I had been laid off from my job of 19 years(1999) and was working a new job 85 miles away from my home (one way).I was a smoker back then and I went out for a smoke. I heard this QUIP QUIP QUIP from a bird I was not familiar with. Looked around but I did not see where it came from. About an hour later went for another cigarette and I heard the same noise much closer. I looked down and in the ivy was this beautiful yellow bird looking up at me.
You could have knocked me over with a feather LOL. Of course I knew it was a cockatiel and I knew it could not live out in the wild very long so I offered it my finger and it climbed on.
So my mind goes into overdrive and the best plan I can think of is to get a cardboard box out of the trash(dumpsters only 20 yards away) and use it as a temporary cage so I can take him home. I start walking that way but the bird fly’s off my hand into a small tree. So I go and get a box and bring it back to the tree/bird. This time when I pick up the bird I know there could be resistance and I MUST not let him loose. I pick him up easily and hold onto his foot to prevent escape. He fights back but with some bloodshed (from me) I get him in a box and take him inside the building.
It just so happened that I had a bag of bird seed in the car that I had not taken into the house so I gave him some of that + water till I could get him home.
I installed him in an extra cage and early on decided to call him “Lucky” I knew my son would love him (wife and son were in South America at the time).
I watched the local newspaper lost n found for about 2 weeks and never spotted anyone looking for a missing cockatiel.
He was able to say pretty bird very clearly and of course wolf whistle. He no longer talks but still whistles.
Strangely enough he has bonded most strongly to my wife. He likes to fly and land next to her and do the heart shape wings, bow his head and make a chewing motion with his beak.
When flying he likes to buzz people and other birds. He starts up high, drops strait down then snap his wings open and fly as close as possible to the object he is buzzing.
I never had any interest in the smaller breed of birds but he is such a character and so beautiful and expressive with his little crest.
Baby’s story next, cockatiel number 2.
Lucky playing "house"
You could have knocked me over with a feather LOL. Of course I knew it was a cockatiel and I knew it could not live out in the wild very long so I offered it my finger and it climbed on.
So my mind goes into overdrive and the best plan I can think of is to get a cardboard box out of the trash(dumpsters only 20 yards away) and use it as a temporary cage so I can take him home. I start walking that way but the bird fly’s off my hand into a small tree. So I go and get a box and bring it back to the tree/bird. This time when I pick up the bird I know there could be resistance and I MUST not let him loose. I pick him up easily and hold onto his foot to prevent escape. He fights back but with some bloodshed (from me) I get him in a box and take him inside the building.
It just so happened that I had a bag of bird seed in the car that I had not taken into the house so I gave him some of that + water till I could get him home.
I installed him in an extra cage and early on decided to call him “Lucky” I knew my son would love him (wife and son were in South America at the time).
I watched the local newspaper lost n found for about 2 weeks and never spotted anyone looking for a missing cockatiel.
He was able to say pretty bird very clearly and of course wolf whistle. He no longer talks but still whistles.
Strangely enough he has bonded most strongly to my wife. He likes to fly and land next to her and do the heart shape wings, bow his head and make a chewing motion with his beak.
When flying he likes to buzz people and other birds. He starts up high, drops strait down then snap his wings open and fly as close as possible to the object he is buzzing.
I never had any interest in the smaller breed of birds but he is such a character and so beautiful and expressive with his little crest.
Baby’s story next, cockatiel number 2.
Lucky playing "house"
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