Pigeon quaking or shivering, meaning?

My 3 month-old Rock Dove, Rochester, will sit on my shoulder and when I speak to him/her s/he shivers his/her little body in response. If I reach up to pet his/her body s/he quakes or shivers. It's mostly the wings, I think, that are quivering, but I can feel it very clearly on my shoulder, the movement, as s/he does this. This seems like a clearly positive response, huh? But...

There are other times, like the bed-time step-up when s/he does the same or very similar quake/shiver and it seems to be a negative thing. It can then be accompanied by a froggy rhythmic growl and pecking at my hand, but sometimes just the shivering. This would be an aggressive type of response, huh?

What other experiences do people have with this behavior/response that could shed light on its meaning?

Does it tend to indicate gender in any way? I'm still trying to nail down Rochester's gender.

Thanks,
Stacey

[BaconBit]

My Bacon Bit did the same thin. If she wa on the ground and wanted to be closer to me she would stand on my foot and shake and coo. The when she would get on my shoulder or chest, she would preen my face and coo at me. Then she would usually settle and sleep. But she pretty much would do that whenever she was happy or excited. When I would come home from work she would be at the top of the stairs cooing and shaking!!! hehe It was cute because of her bad wing, it would shake like crazy because it was so floppy. She would also shake when I would feed her treats like popcorn. she would sit at my feet and shake till I gave her a piece. So I dont know.....She did it quite a bit actually!! hehe I dont know about the gender thing...but Miss Bacon was definatly a girl!!!

Tara

[bigbird]

This bird is communicating something to you, something which is normal for pigeons to do, so I would not worry about it. Just keep watching the behavior, at some point you will probably begin to understand.
Regards,
Carl

[Thunderbird]

Hi;
It's a normal response for youngsters to do this. Will subside as they get older. Goes back to the response to get parents to feed them.
Chris

[screamingeagle]

If I were to describe the meaning, I would say excited. You can be happily excited, or you can be nervously excited. The wing twitch is a characteristic of happy excitement in young pigeons, especially if they have no other pigeons to bond with. Older pigeons will shiver (older for my pigeons is 3 months). My Spirit is a female, and I think she's been the only one who "shivers". She does that when she sees me holding her treat canister, but also when my husband comes up to her and starts talking or holds out his hand. She's kinda scared of him. I don't think my male has ever shivered, but then, he's not as personable as my female, and the only thing he gets excited about is his wife, LOL!

Suzanne

[JGregg]

Yep, that's normal. In my family it's called "baby wings", that's when youngsters shake their wings at their parents while begging for food. As for it subsiding my 11 yr old still gives me "baby wings" whenever he wants anything, and my 8 month old follows suit.

[This message has been edited by JGregg (edited November 26, 2003).]

[maryco]

Hello,

It's called wing twitching... Almost all pigeons do it.

They do it when they are happy and when they are sad or trying to warn another to stay away!

When they are happy as in babies they twitch their wings to get attention or food from the parents, when I come and put my hand over my pet Pearl's head she will put her head down and start to twitch her wing (I see this done when her husband also approaches her in the nest.. she will also do a little moaning sound) it means she wants attention.

Also when pigeons defend their nest/territory from being taken over by another pigeon they will also wing twitch as a warning sign to say "stay away" then if the other pigeon approaches closer he will attack. I see this when I play with my pet Dotty who is a male, when we play fight he will put his wing up to wing smack me then when I lift my hand he will lower his wing and twitch it as a sign to stay away and if I come closer he will run towards me and slap me again!

Mary