Minecraft – How to get a Parrot off your shoulder
Parrots are among the rarest mobs in Minecraft, who have a low chance of appearing in Jungle biomes. They come in a variety of colours and can make funny imitation sounds whilst also possessing some bopping dance moves.
One of the Parrot’s more interesting behaviours is the ability to perch on a player’s shoulder. They will do this automatically when a player walks into a tamed Parrot, and sometimes decides to fly there of its own accord. You can even get a Parrot on each shoulder if you wish.
As nice as it can be to have a colourful companion, Parrots will stick around until certain conditions are met, making it irritating to get rid of a Parrot if you don’t know what to do.
Here’s everything you need to know about how to get a Parrot off your shoulder in Minecraft.
What do Parrots do in Minecraft?
Parrots can perch on a player’s shoulder if it is tamed and will potentially stay there for a very long time. They don’t do any harm, but they can imitate the sounds of other mobs, including hostile mobs.
This might seem quirky and fun at first, but after a while this can get pretty annoying. At worst, it can also be misleading as the Parrot will sometimes imitate a hostile mob sound, putting you on guard unnecessarily.
Parrots will also perform an amusing dance if you go within 3 blocks of a Jukebox that has a disc inside.
Since Parrots only spawn in jungles they can easily blend in with the environment (especially the green ones) making them hard to spot. Therefore you can end up with a Parrot on your shoulder without meaning it.
Furthermore, in Bedrock Edition a Parrot on your shoulder actually prevents you entering a Nether portal, so you’ll need to get rid of them to progress further.
Is there any benefit to having a Parrot in Minecraft?
If you aren’t enamoured by the Parrot’s noises and dancing, there is still arguably some gameplay benefit to having a Parrot on your shoulder.
Parrots imitate the noises of mobs within a radius of 20 blocks, so this can be a useful way of alerting you to nearby threats before you notice them.
The downside of this is that Parrots are also prone to mimicking the noises of mobs who aren’t nearby, needlessly distracting you from your objective. Parrots are therefore a bit of a double-edged sword as you never know whether to trust their noises.
Also, Parrots cannot be bred so there is no potential to farm them for their feathers. This makes their gameplay benefits extremely limited, and it’s likely you won’t want the Parrots to stick around too long.
How to get a Parrot off your shoulder in Minecraft
There are multiple ways to get a Parrot of your shoulder in Minecraft. Some are far simpler than others, but here are all of the known methods:
Drop from a ledge
The most common way to get a Parrot off your shoulder is to fall from a height of at least 0.75 blocks.
This is a modest requirement and should be the easiest way of making the Parrot depart. Simply look for a ledge and most of the time this will be sufficiently high for you to drop down. Jump or drop off the ledge and the Parrot will leave.
Previously, you could just jump from level ground and the Parrot would fly away but now, despite the jump height being higher than 0.75 blocks, this doesn’t seem to work.
Sleep in a bed
If you have a bed nearby, you can get a Parrot of your shoulder in Minecraft by sleeping in it.
This is another easy method, but you can only sleep at night and during a thunderstorm so this won’t be effective at all times.
If you are really desperate, you can always craft a bed from 3 Wool and 3 Planks of Wood, but this is probably a waste of resources and you might as well find a place to drop down instead.
Go into some water
Apparently, Parrots don’t like the water. As soon as your feet touch any water blocks, the Parrot will fly off your shoulder.
This actually makes it awkward when you want to keep your Parrot and take it over the water. If there’s no way around, you will need a boat to ensure the Parrot is not scared away.
Take some damage
Parrots are hardly the most helpful battle companions. Unlike many other creatures who can assist against hostile mobs, Parrots will fly away the moment you are struck by an enemy.
You will also get the Parrot off your shoulder if you take any damage from the environment whatsoever, such as falling or touching hazardous blocks.
Taking damage isn’t exactly the best method as it’s always good to avoid damage, but it’ll do the trick. It is also another thing to watch out for on the occasions where you want to keep your Parrot perched on your shoulder.
Submerge your head in lava
This is similar to the above, but technically separate as it’s possible to avoid damage from Lava with the Fire Resistance status effect.
Regardless, even if the player doesn’t take any damage, a Parrot still doesn’t like lava. If you submerge your character’s head in a Lava block, the Parrot will fly off your shoulder and take a bit of damage itself. That one’s pretty understandable.
Don’t tame Parrots
Parrots will only perch on your shoulder if you tame them beforehand, which can be done by feeding them pumpkin seeds, melon seeds, wheat seeds or beetroot seeds. These have a low chance of taming the Parrots so you usually have to try a few before you succeed. You’ll know the Parrot is tamed when you can no longer feed it further seeds.
Just be careful of feeding them any cookies – just like in real life, any chocolate content will cruelly kill them. Minecraft originally allowed you to take Parrots with cookies, but Mojang actually changed this feature on the back of a viral reddit post to avoid misleading children.
Anyway, if you want to avoid the Parrot-perching problem again, just don’t tame them in future. Tamed Parrots don’t come with any particular benefits other than the debatable ones discussed above. Since you can’t breed them, you aren’t missing out on much.
That’s how to get a Parrot off your shoulder in Minecraft, with some further information to help you out whenever you interact with Parrots. For more Minecraft tips and guides, check out the articles below:
