In short, when a bird is spooked and startled when sleeping is called a night fright. Birds who are having a night friend will immediately start to panic and will flap their wings rapidly. They will start thrashing themselves around their cage.
But why do they have night frights in the first place? Birds get frightened from any disturbances. Some of the top reasons why birds have night fright are because of a shadow, a sudden noise, bright light, cat or dogs moving or suddenly meowing or barking close by, a sudden stream of cool air, thunder, lightning, fireworks, flashing lights from another car that make it through a window, or when small insects moving in the darkness. Some of these can send a single bird or an entire flock of birds off into a mad frenzy!
Birds, during the day, will spend most of their time on the ground foraging for food. Because of their potentially hazardous practice of having to get to the ground while foraging for food, nature has provided them with the perfect technique to escape in cases of threat. Even though it seems alarming to us when in the wild, this will make them well equipped to react and flee any predators.
When your bird has a night friend, turn on the lights, calm down your bird, and check for any injuries. It is not uncommon for your bird to scrape its cere, beak, have head trauma or have a blood feather. Approach the cage calmly, talking to the bird and making sure that they have calmed down. If your bird is bleeding from the cere or broken-off feather, you must immediately stop the blood flow. You can use cornflour or, if not available, just regular flour will do. If you are having a hard time stopping the bleeding, it is time to seek an avian vet. Although it's less likely to happen, some birds can actually break their legs, toes or wings. You must watch for any discomfort that your bird might be having.
If your bird has daily night frights, the best way to stop it from happening is by providing low-level lighting at night. I suggest getting an amazon order. I got a small, colour-changing LED light that can also change colours. It's small and only turns on when it's really dark. I don't even have to go and manually turn it on. It turns off when it's bright! This is a great tool! You can click here!
