- Hey everyone.
Jamieleigh here with Bird Tricks,
and I'm joined today with two Eclectus parrots,
a female named Fennel, who's right here on my hand,
and a male named Rusty who's over here
on one of my foraging trees.
Now today's video is about the difference
of male versus female Eclectus parrots.
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So I'm going to talk about some of the characteristics
that fall under these two,
which one I would prefer to have,
and let you guys kind of make your decision.
Don't forget in the comments,
if you have experience with males
and female Eclectus parrots,
please leave your opinion below
and whether or not you agree with this video,
or you have a different opinion
because all opinions are welcome on these guys.
So some general characteristics, especially in the wild,
the females are the ones that make the nest
and hang out in them for a very long time.
And so they tend to be more hormonal,
more nesty and all of that kind of stuff.
So they're the ones that are prone to looking
for nesting sites in your house,
looking for those dark cozy spaces
and becoming a little bit more territorial than the males.
So I would overall categorize the females
as being known as a little bit less friendly,
a little more nesty, a little more moody.
They're also the ones that are more likely to pick a fight.
So between the male and females,
it's the females that are gonna cause a problem.
The males are a little bit more easy going,
little easier temperament.
Now in the wild, like I said,
the females stay with the nest.
The males actually fly long distances.
They're are a lot more active.
So in my experience,
I found the females to kind of be
a little bit more perch potatoey.
Although Fennel, she's only six months,
so she has been flying around the house
and she uses flight as a means of transportation.
So that part is great.
But for the most part, she's pretty chill all day,
fairly calm and just likes to keep to herself.
I will say females tend to be a little bit more independent
than males, but that's just general.
That also depends on how they're raised.
Rusty, my male over here, he tends
to really, really thrive on human interaction.
Fennel could care less if you interact with her
throughout the day. She's just kind of neutral on it.
She doesn't need a human in her life so to speak.
She's also young, so that can change
whereas Rusty's around 18 years old.
Now Eclectus parrots are known for having a little bit more,
being a little bit more prone
to feather destructive behaviors,
like you can see Rusty has.
He has had this as far as I know, majority of his life.
I know that he's been at least in three different homes
and again, he's 18 years old.
So it's not likely that his feathers are going
to grow back from his mutilation.
At some point it was used as a coping mechanism
that just is not always able to be reversed
in parrots, sadly.
I do know that Eclectus parrots are most likely
to do it from fear and most birds are likely
to do it fear or trauma.
So the more adaptable you can make your parrot
of any species, the better.
So we like to call it the now and experience.
It's something we talk about in our baby bird course.
And it's basically talking about exposing your bird
to one new person, place, or thing every single day.
So choose one and try to expose them to as many new things
as possible in a positive way
so that they aren't accumulating fears.
They're becoming more adaptive
and understanding their environment more.
So now this is common in all species.
African Grays are usually generally phobic,
but I've known even Cockatoos.
I knew a friend's Cockatoo who hated orange.
So it's just something that you constantly need
to be working through their fears and not just saying, oh,
they're scared of that purple chair.
We'll just get rid of the purple chair.
You need to actually teach them that
that is an irrational fear and how to overcome
that fear so that they can be more adaptable in the future,
especially if they get rehomed after you.
Now, these guys can live about 50 years,
give or take.
I mean, there's different numbers online,
but I consider them a medium sized parrot.
The other thing is that they are kind of
the college species of parrot.
So when it comes to breeding, they aren't loyal so to speak.
They're just kind of cool with everyone.
So multiple males will come feed a female in the nest
and breed with her and males will visit a lot of nests.
So they're kind of, love everyone, sorta species of parrot.
So that goes a little bit differently, but honestly,
I find that helpful in captivity as far as their loyalty.
So they aren't generally one person birds
where they just attach to one human.
They're generally okay with everybody,
which is really, really cool when it comes to parrots
because one of the most common problems I hear
about on my personal one-on-one consultations
is one person birds becoming incredibly aggressive
with anybody else in the household, except for one person,
and I don't think I've ever heard it with Eclectus parrots.
So that's something that's kind of cool.
And I think comes from their natural instinct
to love everyone, so to speak.
All right, girl, do you want to go up here?
Go hang out.
Here we go.
Rusty's super distracted by her.
You distracted by that pretty lady?
Oh, you want to come over here now?
Your turn to be in the spotlight. Okay.
So what should we say about the males, bud?
What do we want to say?
I will say generally the males are a little bit
more enthusiastic about training.
They're are a lot more receptive.
They tend to eat a little bit faster.
Still slow. Still slow motion parrot.
But just in general,
the males are a little bit more interested
in interaction versus the females.
And I think that comes back to the being very independent.
Okay. You are getting a little needy though.
We're getting a little needy.
Just want these treats so bad.
Let's put you on a different part
so you can be interested in there.
And I probably forgot to mention the most obvious thing.
And just the fact that the males are green,
the females are red.
What else males versus females, guys?
Well, I would love to know what you guys think.
Do you prefer the male or the female Eclectus visually
and then just personality wise?
In your experience, do you prefer the male or the female?
I find that I've only ever seen
free flighted male Eclectus birds.
And I think that that is because again,
the males do a majority, well, not a majority,
all the flying long distances.
They can go around like five miles.
They're always foraging.
They're always bringing food to the females.
The females aren't really leaving their nesting sites.
So again, naturally and instinctively,
the females are kind of hanging nearby using flight
as a means of transportation, but not going very far.
And the males are really going and adventuring out
and then coming back to a designated place,
which always helps in free flight training.
So those of you considering flight training,
indoors or outdoors,
just keep that in consideration
of what you might naturally be working against
or with and how you can kind of use
that to your benefit.
Guys, I think that's all I got on male versus female.
You know, if I ever got an Eclectus
which I never plan to do,
but if I ever did, I would probably want a male.
I prefer the flighted behaviors.
I prefer the more enthusiastic behaviors around training.
Not that I want them to be uber dependent,
but if the alternative is incredibly independent,
I think it would be easy to forget
you even have a bird because they're so content without you.
So again,
you need to kind of find that balance within training,
within your interaction with your bird.
So although it's awesome,
that Fennel is so content just kind of in our presence.
We also want to make sure
that we're doing really positive interactions
with her, where she learns
that we're awesome, and we're okay.
So a lot of the times my daughter is doing homework
or coloring or whatever she's doing.
I try to incorporate Fennel into that,
even if she's just on a pillow next to her or on her hand.
As you could see earlier,
Fennel's completely content on my hand.
She's just not super interested
in doing anything beyond that interaction.
She's just kind of content hanging out at this point.
But again, that can change.
She's only six months old, whereas Rusty is 18 years old.
So you're seeing a difference in personality.
And that's not just male to female.
That's also in the upbringing of these birds.
So keep in mind that although there's generalizations
for males and females,
a lot of it has to do with how the bird was raised
and what was reinforced
and what was accidentally reinforced
and what was accidentally punished,
which will determine kind of how a bird responds
to its environment and what you might need to retrain.
So let me know in the comments below what you prefer,
a male or female Eclectus parrot.
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