female tiel

Question
I have a female tiel that is alone and about 1 year old. I have just noticed that she is rubbing
her "bottom" on her perch. Is this just a sign
of maturity?

Answer
Hi Kathie,
I have to be perfectly honest with you here. I've never been asked, nor seen, this sort of behaviour before. I tried to do a quick search for you, and will continue to try. If I do find something, I'll be sure to forward the info to you. As of this moment, I've not found an answer. What I would ask you to do, just off the top of my head, is to check her vent area. See if she has an inflamed area around her vent. You could also check the area to make sure that she's not egg bound. The vent area would look inflamed, swollen. Or check to make sure there's not feces "caked" in that area. Constipation if pretty rare, but does happen with birds. I'm really just trying to think of all possible reasons why she would be doing that. I've never seen a female do that just from 'reaching maturity'. Is she rubbing that area on the perch? Or is she squatting down, sort of laying herself out 'flat'? That's a mating posture. Her tail would be lifted a tad, and the male would mount her on her back. Just check to make sure her vent is clear and not having a problem either passing an egg or some sort of problem going to the 'bathroom'. If you find either of these to be the case, I'd suggest you take her to an avian vet. I'm sorry I couldn't be more precise with my answer, Kathie, but again, I've never really encountered this problem. My apologies, and maybe I've given you some things to check on. If I do find any information concerning what you mentioned, I'll gladly send a follow-up to your question.
Best regards,
Linnie :)