In my short time owning owls, I am quickly learning the personality traits they have which differ my gouldians. Since goulds are all I've really owned in recent history, it's amazing to me, comparing the differences in their behaviors. Here's what I've noticed so far; some of it I was expecting, some I was totally surprised by:
1. They're more affectionate. It's pretty well known that they're a 'peaceful', more social species--I love the way they sit and sleep together/next to one another, and their preening.
2. They're faster. These guys zoom back and forth in the cage, enough to get the velocity needed to launch poop against the wall waaay more frequently than the gouldians, haha! And they're slippery little buggers, I feel like they always manage to escape from me while handling.
3. More separation anxiety (?) Whenever I remove one from the cage, the male goes nuts, singing over and over for the other. If she hears him from the other room, it registers and she starts calling back like crazy. While my goulgians also don't like having a friend removed, it usually manifests itself by a bunch of relentless back-and-forth flying, from one end of the cage to the other, as if in search of the missing bird.
4. They "freeze". Okay, here's a weird one. There's been several times now I've noticed my pair standing very still/in place, like what prey would do in the presence of a predator...I'm not sure if they're trying to be "invisible" to me? Even as I move around the cage, they won't budge.
5. They talk to the birds outside. Another weird one, maybe this is just coincidence. Sometimes they get into a chattery calling TIZZY, being very persistent, loud and dramatic--and then I'll notice they're going back and forth with a bunch of birds sitting outside, making similar noises. I'm not sure what they are, some kind of black birds. I swear it sounds like they hear them outside, and in turn try calling to them. Is that possible?
6. They like shredding (building?). I usually line my cages with little newsprint barriers, which I fold a certain way to make a "backsplash" area to catch extra seed etc around the cage perimeter. Well, the male of this duo has been determined to undo all my origami-style hard work, because he keeps yanking at bits and pieces of the paper, attempting to shred portions off! I move it back, and it'll be yanked at no sooner. Same goes for the paper towels lining the cage. I finally surrendered and shredded up some of both materials for him, putting the pieces in a dish weighted w/rocks.
Any owl owners out there, I welcome your feedback! I did not expect to love these guys as much as I do.
Personality of the Owl Finch
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GouldieFledge
- Perfect Partner
- Posts: 355
- Joined: Fri Sep 25, 2015 7:23 pm
- Location: Northern NJ
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Icearstorm
- Weaning
- Posts: 1612
- Joined: Thu Sep 01, 2016 5:21 pm
Re: Personality of the Owl Finch
GouldieFledge
They seem rather similar to my society finches as far as the freezing and social behavior is concerned. Whenever I stick my hands in the cage to clean, they all stop what they are doing and stay completely still and chirp softly if my hands are far enough away from them. If I get too close, then they let out alarm calls and fly off to the other side of the flight. They also spent almost a week frequently calling extremely loudly and flying back and forth after a male died. Owls and societies are both supposed to be pretty sociable and cuddly finches and are often good together in same-sex groups due to this (hybridization between the two species is relatively common). Are owl finches nest sleepers? It sounds like they are.
If the wild birds sound similar to your owl finches, they will most likely call to one another but not actually understand each other. My society finches freeze, chirp, or even break into alarm calls if they hear Carolina wrens chattering outside. The wrens don't seem to use that call exclusively for predator warnings, but my finches seem to. It's more likely that your birds are responding to what they think is their same species, rather than communicating successfully with the other species. For example, it may be similar to an English speaker interpreting a Spanish speaker's "embarazada" to mean "embarrassed" and trying to ask why, when embarazada really means "pregnant." No successful communication would have taken place due to the language barrier, despite the exchange of words.
They seem rather similar to my society finches as far as the freezing and social behavior is concerned. Whenever I stick my hands in the cage to clean, they all stop what they are doing and stay completely still and chirp softly if my hands are far enough away from them. If I get too close, then they let out alarm calls and fly off to the other side of the flight. They also spent almost a week frequently calling extremely loudly and flying back and forth after a male died. Owls and societies are both supposed to be pretty sociable and cuddly finches and are often good together in same-sex groups due to this (hybridization between the two species is relatively common). Are owl finches nest sleepers? It sounds like they are.
If the wild birds sound similar to your owl finches, they will most likely call to one another but not actually understand each other. My society finches freeze, chirp, or even break into alarm calls if they hear Carolina wrens chattering outside. The wrens don't seem to use that call exclusively for predator warnings, but my finches seem to. It's more likely that your birds are responding to what they think is their same species, rather than communicating successfully with the other species. For example, it may be similar to an English speaker interpreting a Spanish speaker's "embarazada" to mean "embarrassed" and trying to ask why, when embarazada really means "pregnant." No successful communication would have taken place due to the language barrier, despite the exchange of words.