Lucy and Alex appear to be constantly finding new ways to dirty up their drinking water. They like to put things in the bowl and never touch them again. So it makes me wonder if they're trying to cook something, and every once in a while. I find a new ingredient in their stew.

I've seen pellets, bird poop, feathers, vegetables, and various kinds of birdseed in there. Lucy and Alex will even take turns bathing in it to get the water extra dirty.
Their recent addition to their recipe is shredded pieces of newspaper.

You guys have any idea why they do this? I think they're doing it to convince me to change it so they can climb out of the cage. They do get a lot of time out of the cage, but they always want to come out before I'm ready to let them out. Especially thing in the morning, when I have to get ready to go to my classes.

I have lixit bottles for my birds. It works out well.

There are a lot of parrots who like to put stuff in their drinking water. Cockatiels aren't as notorious for dunking as some other species are. I don't think anyone really knows why they do it. Sometimes it's done to moisten food and make it softer before eating it, but quite often it seems to be done just for the fun of it.

Zorro will drop his pellets in his water then fish it out to eat it.
You could try water bottle my tiels took to a bottle really fast.

Time for an epic thread revival as the birds have found new ways to dirty up their water.

The new cage came with two stainless steel bowls, in which I decided to use both for water. As usual the birds love to bathe in their water. It's a part of their "recipe" I guess.

I put the pellet and the seed bowls right next to these water bowls. Lucy (who eats the pellets more than Alex) loves to put the pellets in the water. I thought maybe she just gets in the bowl and it flies everywhere when it gets out. Then I watched her once take a pellet and eat it right above the water bowl so the crumbs fall in. She doesn't even take them out of the water to eat them or anything. She just leaves them in there.

Sometimes she'll put half a pellet pellet in there, or just take one bite out of it. Sometimes she'll suddenly decide she doesn't want the pellet she's holding in her beak and drops the whole thing in there.

The water bowl on the left used to have a LOT of seeds in it. I thought that was because Alex has a tendency to climb into the food bowl, and accidentally fling it everywhere. That's why I then decided to put it under the water bowl, but still have it close enough so they can reach up and stick their head in the water for a quick gulp.
Well I caught Lucy eating from the seed cup. She would take a sunflower seed or anything similar to that size, reach up to the water bowl and eat it while in that position so the shell and any crumbs would fall in it. Sometimes she'll climb up to the water bowl and eat the seed. Again, she doesn't decide to take the rest out of the water and eat it. She just leaves it in there for all eternity (or at least until I change the water).

Additionally, Alex appears to mistake the drinking water for a toilet and specifically poops in the left bowl for whatever reason. I'm wondering if it's just because the placement or something.

So couldron #1 consists of: Poop, seed, and bird dander from bathing
Couldron #2 consists of: Pellets and bird dander

I'm honestly wondering if switching to bottles isn't such a bad idea. I don't know how quickly they'd adapt, but at least they would least likely get sick from their own creations.

I think I know the answer: birds are crazy.

Well actually they must have some reason for doing it, but I can't figure out what it is. Maybe they just think it's fun, like little kids throwing things in the water to see what happens. They like to throw stuff off the cage top and watch it fall, so why not throw stuff in the water to watch it float. For birds that sleep over the water bowl so it's full of poop in the morning, I like to say that they're moisturizing their vent.