# Squawking



## PeeChee (Feb 22, 2015)

Our new cockatiel is wonderful! But --- he squawks when one leaves the room, and then doesn't stop until you return. How do we deal with this? He has lots of toys and food. He loves sitting on your shoulder but we can't always have him out of the cage.


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## CaliTiels (Oct 18, 2012)

You don't.

That's called flock calling. All birds do it when a flockmate (you) goes out of their sight, as if they're asking "where are you? Are you ok?"

You can reassure him by saying something back to let him know you're still there


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## Charlotte (Jun 4, 2014)

That's right, it's just normal natural cockatiel noise  Not much to be done about it! Murray does it much more in the mornings and doesn't mind being left alone so much in the late afternoon/evenings. But it's rare I ever leave the room and she doesn't call me.


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## karmagami (Dec 5, 2014)

Norm does this as well--and a little panicky he sounds since he's a baby and new to the house. I can't whistle, but my husband does, and sort of shriek-whistles back at Norm from wherever he is. Norm seems generally satisfied by the response and it saves us from rushing in (or Norm rushing out) to make contact.


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## han93 (Aug 1, 2014)

Peanut constantly flock calls to me when I'm not in the room, but I've found that if I say to him "I'll be back in a second" or "Goodbye Peanut" he only calls to me as I leave the room (although he's more panicked when he hears me say goodbye). Then he'll stay quiet until he hears me coming back.

Using these phrases communicates to him that I'm okay when I'm away from him and he knows that I'll come back


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## PeeChee (Feb 22, 2015)

Thanks everyone. Will give this a try. PeeChee has really bonded with my husband, so it's generally when he leaves the room. I could still be in the room and talk to him, but it seems he calling out to my husband.


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