Cockatiels, as one of the smaller members of the parrot family, with the intellect of a two-year-old child, are mighty personalities in tiny feathered bodies! But most new cockatiel owners (and even some long-time owners) can struggle in interpreting what their body language and vocal calls mean.
Cockatiels can communicate in various ways, whether that be their crest (head feathers), their chirps (or calls) and even their body language and expressions! They're more than capable of displaying their emotions, whether happiness, tiredness or discomfort.
The crest of a cockatiel is incredibly useful in telling a cockatiels mood, as the cockatiel themselves will adjust it according to what their feeling! It's important to note that while helpful, you should always look into other factors to get a clearer picture, as there is a limited amount of states or positions for a cockatiels crest, and therefore some positions can be similar to others with completely different meanings!
The crest will be as vertically straight as possible. The fully raised crest can have two possible meanings: Curiousness or Alerted.
The only way to distinguish between a curious bird and an alert bird is to pay careful attention to other aspects of their body language. A curious bird will usually slightly tilt their heads towards the target of their curiousity, sometimes fully extending the neck. An alert bird shares one of these signs, in that it too will full extend their neck, however the most crucial difference is that an alert birds whole bodily feathers will lay flat on their skin, appearing to be very thin and rigid. Either bird should be approached slower than usual so as not to startle them, which could either cause a little nip from their beaks out of surprise, or a full fledged panic flight, where the tiel will fly erratically and speedily in laps around the room. Upon rest, the cockatiel will be panting and out of breath.
Fig. 1 - A curious cockatiel.Fig 2. An Alert Cockatiel
Relaxed Raised
The crest will be raised, although not perfectly straight. Often, cockatiels who have a long enough crest will have some slight curling at the end of their crests. This is usually an indicator of a cockatiel being relaxed or contented. Regardless of the meaning, both are very similar emotions and are positive, so there is no need to pay attention to other features. However cockatiels which are relaxed or contented may appear slightly puffed up, with the feather beside their beaks slightly covering it and eyes may appear wide open and clear.
Fig. 3 - Two contented cockatiels.
Half Down
The crest is half down in a somewhat relaxed way. This is usually a sign of tiredness in cockatiels and can be accompanied by other forms of behaviour alongside that, such as one foot tucked up, yawns, and tucking their heads into their wings at the back.
Fig. 4 - Sleepy cockatiels.
Fully Down
The crest is completely against their head. This has two possible meanings: Anger or Happiness. This emotion can be properly reviewed depending on other bodily expressions. An angry cockatiel will usually slightly open their beaks at their target and crouch slightly lower to the ground. An angry cockatiel isn't to be approached without consequences, as a painful bite can easily rear its head. A happy cockatiel will show the same flat crest but the tip of their crest may be slightly curled up. This is more often seen in male cockatiels and accompanied by chirping, singing, or slightly open wings, known as "heart wings".
As a small addition, this can also be a temporary sign when offering food to a cockatiel, which is a genetic inherited body language baby birds develop when being fed when young. This will stop once the item being offered is either taken or removed from nearby.
Fig. 5 - A cockatiel eating.Fig 6. An angry CockatielFig 7. A happy Cockatiel
Calls
Understanding a cockatiels behaviour and mood brings their calls into consideration. Their calls or the sounds they make can help determine their sex, their mood and even what they are doing when out of sight! Males tend to be more vocally active than females of the species, but this rule doesn't always apply, as rarely some females are also known to sing or mimic human speech!
Theres a lot of different sounds cockatiels make and can be a source of confusion or concern for a new cockatiel owner, so in this section we will explore some of those sounds to promote knowledge of basic cockatiel sounds and alleviate any potential concerns of to-be or new cockatiel owners.
Gender calls
A Female cockatiels sounds. (YouTube - Happy & Beautiful)A male cocaktiels sounds. (YouTube - Parrots Corner)A male cocaktiel singing. (YouTube - Parrots Corner)
Other types of noises and calls
There are a variety of types of noises to explore outside of a cockatiels standard chirps and songs. The following are a collection of the most well-known and their descriptions.
Mating sounds and behaviour
Male and female cockatiel mating sounds and behaviour are very different to one another.
For example, female cockatiels mating behaviour is to crouch low, raise their tails and make tiny repeated chirps alongside twitching their wings slightly. Unless a female cockatiel has a mating partner or you as the owner are okay with allowing your tiel to mate or lay eggs, mating and hormonal behaviour should be discouraged, as it increases the chances of the female laying eggs, ever without a partner (although not fertile) which puts a large amount of strain on the bird and opens up the risks of becoming egg bound (egg stuck inside the cocaktiel, which is very dangerous) or becoming ill. It can be discouraged through providing more sleep and not touching or talking to the tiel while it prolongs its mating behaviour.
Males are different, in that theres no urgent requirement to discourage mating behaviour, as they aren't exposed to the same potential risks as female cockatiels. Male cockatiels will usually display, through opening or showing their wings or puffing up and chirping/singing. Some male tiels can bond with their owners (male or female) and display these signs to them.
Both genders are, however, susceptable to masturbating. This should be discouraged, expecially for females due to the increase in hormones it promotes, which may lead to the risks outlined above. Masturbation in both genders comprise of the same action, in which both will rub thir tails side to side against something.
The following videos outline the sounds and behaviours of cockatiels when displaying mating signs.
A Female cockatiel mating behaviour. (YouTube - The Cockatiel Brothers)A male cockatiels mating behaviour. (YouTube - The Bird Source.)A cockatiel masturbating. (YouTube - Toufiq's Birds)
Quirks
In this section we will cover other little behaviours of cockatiels that arent necessarily vocal or crest related.
Because cockatiels are very expressive and intelligent, they may develop quirks personal to themselves! If you know of a unique quirk that isn't included on this list and want to assist in orders in finding out more, visit our Contact page and send it on over to us!
Wing Display
Wing displays are a cockatiels way of asserting dominance or claiming their territory and scaring other animals off. More often than not you'll see a cockatiel do this to show off to you because they know how pretty their wings are. Otherwise the may perform in the middle or at the start of a manic flight session, in which they'll go crazy flying for a few minutes before calming down.
It appears to be a running theme with cockatiel owners to shout either "BIG WINGS/EAGLE" or "BAT BIRD" whenever their tiel does this and some owners have even taught their tiels to do this on command!
A cockatiel displaying their wings. (YouTube - Happy & Beautiful)A cockatiel displaying their wings on command . (YouTube - Matty Molenation)
Beak Grinding
Beak grinding is a peculiar sound your cockatiel makes when they're contented, relaxed or sleepy. It is considered the ultimate sign of content and is usually followed with your tiel falling asleep soon after. It is also one of the worst concerns for new tiel owners to have this grinding sound pop up out of the blue!
Be aware that beak grinding can be a very gentle sound, so turn your volume up loud if you want to hear clearly!
A cockatiel grinding their beak. (YouTube - Parrot Post)
Baby Screeching/Begging
This sound is reserved for cockatiel young and they can make this cute but terrible racket when asking for food! It is usually accompanied by bobbing of the head and crounching with their crest against their head. Cockatiels outgrow this quirk when they have fully matured.
WARNING: This sound can be quite the painful one to hear!
A baby cockatiel begging for food. (YouTube - KristinGfugl)
