My son has been more and more interested in my parrots as he’s gotten older. He’s finally felt comfortable to have them perch on his hands, now, and he’s really enjoying getting closer with them. When it happened the second or third time, though, he asked me a question I thought was a bit funny: … Read more
I was playing with my cockatiels with my son the other day when he started trying to test out their sense of smell. He would offer them different things with different aromas and see how they reacted. It was an interesting methodology, I thought, as well as an interesting question—but I figured my son’s experiments … Read more
My friend and I were discussing the differences between our pet birds the other day, as we own quite different species. I have two cockatiels, and he has an African grey. One thing he’s always loved about his African grey is that it’s quite affectionate and always willing to come over for pets and scratches. … Read more
As I was putting my cockatiels to bed the other night, I noticed that they had all puffed up their feathers and were snuggling up together. I thought this was an adorable image and didn’t really think much of it until later, when I realized I’d never seen that behavior before. I hadn’t had them … Read more
I was sitting in the living room whistling away quietly to myself the other day, when I was very surprised to hear my cockatiel apparently whistling back to me from all the way upstairs. I’d never had this before, and even though all the doors were open, I was really surprised that it was able … Read more
One of the reasons birds can make such great pets is the way they interact with their owners. In addition to bonding, they’ll often talk to their owners, engaging in conversation, mimicking sounds, and repeating words or phrases. The ability to talk is a key trait, but not all birds are strong talkers. That got … Read more