Birds wipe their beaks, its just a part of being a bird. They rub their beaks back and forth on a stationary object like perch or on this side of their bird cages. But of all the quirky behaviors they exhibit, and there are quite a few, there are three reasons why birds wipe their beaks. The first two are pretty obvious, but the third reason is a bit more complicated.
More often, when birds eat, they get messy especially if theyre eating soft mushy stuff all over their beak, so they wipe it on side of their perch to clean it, says Byron J.S. de la Navarre, DVM at the Animal House of Chicago and member of the Illinois State Liaison & Membership Co., Association of Avian Veterinarians.
Soft and mushy stuff like fruits and vegetables are an important to keeping your bird healthy and should make up about 30 percent of his diet, de la Navarre says. Sixty percent of your birds diet should be a fortified pelleted bird food like Kaytee Fiesta Variety Mix Bird Food which contains probiotics and omega-3 or Higgins Safflower Gold Natural Mix which contains natural, plant-based DHA and no artificial flavors, colors or preservatives. The remaining 10 percent should consist of seeds and treats like Kaytee Fiesta Strawberry Banana Flavored Yogurt Treats or Vitakraft Triple Baked Fruit Sticks.
If youre a little cagey about chipping dried fruit or crusty vegetable fibers off your birds perch, try wiping his beak with a napkin or cloth after messy meals.
Birds also wipe their beats to smooth them and maintain their proper, pointed shape, de la Navarre says.
Sometimes youll see birds with smooth beaks and even streaks where theyve been wiping beaks, he says.
While most birds wipe their beaks for hygienic reasons, others can exhibit this behavior when their tempers are high.
Some birds (wipe their beaks) as a sign of aggression, de la Navarre says. Its like when a bull stomps his foot.
If you suspect your bird is wiping his beak as a territorial gesture, you can use training techniques to establish trust and positive associations. Use seeds or treats to encourage your bird to come towards you, de la Navarre says. If youre concerned about being bitten, use forceps to hand them the seed or treat inside his cage. Then when you and your bird are more comfortable with each other, you can begin to use your hands to reward him with treats.
Birds wipe their beaks and with so many species of birds, you will encounter some that do it for a display of aggression, but most of them do it for grooming.
Chris Brownlow has been writing about pets for over 10 years. As a writer who believes in immersing herself in her topic, she has tasted more than 20 different flavors of dog and cat food while working on an advertising campaign for PetSmart. Prior to her pet days, Chris was a print and digital journalist at The Tampa Tribune and The Virginian-Pilot.
The napkin principlethat birds wipe their bills primarily to clean themis generally agreed upon, based on logic and observation. As widely noted, birds frequently bill-wipe after eating messy foods such as suet, fruits, or juicy insects, Clark wrote. It just makes sense; you know how it is when youre eating juicy insects. To make sure, though, researchers in the U.K. did an experiment and confirmed in a 1992 study that European Starlings wiped their bills more often after eating sticky food than dry food.
The answer, their findings suggest, is yes. They discovered that wiping significantly affected the length and shape of the bill. The birds on smooth perches seemed to make up for the lack of abrasion by wiping their beaks more frequently than on rough ones. Additionally, it was discovered that birds with rough perches to rub against were quicker to gather food than those with smooth ones. “This provides credence to the notion that wiping frequency could be deliberately modified to align bill structure with present dietary practices,” the group stated.
However, testing the file hypothesisthe notion that birds wipe their bills partly in order to shape themwas a bigger objective of that study. A student who observed a starling wipe its bill and inquired of lead researcher Innes Cuthill about the cause of the behavior was the catalyst for it. Cuthill looked up the question in a library because he didn’t know the answer and discovered that no one had looked into it in a lab. Cuthill, an ecologist at the University of Bristol, wrote in an email, “I reasoned it was probably like cats sharpening their claws, or rodents chewing to keep their teeth down, so that led to the experiment.”
Scientists have observed that, in addition to grooming and cleaning, bill-wiping appears to be a common social behavior among birds. In those circumstances, Clark’s 1970 paper described it as most likely a “displacement activity.” That’s a term that’s lost favor among scientists to describe unconscious behaviors like fidgeting or head scratching that occur when you’re upset or conflicted. “Those kinds of explanations for animal behavior aren’t really accepted anymore,” Michigan State University evolutionary biologist Danielle Whittaker says. We look to see if theres anything functional. .
A few things, it turns out. Although bill-wiping is not the most popular topic in ornithology, over time, curiosity has led some researchers to become interested in the behavior. While they haven’t come up with a clear-cut explanation, we can sum up their reports on the function of bill-wiping in this way: It functions as a file, a napkin, and possibly even a cologne spritzer.
Birds wipe their beaks, its just a part of being a bird. They rub their beaks back and forth on a stationary object like perch or on this side of their bird cages. But of all the quirky behaviors they exhibit, and there are quite a few, there are three reasons why birds wipe their beaks. The first two are pretty obvious, but the third reason is a bit more complicated.
For more than a decade, Chris Brownlow has been penning about animals. As a writer who values fully committing to her subject, she has tried over 20 different dog and cat food flavors while working on a PetSmart marketing campaign. Chris worked as a print and digital journalist at The Tampa Tribune and The Virginian-Pilot before she became a pet.
“With so many different species of birds, you will come across some that wipe their beaks as a show of aggression, but most of them do it for grooming.” .
He states, “There are times when you’ll see birds with streaks where they’ve been wiping their beaks and even smooth beaks.”
According to de la Navarre, birds also wipe their beats to smooth them out and keep their proper, pointed shape.
FAQ
Can birds feel when you rub their beak?
Do birds have feelings in their beaks?
Do birds like it when you pet their beaks?
Should you touch your birds beak?