# Weird chirping some times when we pet him... What's that mean?



## Formhault (Jan 31, 2017)

Hello guys!

We've had this male cockatiel for almost two months now. Whenever we try to pet him on the back (but not only then), he makes a noise which we have a hard time understanding what could mean. Is he angry, is he scared... is he asking for more? Perhaps you could help us.

So, I've made a video and uploaded it on YouTube. Please, check it out and chime in!

Thanks in advance!


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

That means no. First, you never want to pet a tiel on the back, that's how you stimulate breeding. A male will step up on a hen's back to mate, scratching or touching a tiel back there can simulate this. 

Biting is the only way a tiel can say no. When the bird is screaming and nipping at you, that's a definite no. It looks like the tiel likes the neck scratches but not anything else so I would stick to just the neck scratches.


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## Formhault (Jan 31, 2017)

I see.

He doesn't "say no" when we pet him on the back. I sort of thought he may not like it when we scratch his back, but he starts to "complain" basically out of nowhere some times. Like, say, we're scratching him on his head (which he seems to like very much - he bows his head in expectation usually), and a few seconds later (or if we stop petting him for a brief time) he just "goes at it" (like you see in the beginning of the video). In the beginning of the video, we didn't scratch his back or anything - he just started to complain out of nowhere, we were just petting his head (which, again, he likes). Perhaps he "had enough" all the sudden?

:/


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Cockatiels only preen each other on the head and neck, and that's usually the only place that they like to be petted. Petting a bird on the back is very sexually stimulating for a hen but may or may not be a problem with a male. But even if it doesn't turn them on, they usually don't enjoy it and will only tolerate it at best.

The noise indicates that something is happening that the bird doesn't like. Either you're doing something he doesn't want, or you're not doing something that he DOES want. And sometimes we can't figure out what the bird is complaining about! He's complaining about something though, and in many cases it's not hard to figure out what it is.


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## Formhault (Jan 31, 2017)

Thanks, @tielfan.

Okay, no more petting him on the back. I'll stick to the head and neck. It's weird, though. One time, he was on my shoulder and I was petting him on the head. I had to stop doing it for a few seconds, then when I wanted to resume, he was nagging at me. But 5 seconds later, he bowed his head again (which means he wants to be petted, we figured).

I guess he's just whining at times.

But okay, no more petting on the back. I also tried to pet his belly a few times (like, the underside of his wings). He doesn't say anything, he just moves away (so it's clear that he doesn't really like it).

What is worrying us was the fact that he seems to be complaining even when we're doing something that he likes (head / neck petting). But, as I said earlier, I think he's just nagging. Because, you know, he's a bird so he doesn't think that much, I guess? Lol.

Some times, when he's getting annoying, we just grab him & throw him at the cage. He catches flight mid-distance, then lands on the cage. But 10 seconds later, he flyes back at us, landing on my head or my girlfriend's. And that's annoying as ****, especially when you're trying to do stuff around the house and keep him out at the same time, but all he wants is your hair. But throwing him back to the cage doesn't seem to bother him - he comes back even 15 times if your hair is what he really wants at the time. It's like one of the cats my parents own. No matter how many times you slap him around, he'll still come back to the kitchen door if you cook meat.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Birds are quirky, and what they want at one particular moment might be the exact opposite of what they wanted the moment before and what they're going to want in the next moment. That's why we get cartoons like the one below. They complain even a lot even when it's another bird doing the head preening.


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## Formhault (Jan 31, 2017)

I see. So it's something normal. Before I posted this thread, we were worrying there may be something wrong with our cockatiel, like, say, he got upset / depressed for not being out of the cage 24/7 or whatever reason. Glad to know it's just him nagging around.

Speaking of being out of the cage... He's been out off and on. Yesterday, for example, he was out for a total of 3 hours. Today, he won't be out at all - we just don't have time for him, as we'll be away most of the time.

Yesterday, as we got him back into the cage (it was 10 PM), he proceeded to sit on a stick, right next to the edge of the cage, kinda looking at us. He was all puffed up (I guess the word is miffed?), chirping softly every once in a while (like "hey! get me out maybe, please?", I guess). You know what I'm talking about?


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## Fran.bath89 (Jun 12, 2016)

The picture tielfan has posted is spot on for tiels! They are little nutters! I don't think they even know what they want lol


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## Formhault (Jan 31, 2017)

I see. Well, okay. Thank you! So it's nothing wrong with my tiel 

Another aspect is worrying us right now. Some times, he appears to be very... "furious". He would fly across the room, briefly land on my head or my girlfriend's, and not let us pet him for more than a second at a time. Then, he would fly away, yelling. I tried to catch him (something that is usually a quite easy task), but chased him around for more than 2 minutes.

