There's a Cockatiel on My Head!

Six weeks ago I visited my favorite pet store. We haven't had a pet since our yellow lab died in 1998. However, my family had a parakeet when I was very young. So I always visit the budgies and cockatiels at that shop.  Over the years I began to prefer cockatiels, who seemed friendlier and interactive.  During that visit I met a very friendly cockatiel. A shop employee asked me if I wanted to meet that bird. He hopped onto my finger and nibbled my thumbnail.  It was love at first nibble. lol That cute little cockatiel even let my husband (who is more of a dog person) pet him.  I later realized that bird chose us, more than we chose him.


That day we learned that the owner was moving her store to a new location. So we could not 'adopt' any birds for at least a week, while she moved.  During that week I definitely decided I wanted that cockatiel for my upcoming birthday present.  Then we learned that another bird in his cage was diagnosed with a bacterial infection. So all the birds in the cage (including my new friend) would need to take antibiotics for 14 days. That meant we would have to wait another 2 weeks to acquire our new pet.  During that time our area experienced a rare snow storm. So the owner didn't start the 2 week antibiotic regimen for a few more days. 


Before we could actually bring home a new cockatiel we converted my previous sewing studio to a 'bird room'.  We covered my 3x8' cutting table with craft paper, assembled a large cage, filled it with perches, toys, food containers, added 'out of the cage' toys to the table, and 'bird proofed' the whole room (as well as many other rooms of our house). Of course all that preparation required several trips to local pet stores. We also purchased 2 cockatiel books and dug out all the 'Bird Talk' magazines, which I acquired many years ago, when owning a bird was just a dream.  I assembled an emergency bird first aid kit, hoping I'd never have to use it. Finally we installed thermal blinds to keep the room temperature more in 'bird range'.


The big day arrived over 3 weeks after my birthday.  We drove to the pet shop, signed papers, bought food and 'travel cage' and carried out our new cockatiel. We previously decided to name him 'Kiwi' because, cockatiels fly wild and free in the Australian outback. So I talked to Kiwi, while holding his towel covered travel cage on my lap during the drive back home. 


After a challenging transition from travel cage to home cage (a palace by comparison), Kiwi rapidly adjusted to his new surroundings, but especially to having so much more attention and 'out of cage' time. I won't go into much detail in this post, but I will say that Kiwi prefers being on my shoulder to anyplace else, except maybe perched on my breakfast bowl eating oatmeal.  My husband is Kiwi's designated neck scratcher. So Kiwi enjoys spending time with either or both of us. He literally 'walks all over' us. Kiwi's newest discovery is that he can climb up my pony tail (and scrunchy) to roost on the top of my head (hence the title of this post).  I could go on and on about Kiwi's antics, but I'll save that for another post. Our lives have greatly changed since Kiwi came to live with us, but more about that later ...