It's Always the Quiet Ones You Have to Watch!

It's almost Spring, and little birds' thoughts are turning towards . . . .

We bought a nesting box for the cockatiels yesterday.  And today we are seeing definite signs of "nesting" going on!

Lucy is our female, gray cockatiel.  She is a fiesty lady who loves to go for bike rides with Eler Beth, sitting on the brake cable that runs across the handle bars.  She also loves going for rides in the car.  She sings beautifully and loves to mimic the songbirds.  She has a very dominant personality and rules the roosts, as it were, in the cockatiel cage.  When we attached the nesting box to the cage yesterday she was extremely interested and curious.

Louie is our older male, lemon-yellow cockatiel.  Louis is a very quiet male, very gentle and loving.  He has never tried to vocalize and rarely sings.  He plays with toys less often than the other two, likes to have the top of his head and the back of his neck scratched, and doesn't like car rides.  When the box was attached yesterday Louis paid very little attention to it at all.

Schroeder is the younger male, gray and yellow speckled.  He was only four months old when we got him.  Schroeder is very outgoing, loves to be talked to, handled, and taken for rides.  When Lucy first saw Schroeder she started singing to him and wouldn't let him out of her sight.  She is still very possessive about him.  Schroeder started vocalizing shortly after we got him, and now he can say "pretty bird".  He is old enough to mate, and when we decided to get a nesting box we had it in our minds that he and Lucy would be a pair.  When the box was attached he was almost as interested as Lucy.  He and Lucy went in and out of the box all evening.

Well, today Louie started showing a little interest in the nesting box.  Before long he was peering into the little doorway.  By early this afternoon he had gone inside, and Lucy was singing to him from the doorway.  All afternoon he and Lucy have spent a lot of time inside, and Lucy has been picking around in the "bedding", arranging it the way she wants it, and picking up feathers off the bottom of the cage and carrying them inside the nesting box.  She will not let Schroeder go inside the box anymore.

It looks like quiet Louie has come into his own at last.  Eler Beth has devoured two books on cockatiels and their courting and mating habits, and she has reported faithfully every time she sees another sign.  "See how she's got her feathers all puffed up?  That's a sign!"

I guess we'll see, but it certainly looks as if Lucy's nesting and mating instincts have kicked in, and Louie is to be the lucky guy.  He's acting ready, too.  I have a feeling he'll be a very good parent.  Perhaps we'll have an interesting event in a few months.  I'll keep you posted.

Tags: Cockatiels