Researchers still don't quite understand how it works, but a French team says they have observed the phenomenon multiple times in a group of five captive blue-and-yellow macaws (Ara ararauna).
They published their findings in the journal PLOS One.
Blue-and-yellow macaws have a part of their cheeks that is naked, uncovered by feathers, and researchers noticed that this fair skin would redden during interactions with their handlers.
Birds don't have muscles in their faces, explained lead researcher Aline Bertin of INRA, a French public research institute dedicated to agricultural science.
Their facial expressions have never been studied, she said.
Anecdotally, people who took care of macaws noticed them blushing, their cheeks reddening with increased blood flow, much like in humans. But they still needed to document the phenomenon.
Therefore, they set up an experiment to film and photograph the birds on perches during organized interactions with their habitual human handlers, such as talking and looking at them.
Sure enough, they saw the birds' skin reddened around the eyes during these encounters.
The experiment was limited by its small size, only five birds were studied, so scientists cannot say for certain why the birds appeared to blush.
We don't know if these birds can feel positive emotions, said Bertin.
But the research could pave the way for more experiments on aimed at better understanding the sensibilities of birds.
If the emotional lives of birds remain a mystery, plenty is known, however, about their intelligence, which can be high and comparable to that of some mammals.
Many birds are known to be able to use tools in order to solve problems, for example.
When it comes to emotions and stress, scientists have described birds ruffling their feathers during mating rituals or conflict situations.
People don't usually think of birds as having an emotional life that is as complex as an ape, a dog, or a cat, said Bertin.
It doesn't shock anyone to see a parrot in a pet store cage. We don't really see this with primates. There's a disconnect there.
Meanwhile, About 50 of the last Spix's macaws, the blue parrot made famous in the hit animation movie "Rio," will be reintroduced to the wild in Brazil from captivity in Europe, officials said Saturday.
Brazilian Environment Minister Edson Duarte is due in Brussels on Sunday to sign the agreement with Belgium and Germany for bringing the birds back in the first quarter of next year, the ministry said in a statement.
The Spix's macaw originates from northeast Brazil but is considered extinct in the wild, with only scores remaining in captivity. The medium-sized parrot sports feathers in a variety of shades of blue.
It was last seen in the wild in 1990, according to the Association for the Conservation of Threatened Parrots (ACTP), which partners the Brazilian government on the project to revive the species.
The current batch of survivors being reintroduced from Europe will initially stay in special center due to open in Berlin next Thursday, where they will be prepared for the transition.
They will then move to a 72-acre reintroduction center in a conservation area of Brazil's northeastern state of Bahia, with the first being released into the wild in 2021.
Brazil's environment ministry said that international breeding programs for the birds in captivity have seen the population grow from 79 in 2012 to 158 this year.
The ACTP says that the current population must be increased to become sustainable long term. Other needed measures include preparing the local population for coexistence in Brazil's Caatinga region, where the parrots come from originally, the group says.
Destruction of habitat and capture for trafficking are the main reasons for the near disappearance of the parrots.
Their dramatic situation formed the basis of the 2011 3D movie "Rio," in which a Spix's macaw is brought from the notoriously cold US state of Minnesota to breed with a captive Spix's macaw in Brazil, leading to a series of adventures – and saving of the species.
Tourism Observer
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