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by Ken Globus
Every
time I see someone kissing their bird on
the beak, I cringe. Yeah, I
know, it’s
sweet. It’s a
bonding thing between you and your
bird. Well, I come into contact with
a lot of bird owners and I hear some stories that would make your feathers
stand on end.
Even
a tame bird can bite. At any time. A
loud noise, a shadow swooping by the
window, a vibration, can make your bird
lash out at you. Even if it's only
trying to tell you, “Let’s get out of
here!” When it's bird to bird
interaction, they're both armed with the
same, hard weapon. But us?
Our lips are soft and sensitive. A
bird bites our tender lips and
it's like a knife
through butter. I have heard some horror
stories. A
double yellow head that nearly tore a
woman’s lip off. Or a totally tame
cockatoo that wigged out and drove its beak through the
bridge of a woman’s nose. Serious
emergency surgery followed up by a
couple plastic
surgery procedures was required.
Can I put it any more clearly?
Kissing a bird on the beak is simply not
safe. And I'm not even going into
the potential negative health
affects your bacteria can have on your
bird's health. But that's something else to consider.
Y ou
ask, "How am I
supposed to express my abundant love for my
little buddy?" Well, there is another
way to show affection and, in my book, not only is it safer, it’s much more appealing (at least, to me) on an
emotional and tactile level.
All you need to do is
control your bird’s beak with gentle
pressure while kissing it on the face.
Or nuzzling its neck. Much more tender
and sensitive than that rock hard beak.

Also, if something startles your bird
mid-smooch, you will be able to control
its head so it can’t bite you. With
this technique I’m able to nuzzle and
kiss birds that are not even tamed yet,
as in the photo below.
So,
next time you want to give your bird a
little peck without getting a big peck, please, please
control that beak and keep yourself
safe.
Here's another shot showing the technique. It's not useful
just for kissing; it's a great way to control a bird's head in the
first stages of touching.

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