# Is This Kind Of Intelligence Common In Cockatiels?



## marcus

I have had parakeets in the past. Now I have a cockatiel and he acts smarter than the parakeets did. When I start cleaning out his food and water dishes, he paces back and forth like a puppy dog and peeks around the corner at me in the kitchen where I store his food. He also flies on me sometimes when he knows I'm going to get his food ready. 

At night when I hold up his cage cover, if he is on top of the cage he automatically climbs in the cage and up to the top perch waiting for me to cover it. 

My parakeets never reacted when I did these things and seemed clueless. 

Are all cockatiels smart like this, and are they smarter than parakeets?

I read on one website parakeets were smarter than cockatiels, but I saw no signs of that in the parakeets I had, though I have read they are better at learning to talk.


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## hysteriauk

Zippy is similar I say Bedtime as I get his cover out and now when I say it he goes to his highest perch it's quite cute really


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## AMom2011

I'm by far an 'expert', but I am also amazed at the intelligence and the behavior of my 2 tiels. They are seriously a part of the family, they don't just sit in their cage, and 'do their own thing' lol as my previous parakeets did. As you said about yours, mine are more like puppies too whatever *I* do, they are keeping an eye on it, and react to it.

they call, they get excited, they LOVE to show affection, they are mischievous and funny.

NOW, when I was a kid my friend had a keet who was the same way, super smart, talked, and made sense of what he was saying!! but my keets never really interacted with me that way. Probably MY fault, because I never really interacted with THEM either, not like I do with my tiels. 

I 'babysat' a blue/gold maccaw for a year once, now that bird was 'insane' lol demanding like crazy, constantly SCREAMING for me, she had anger issues directed AT me whenever I dared to leave the livingroom area, she would throw food at me to 'punish me' lol never bit though. I was glad my friend got things back in order, and was able to take her back to his new place!!!! 

I'm just glad my tiels are more mellow then that


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## Fweet

Tiels are exceptional birds, they're not just blessed with bags of personality but they're really clever too. I've always been put off by the neediness of larger parrots & how they can become attached to one person to the noisy (& occasionally aggressive) exclusion of everyone else but cockatiels seem to tread a happy middle ground. They're smart, funny, forgiving & entertaining but most of all have a huge sense of 'self' which makes interacting with them so enjoyable. Sure they can be moody but then nothing that's worth having is ever easy.
I'm glad you're enjoying your tiel, let's see some pictures


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## safwat

My tiels have learnt the sound of my foot steps from my parents. Whenever I come down the passage they will start whistling to me as if to say 'come and play with us'. When I open the cage doors they sit in front of it waiting for me to step away so that they can fly out. When I stand infront of the cage and whistle, they 'know' its time to head back in. Then they climb in without complaints. Even Angel does this and she is and untamed tiel.


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## Donivan2009

I am also amazed at times at how smart my tiels' are. For example, when I come home, they can hear the car soming in the drive, and they get so exited whistle constantly until I come upstairs and say hello. Similar to yours, when I hold up their sheet, they also climb back into their cage and get to the top perch and huddle together for bedtime! Tiels' can be taught to do many tricks as well. My uncle had a cockatiel who would fly and perch onto anything on command.


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## Ghosth

My parakeet was pretty dang smart, was constantly dropping word/phrase with exactly the right words at exactly the right time. Example, he's in small cage in living room with us watching TV, our 2 cats saunter in, crossing in front of his cage. He looks at them, looks at me, looks back at them and says "Sharks, SHARKS!"

He could tell what I was going to do by our routine. If he was sitting on my head and I turned my chair he'd fly back to cage because he knew I was about to get up. Same for bedtime.

That being said intelligence seems to vary more in parakeets/budgies. Tiels seem smarter across the board. Cara is just starting to learn to talk, but is quickly learning routine and what to expect from me at any given time.


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## Cryren8972

Cockatiels are wonderful at reading body language. I've observed many instances where they knew what I was doing by reading my body language. For instance, if I was coming at them with finger extended with the intention of putting them back in the cage, they reacted differently than when I was coming at them, finger extended to pick them up and put them on my shoulder. They always ran when they knew I was putting them back in the cage. So they were either reading my mind, or there was some slight difference in body language that clued them in on what my true purpose was. =)


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## somarley

i think teils are extreamly smart. but i find parrots to be very smart and they have quite a high level of emotion which draws me to them. much higher then in my opinion cats and dogs. they are like little kids 
although i find it more with my IRN and GCC then my teil


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## marcus

Thanks for all the great feedback! 

