Constantly. He does not do this with his stainless steel bowl though. I don't buy any toys with mirrors on them but I did have one when I first got Squeaky and it was terrible. I've also heard it is not a good idea to give them mirrors. I use stainless steel and glass bowls and they are both great. Maybe you could try using a glass bowl instead of a stainless steel one for a while and see what happens?
Sydney is definitely a girl. I just asked her previous owner if he was sure, and he said she has laid eggs before. Sydney was being quite funny about it this morning. She was looking at her reflection and seemed to be arguing with it. She likes glass just as well--my grandma's army flag is in a case pretty close to her cage. When she's out of her cage, that's where she goes to stare at her reflection. I think I'm going to have to get her a plastic dish.
Our friends over at AA suggest that I get her a friend.