# My cockatiel seems to have a favorite..and it's not me.



## sparky's_mom (May 29, 2014)

Recently, I've noticed that my cockatiel Sparky, who is female, seems to love being with my 14 year old brother. My brother sometimes has her on his shoulders for at most 10 or 15 minutes, usually less. Usually when she first sees him, she'll go on his chest and beg for scritches and he'll pet for a bit, but usually he just lets her stand on his shoulder. Then he'll get tired of her and tell me to take her away.

However, when I try to get her to step up on my hand, she would back up like she doesn't want to leave him. Just today, I tried to pick her up after she stood on his shoulder for about a minute (my brother wanted me to take her, I had accidentally placed my arm near his shoulder and she ran on) and she started attacking my hand each time I tried. I got her after the third attempt.

Although it didn't hurt, it kind of pricked me, because I'm the one that spends the most time with her, feeds her, gives her treats, buys things for her, and pets her the most. I spent hours buying the parts and making a play gym for her (not that she would know...) I spend hours each day with her and shower her with affection. My brother, however, doesn't feed her when I'm gone and doesn't like having her on him because he's afraid of her poop. I know it sounds jealous, and honestly I did feel kind of annoyed, since she's my bird and I worked so hard to get her. 

I know you can't control an animal's preferences though, but sometimes it feels like I'm her best friend and mom, who she dumps for the guy that doesn't even care about her. xP Have you noticed this behavior with your bird? Is it normal? And...why do they do this? I thought maybe she considered him her mate or something....who knows lol.


----------



## ParrotletsRock (Oct 8, 2013)

Yes it is very normal. Birds are fickle little creatures. Parrots often pick someone of the opposite sex as their favorite also. Keep working with her. She will come around.


----------



## Lu*lu (Jul 4, 2013)

Don't be irked! My one-year-old female is the exact same. I clean the cage, buy the toys, spend all day with her, and she runs to my husband at every opportunity she has. When we both walk in the door and I take her out of the cage, she will zoom to him lickity-split. She will just sit on his shoulder while he studies or plays video games. Cockatiels are funny little things, and she might have picked your brother out as a "mate", or B.F.F. Don't worry though, flocks include more than one, seems she just had specific preferences right now. I've heard cockatiels seem to gravitate more towards humans of the opposite sex, though I don't know if it's been proven but it seems that way to me sometimes!


----------



## Ftest (May 18, 2013)

Rosie absolutely loves my 14 year old daughter. When she gets out she immediately flys to her and just climbs all over her.


----------



## BirdCrazyJill (Apr 23, 2013)

Welcome to my life with Muffin  She has chosen my fiance as her "person" from pretty much day 1. She picks and chooses when she wants to be nice to me, but he can do anything with her. She is so smitten with him


----------



## Amz (Apr 10, 2013)

Same thing over here with Rocko. He LOVES my mom. A lot more than he loves me. Which is hilarious because she's not too fond of birds.


----------



## Tisena (Sep 28, 2013)

Totally different story here! Mine all love me haha Blizz will only really go to other people if they have jewellery a mirror or something else that's shiney... Mack doesn't really _love_ me but he prefers me to the other people in the house. Sam has always been my baby girl, she did go through a phase where she didn't really like human interaction (I think that was when her hormones started) but now she loves me again


----------



## sparky's_mom (May 29, 2014)

Yeah...I guess I shouldn't be too jealous. But I worked so hard for her and I dote over her too much. So it seems kind of unfair, because I wanted a real buddy-buddy, you know what I mean? xP I was planning on investing twenty years of my life on a little feathery friend that would be with me always. I still like her a lot, but the preference thing still annoys me.

I'm pretty sure she likes men in general. My dad (who dislikes birds) would come near me, and Sparky would run up to him and jump on him any chance she gets. When she hears his voice, she would get all attentive and look for him, until he comes close enough for her to possibly land on his shoulder. He would say "no, no!" and tell me to get her off, but she's still attracted to him.

I've noticed that when my brother gives her scritches (primarily under her cheek area in one motion) she'll act like she enjoys it more. When I scritch her, usually in different parts of her head, she would act a little dissatisfied, as she moves her head every few seconds, when before she used to get really into it. She used to go into a trance after our sessions and sleep. I tried scritching the area my brother pets recently, but after a little bit, she sort of tore out from my hands and walked away, and I felt like it was to say "Brian does it better." -_- 

Haha, I've noticed some sexism in dogs too. One of the dogs in my family, Lucky, a female, would only run on a field when a man/boy leads her. We tested out this theory extensively by having my mom, aunt, sister, female cousin, and myself attempt to lead her. She would stand her ground. It was pretty funny. My dog Maxie is a male, and used to be more gentle with me and other females, than with my brother. If my brother came too close to his face or tried to pick him up, he'd snap at him. I'm his favorite. I don't know if it's just my animals that do this though.

I suppose after years of being my pet's favorite, I'm a little peeved by the fact that my cockatiel prefers others simply because they have a deeper voice. I forgive her though (mostly).


----------



## Tequilagirl (Mar 4, 2013)

Oh I'm with you on that one, if my bird preferred a family member over me I'd murder them in their sleep. 

I might be joking. Maybe.


----------



## Pippitha (Mar 27, 2011)

Yup. Newbird loved my granny when we first got her. She'd sit on my granny's shoulders all day and never come to anyone else.
And Miley didn't like anyone when we got her. But recently, she decided she likes my 2 year old son. lol, she'll even groom his hair. XD


----------



## Sebastior (Jul 29, 2013)

ParrotletsRock said:


> Yes it is very normal. Birds are fickle little creatures. Parrots often pick someone of the opposite sex as their favorite also. Keep working with her. She will come around.


How can they tell the difference between male and female human-beings?
Maybe my cockatiel is gay then, we're both male and he seems to see me as his mate/love-partner.

He's only social towards me, then again, i'm the one who's always with him, he's only around mum occasionally, been on her finger once. He's recently started occasionally landing on her head without me putting him there.

But how can they tell the difference between the gender of a person?


----------