I have been trying to teach my cockatiel to whistle like some of those cockatiel on YouTube that whistle songs, but no luck yet. I have started with the simple wolf whistle, and all he says is, "Quirk!". 

I'm getting the feeling that maybe not all cockatiels whistle, even if they are males like mine. Or, perhaps, it takes longer than a couple of months to teach them to whistle even a simple wolf whistle. 

Anybody had luck teaching thier cockatiel to whistle?


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## SoraRyuuzaki

One of my uncle's tiels (I'm pretty sure he's the original male) learner how to whistle from my uncle and it's his little tune  he whistles it to whoever sits in front of his cage. I can't exactly whistle, so it was a struggle for me, but he got frustrated with me and tried to teach me xD. He kept repeating it slower and slower, and in parts. It felt like I was the bird! They're definitely pretty darn smart.


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## meaggiedear

I had a parakeet who could open the sliding doors and escape from her cage and she knew how to outsmart me when I tried to grab her. 

My other parakeets didn't seem as intelligent. 

All my cockatiels are pretty darn smart across the board. 

As far as whistling goes, find youtube videos of whistles and play them over and over and over again for your bird. i did this with the mickey mouse march and i had great success. and my friend did "if you're happy and you know it" while babysitting and he picked up that one too.


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## marcus

Thanks for the info about teaching a cockatiel how to whistle. The youtube videos idea sounds great. I will try that. I'd seen on a How To site that you should whistle 10 minutes 3 times a day to your cockatiel, but the videos sound much more convenient.


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## meaggiedear

marcus said:


> Thanks for the info about teaching a cockatiel how to whistle. The youtube videos idea sounds great. I will try that. I'd seen on a How To site that you should whistle 10 minutes 3 times a day to your cockatiel, but the videos sound much more convenient.


I can't whistle so they were a lot more convienent. LOL


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## vampiric_conure

Alpha is a wolf whistler. He also says 'duhduh duhduh duhduh - CHARGE!'. Overall my cockatiels - including the hens - have been talkers  But its the males who whistle the wolf whistle, LOL.


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## Loopy Lou

I think my bird is pretty smart, I live across the road from a Tesco store and within a couple of weeks he was copying the delivery trucks backing up and the shop alarm.

Also, there's nothing like being woken up by your newly installed phone ringing, running pell mell into the living room half asleep only for the phone to stop ringing, squawk a couple of times and carry on ¬.¬

I'm sure if a bird could snigger, he would.

He's also figured out how to open his new cage, but luckily the catch is too stiff for him to physically move. He'll just sit there and cock his head to one side til i let him out haha.


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## dixo2145

I have to agree completely with being amazed at cockatiel intelligence. My male "piper" is just like a little person. He began whistling all by himself when he was just about 4 months old. He first learned the wolf whistle and took off from there. He now talks quite a bit too, they are such a joy to have around aren't they!?


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## meaggiedear

Loopy Lou said:


> I think my bird is pretty smart, I live across the road from a Tesco store and within a couple of weeks he was copying the delivery trucks backing up and the shop alarm.
> 
> Also, there's nothing like being woken up by your newly installed phone ringing, running pell mell into the living room half asleep only for the phone to stop ringing, squawk a couple of times and carry on ¬.¬
> 
> I'm sure if a bird could snigger, he would.
> 
> He's also figured out how to open his new cage, but luckily the catch is too stiff for him to physically move. He'll just sit there and cock his head to one side til i let him out haha.


thank god ama hasn't learned phone noises. kevin might beat him. LOL.


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## Loopy Lou

Smokey seems to always like a share of whatever i'm eating too. I don't give it to him unless its something safe of course, but earlier i was eating some Wotsits (like cheetos?), left the room and came back to find him walking across the coffee table with one in his beak and the packet on the floor.

I decided to let him have that one, just for sheer cheekiness. He must really like them, after he dropped it it's the first ever thing he's taken from my hand that hasn't been through the bars of his cage (he bites)

Maybe he's realised that if he bites i'll take it away lol.


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## marcus

"I think my bird is pretty smart, I live across the road from a Tesco store and within a couple of weeks he was copying the delivery trucks backing up and the shop alarm."

You should do a youtube video of that. 

It sounds like some cockatiels have higher intelligence than others, just as some humans possess higher IQs than others.


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## hysteriauk

Am teaching Zippy the Bridge over the river Kwai tune and after three weeks of me whistling he/she includes bits when he/she has a mad hour of noisy chirping singing 

It's quite sweet to hear tbh and if I join in he/she gets really excited


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