The Pet Cockatiel Part 4: Behavior

For all parrots, there are some behaviors that cross species and individual lines. All parrots chew, vocalize, and exist in a flock environment. Cockatiels also have their own species-specific behaviors. The goal of a bird owner is to understand the various behaviors of his or her pet bird and ensure that the bird exists in a loving, nurturing environment.

All parrots chew. The degree of damage is mitigated somewhat by the size of the bird's beak and its natural behavior in the wild. Larger birds, such as macaws or cockatoos, are voracious chewers, destroying a huge wooden toy in a matter of minutes or hours. Smaller birds, like budgies and cockatiels also enjoy to chew; however, their smaller beak size means that they aren't the "living buzz saws" that the larger parrots can be.

Chewing plays a vital role in a parrot's mental health. All birds need to be provided with toys that they can chew, preferably with destructible toys made of soft wood such as pine, along with indestructible toys such as those made out of cholla cactus and manzanita wood. For the cockatiel, it is also important to provide a toy relative to the size of the bird. Macaw-sized toys will scare the pet bird, while small, parakeet size toys may have smaller parts that can be removed and cause choking.

All parrots vocalize. The degree of vocalization varies from species to species and bird to bird. Cockatiels kept in a noisy house, such as one with small children or a constantly running television will be louder than those birds kept in more quiet environments. Typically, birds vocalize at sun rise and sunset. These are the two times where the flock members call to one another to determine location and well-being. A pet cockatiel will whistle, screech, or squawk at these times of the day, and humans yelling at it to be quiet will only make the noises worse. Anyone living with a bird needs to understand that birds are and will be noisy creatures.

Cockatiels can also learn to talk. A cockatiel I owned named Sunny quickly learned "pretty bird" and "silly bird" simply by living next to my talking pionus'. He loved to whistle out the words repeatedly, sometimes getting caught on a syllable or two. Birds do not instantly learn to talk. They will learn from other birds or members of the household. People can teach a bird to talk; however, words must be spoken slowly and in a high pitched voice. Some birds will not talk, either, so it's important to love a bird for who he is, with or without the ability for speech.

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