Cockatiel Behavior

The Eagle, Batman, Dracula... cockatiels love to spread their wings

They will imitate any sound in their surroundings... a dog barking, a siren, your throat swallowing sound as you take a drink.

Then they learn to talk and especially love to whistle songs.
There is something about their nature that they love to connect with our "whistles" or songs and can develop quite the karaoke catalog after a while... and when the song is over, they will keep going - improvising on what they just sang.
Cockatiel Jazz - singing over a song and "almost" getting it right - is pretty common and a lot of fun to listen to.
Here's a little birdie grooving to James Brown



Happy Birthday Song




To the BeatBox beat of Bebo



...and who could forget the ever popular Enzyte tune?



As soon as they discover themselves, there isn't anyone they will ever love more than the reflection in the mirror.




They also have a mating call (which you might start to hear if they hang out with their mirror too long).
This is the song that wakes me as the sun comes up because the male is in one cage and the bird he wants to mate with is in another (she's actually a sister from another clutch since his own mate died so I'm trying to avoid any brother/sister weirdness).
If it's raining and dark, he sleeps in and I might oversleep and then I just say, "My bird didn't go off this morning."




If you have just one bird, you might want to recognize that the males will try and mate with everything in sight... their mirror, their toys, your fingernail (YO!! I EAT WITH THAT HAND!). It is normal but not constant.

Petting a Cockatiel

Do they like to be petted? Some do, and some don't.
I've had some that were the biggest cuddle muffins and some that want nothing to do with it.
It seems to be a personality trait right out of the clutch.
One didn't like to be petted but loved to get her crown preened and I could gently draw my fingers across her crown the way she would preen her tail feathers and that was fine with her.






Bathing
This is how I got my first bird to discover his bird bath... I put a mirror in the bottom and he kept trying to kiss himself, getting wet and flinging water all over in the process.

Cockatiels also love bathing.
This one has its own perch in the family shower stall.



I used to spray my birds like this:



Then I discovered that they also like when I arc the water and it "rains" on them.

I used to have one that would sit there, tilt her head back and catch the water drops in her mouth.
I wish I had a picture of that.