# Diamond dove falling out of nest/perch



## Dodokun (Jan 17, 2020)

Hello, I'm glad I found this forum! It is my first time with a Diamond dove & I am having a problem. My young (7 months, I believe) dove Dodo has not had a quiet night yet since moving to his new cage. He seems to fall from his nest or perch regularly (almost as if he dozes off and lets go). I've never seen this with a bird before. He is perfectly healthy and perches, flies, naps just fine during the day. I'm worried he is having some sort of 'night terrors' if that is even possible for birds. 

The details: He was in a small cage for sleeping for the first few weeks while he acclimated. Free flying in my room during the day. As of a week ago he is housed in a large cage (4' × 3' × 3') with an elderly society finch. They get along well and snuggle up when sleeping. Dodo seems to 'fall' even when he is perched away from the finch though, so it seems unlikely it is the finch doing anything. The cage is in my bedroom next to a large window. I have not been covering it since there isn't much commotion or lights going on in there. (I intend to get a cover now though.)

I can hear him flapping around about every 30 min or so. He seems to fall out of the nest and in the dark, then tries to fly up perch by perch to get back to it. Sometimes he stops at a perch and sleeps there, but falls from there later. I have not seen him fall. I just see him trying to get back up to the nest after I check on him if he's flapping around for a while. It seems to happen all night long. I even put a deeper rim around the nest to try to make it impossible to passively fall out of it. 

Has anyone encountered something like this? Since he seems healthy with a strong grip I am wondering if he is being startled awake. He still roams free during the day so he definitely doesn't know the cage well enough to navigate it in the dark, but this still seems over the top for that. It seems like every 30 min, all night long. It can't be good for him.

Thank you


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## Dodokun (Jan 17, 2020)

Update: I was up most of the night because he was moving around so much and was able to observe him in the dark. He is not falling. He is actively moving around. He seems to jump up from where he is laying and then pace around for a while along a perch or jump to hang on the side of the cage and back to nest or perch in circles like he's pacing. It almost looks like sleep walking, haha. Like he is agitated and wanting out of his cage as if it is the middle of the day. But then throughout the process he will lay back in the nest or stop on the perch, seem to relax for a while, then go back at it 30 minutes later. 

I tried taking him out of the cage and he still did it. Just started flying out of nowhere in the dark. I also tried taking the finch out of the cage and he still did it. I covered the cage and that seemed to help but it didn't stop completely. Now it is daylight and he is behaving normally. Not flapping his wings or trying to fly in the cage. I have never seen anything like this.


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## Marina B (May 5, 2011)

Maybe he feels unsafe in the cage without a cover. He might not be falling, but trying to find a safer spot to sleep and is actually flying out of the nest. Try leaving the light on for 1 night and see what happens. Cover the cage where his nest is to make him feel safer. 

Do you have the cage on a table? They prefer a high safe spot to sleep.


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## Ladygrey (Dec 10, 2016)

Dodokun said:


> Update: I was up most of the night because he was moving around so much and was able to observe him in the dark. He is not falling. He is actively moving around. He seems to jump up from where he is laying and then pace around for a while along a perch or jump to hang on the side of the cage and back to nest or perch in circles like he's pacing. It almost looks like sleep walking, haha. Like he is agitated and wanting out of his cage as if it is the middle of the day. But then throughout the process he will lay back in the nest or stop on the perch, seem to relax for a while, then go back at it 30 minutes later.
> 
> I tried taking him out of the cage and he still did it. Just started flying out of nowhere in the dark. I also tried taking the finch out of the cage and he still did it. I covered the cage and that seemed to help but it didn't stop completely. Now it is daylight and he is behaving normally. Not flapping his wings or trying to fly in the cage. I have never seen anything like this.


Some birds have this, There are different theories on the cause. They are called night frights, look it up and read about it and try different approaches, hopefully one will help. Being in dark was one thing I thought made sense as they loose visual and then get freaked out because they are a prey animal..


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## Dodokun (Jan 17, 2020)

Thank you for the replies. I wanted to wait a bit before I updated anything. 

His cage setup is on a pillared platform by a window so he is nice and high up. He is in a dark quiet room and covered every night now at the same time.

I will definitely look into night frights. That is what I am afraid of. I have been able to observe him in the dark and some of his flapping seems to be while he is actually asleep or in a kind of half-sleep state. He is not actually falling & doesn't even seem to be startled enough to move around some of the time. He can be securely perched and just flap his wings out of nowhere. It also seems to start right at about 1-2am. He will be still and quiet until then.

He definitely has a nervous disposition. He trembles a lot. He is partly bonded to me and wants to be near me or his finch pal but then he seems to realize he's come close, and he freezes in place and trembles. I have only had him since December so I don't know that he's had time to get acquainted really.


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