My macaw is the most unpredictable pet I've ever known. I can't ever tell whether he plans to bite me (and he draws blood when he does) or snuggle. Can a bird have mental illness – is he bi-polar?

Sure, a bird can have a brain that isn't functioning properly. But your bird's brain is just fine. Parrots can be loving, cuddly, playful or contemplative one minute, and demanding, aloof, manic or peevish the next. Sharing space with a parrot is like living with another human: Sometimes, you just have to pick your moments and know when to back off.

Some of these moods are pretty obvious. Other times, though, behavior signs may be more subtle, and the failure to heed these clues may earn you a nasty bite.

You need to watch your pet's body language. Parrots have keen eyesight and often stare at something that fascinates or frightens them, using one eye and tipping the head, or using both eyes.

When you see that your bird is fixated on something, follow that line of vision. A relaxed body posture accompanies a calm, curious bird's staring, and a more defensive or aggressive body language demonstrates fright. Most often, a locked-on look is a sign of fascination: Like the youngest children, birds can become attracted by something colorful.

Birds are able to control their irises, shrinking and enlarging their pupils rapidly in a display that's called "flashing" or "pinning."

You have to read the whole bird to put the message in its proper context. Birds may flash their eyes when they're excited or when they're angry. Flashing accompanied by aggressive posturing, such as tail-fanning, signifies a bird who's bound to escalate his warnings – and maybe even bite – if not left alone.

Consider flashing to be the physical display of strong emotion – anything from the "I want to kill you" vibes of an angry or aggressive bird to the "Hey there, cutie" of an infatuated bird.

– Gina Spadafori

The buzz

It seems some people are not dreaming of getting a puppy as a Valentine's Day gift, but rather wishing their human mates were more like a dog. And their dogs are helping them look for mates! According to an American Kennel Club survey, 25 percent of women polled wished men were in a perennially good mood, like a dog.

Fiften percent of men polled wished women were just as happy to stay home as go out on the town – as a dog would be.

Fifty-eight percent of men said a puppy is a foolproof way of meeting women in a park.

Forty-six percent of women said they'd stop and talk to anyone with a cute puppy.

• Children under the age of 5 left unattended with a dog have the highest chance of being bitten. A study conducted by the University of Colorado looked at data of 537 dog-bite cases from 2003 to 2008. Children under 5 accounted for 68 percent of dog-bite cases, and most of the bites were by a familiar dog.

• It's natural for a dog to bark when a stranger comes to the door. In the case of the mail carrier, that stranger comes almost every day. The dog barks to alert the family and to warn the carrier to go away. From the dog's point of view, it was his brave warning that drove the stranger away. He doesn't realize the mail carrier's just going to the next house on the route.

Over time, the dog's reaction intensifies as he tries harder to send a message to the stranger who just doesn't seem to understand. As the dog becomes more and more worked up over time, the potential for a bite increases, and many mail carriers are injured as a result.

– Mikkel Becker and Dr. Marty Becker

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