Screeching Budgie

Question
We have a budgie who is 4 years old.  She is very friendly and seems to be happy and healthy.  We have noticed lately that she screeches constantly, especially in the evenings.  We usually let her fly around the house when we are home.  We let her out of her cage and she comes out for a little while and then she just flies back into the cage and screams even though the door is still open for her to get out.  This screeching seems to be getting worse in the last few weeks.  Is there something wrong with her or is there something we can do to get her to stop.  We usually end up covering her up and she just goes to sleep.

Thanks for your help.

Answer
It sounds like when she flies back to her cage and starts to screech, it is because she wants you to cover her cage! :) She is ready to go bed for the night.

The days are getting shorter this time of year, and maybe has she is getting more mature... she is getting better communicating what she wants to you. :)

However, if she is screeching during the day, this would not follow the reason above, and you should never cover her if it is during the day (covers should only be used for putting her to bed for the night).

Here are a couple of articles about screaming in parrots:

http://www.cockatiels.org/articles/behavior/screaming.html

http://www.wctropicalbird.com/bird%20education/question_8.htm

http://www.africangreys.com/articles/behavior/screaming.htm

http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww11e.htm

I hope this helps.

And Happy Thanksgiving! :)

-Maggie