Pet Forum / Birds / Parrots / November 2003

Some of you may remember me taking in two baby 'tiels to raise a couple of
summers ago.  One of them, Speckles, was so incredibly loud.  Songfest at
full volume from dawn 'til dusk.  The other one, Baby, would rarely make a
sound.

Speckles recently went to live with a lady who had a quiet bird and was
looking for a more vocal one.  I figured Baby would be upset to see her
nestmate go after over a year of never being apart.  Didn't seem to bother
her at all.  She went to her mirror and started practicing being noisy.
She'd whistle quietly to the mirror a few times and then would run out and
do it loudly for the audience.

Yesterday morning our boys got up before we did and came running in to say
that Baby was talking.  By the time we came in, she was just singing that
ol' famous cockatiel song.  This morning I got up before everyone else, sat
down and plain as day she said "Hi baby girl".  This has been my greeting to
her every day, several times a day for almost a year and a half and now she
says it back!  I wonder if she was saying it all along and no one heard her
over her big mouth brother.

Another thing, she may not be my baby girl at all.  After each molt, her
head becomes more and more yellow.  Isn't a normal grey with a yellow head
almost always a boy?

Lisa
http://justlisa.com/gallery/cockatiels