Usually my parrot Captain, a male, struts around his cage showing off that he’s in charge and CB, his female cockatoo mate, lets him. The key word there is “lets”. I don’t know what he did recently to piss her off but for the past two days he has clung to the top of the cage where he can’t reach his favorite food… or any food for that matter… until such time as CB climbs up to her perch and he feels it’s safe to come down. This means she gets all the nuts and bananas and AviCakes first and he gets her leavings. If he tries to come down when I put the food in fresh, she tears him a new one until he retreats again to the top perch. This doesn’t happen often, maybe a few times a year. But when it does, he has learned to stay far away and give her all the respect and space she needs.
And people think women wouldn’t be good in combat situations… sheesh. Ask Captain. He’ll set you straight.