Snorting Yellow Naped Amazon

Question
Hi Chrys,
I hope you can help me with this. I have a 20 y/o 'nape that on occaision will snort. What he does is exhale very forcefully through his nostrils. It's rather loud and sometimes can be heard from several feet away. It's often accompanied by eye pinning, and sometimes by ruffled head feathers, but not always. I'm wondering if this is a display of aggression, or maybe a behavior common to 'napes? I've done some research but can't seem to come up with an answer. It's not a respiratory problem, he is in excellent health.
Thanks for your help!

Answer
Hi, Lisa.  Thanks for posting!

I apologize for not responding sooner...I was looking through some of my reference material on this.  Is this a new behavior in your nape and what is going on when your nape "snorts?"  In my 18 years of owning amazons, I've never heard one snort like you describe, nor have I ever heard another parrot breeder describe this type of behavior with their amazons or read about this in any of my research EXCEPT when the bird is trying to mimic something.  I'm wondering if what your nape is doing isn't more related to mimicing something he sees someone in your household do (or from something he's seen on TV or his interpretation of something he's seen, etc.).  For example, this bird might be mimicing (or thinks he's mimicing) a sneeze, a cough, blowing a nose, or some similar action.  You could be right in that this could be an aggressive display, but I have to ask what is going on at the time this bird exhibits this behavior?  This is likely key to what the bird is doing when he snorts.  Many amazons will partially spread their wings and fan their tail feathers and puff themselves up, often times rocking back and forth as an aggression display or in an attempt to make themselves look bigger/more intimidating.  The eye pinning and ruffled head feathers could be the bird's reaction to the snorting!  In other words, sometimes a parrot surprises itself by the noises it makes!  Then there are all the other behaviors amazons exhibit that are completely unexplainable.

I would recommend paying attention to what happens right after your nape snorts and, if possible, recall what was going on immediately before this behavior as a method of trying to determine what/why this bird is doing this.  I don't think it's anything to be concerned about.

Chrys