Sleeping in on this Saturday morning was not an option.  I think all the black birds in the neighborhood decided to meet in our trees.  Once the local Blue Jay joined in that was it for Sassy our cockatiel.  He no longer could contain his songs that then turned into his rendition of a car alarm which is his way of telling us it’s time to get up and uncover me so I can start my day.

      Male cockatiels tend to me more vocal than females.  My female Trudy would sing but was never vocal (noisy) like Sassy is.  Cockatiels tend to learn how to imitate whistles better than words however Sassy does have a vocabulary of words like pretty bird and hello which he says when my dogs walk by his cage.  We can always tell when he is learning something new because he will practice it quietly to himself before trying it out loud which is normal cockatiel behavior.

      Cockatiels like any bird are a lot of work and very messy.  They are very social animals and require one on one time every day as well as a large variety of toys to keep them occupied throughout the day.