Are tiels known for being "unstable" in that regard? I would assume so, given their erratic pet me / STOP behaviour...


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Sounds like the grouchy teenage stage. Male tiels go through this and they are just grumps about everything. I've never heard of a hen going through it but that doesn't mean they can't.


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## EllenD (Oct 9, 2016)

It could be that he has some pin feathers where you were scratching. If you touch them the wrong way it hurts them. My tiel does this too, she'll want a head scratch and put her head down, so I'll scratch her and occasionally she'll suddenly squawk and lift her head up, look at me like "Why'd ya do that?", and then put her head back down, lol. She does it herself too, she'll be preening herself and all of a sudden she screams in pain, looks up and around, then starts preening again, then suddenly squawks in pain, looks up like "Who's doing that?", then starts again...😎

So that's my guess, you're bending a pin feather the wrong direction.

"Dance like nobody's watching..."


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## Jaguar (Jul 11, 2014)

Please don't chase your bird around if it's actively trying to get away from you. Continuously ignoring his body language cues is going to destroy any trust he had in you and escalate that evasive behavior into full on attacking/biting.

What I do in those situations is completely withdraw my attention, ignore them, and do something more fun. Play with a toy, watch a video or something, eat a snack. They do NOT want to be ignored - they're very social and like to be a part of everything. They almost always snap out of it and come back down to see what I'm doing. And if not - I just leave and come back a bit later when they've cooled off.


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## Formhault (Jan 31, 2017)

Mine is a male, so I guess it's okay, lol.

He's terrible at times. Take yesterday, for example. The moment we returned home, he started chirping (well, it's not really a chirp - it's like a very short & low volume cry, if you will), like every 20 seconds or so. As if he wanted outside. Granted, as soon as we opened the cage door, he stopped the noise & went out. Flew to my girlfriend's head, where he landed on her tight hair bun (I suppose that's how it's called). He likes to sit there, I guess it feels like a nest to him?

He's very grouchy if we're at home and we lock him up in the cage. But we can't have him out 24/7. He craps everywhere! Lol.

It's annoying. 1 hour after he's out of the cage, he starts to become annoying - starts picking at my girlfriend's bracelet, picks the **** out of my / her face, and when we put him back into the cage... "I want out" twice a minute. Haha.


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## Formhault (Jan 31, 2017)

I just seen these two posts, EllenD and Jaguar. Didn't realise there is a 2nd page when I last posted...

Thank you for your inputs. I'll do as you said, Jaguar 

And Ellen, you may be right. I like scratching his head / neck so that his feathers are not smooth anymore - puff him up, lol.


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## Formhault (Jan 31, 2017)

@Jaguar
@EllenD

Can you please watch this short video? His behaviour has, once again, got us concerned. Hope it doesn't mean he's sick or something...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4SOsp7Wqzw

Edit : Okay, right after the video was done uploading & processing, I went on to play it & see how it looks. GRAVE MISTAKE! Luke heard and he started yelling so loud my right ear is now buzzing.


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## Jaguar (Jul 11, 2014)

I think he's just trying to make friends with you  The side eye and excessive blinking is non threatening body language. He's basically trying to tell you he's feeling relaxed in your presence - relaxed enough to turn away and close his eyes and not worry about what you're doing. He seems super sweet - once you understand his body language a little better I think he'll be a great little companion.


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## Formhault (Jan 31, 2017)

Jaguar said:


> I think he's just trying to make friends with you  The side eye and excessive blinking is non threatening body language. He's basically trying to tell you he's feeling relaxed in your presence - relaxed enough to turn away and close his eyes and not worry about what you're doing. He seems super sweet - once you understand his body language a little better I think he'll be a great little companion.


Thank you for your input!

So... he's not sick. That's good, we were really starting to worry, since he's never been THAT relaxed, haha. If all he's trying to say is that he's okay with us (finally!), then... super cute, indeed 

As you may have seen from the video, we placed his cage next on the balcony, next to the window. Right now it's 10 degrees Celsius (50 Fahrenheit) outside (but it should be spring warm again, starting next week). He's not gonna catch a cold or something, is he? Of course, we keep the window next to him closed most of the time, we only open it briefly throughout the day, and it's not that cold I'd say. But I don't know how well he regulates his own temperature...


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## Formhault (Jan 31, 2017)

@Jaguar

Okay, we made another video. It's about 5 minutes long. He's DEFINITELY not sick. You REALLY NEED to watch the video until the very end. Or... if you don't wanna hear me being paranoic for 3 minutes, you can just skip to minute 4 or so.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KqKdq4gYnA


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