So for a while, Lucy has tried to get Alex to preen her. Alex is never really interested in trying
to preen someone else, as opposed to
being preened. I'm not sure if she even knows how to preen another bird.
Today I noticed that while Lucy had her head lowered for scritches, Alex also lowered her head. Alex doesn't exactly know how to lower her head in the way most cockatiels do when asking for scritches though. She stretches her neck outward and just kinda lowers her whole body (I'll try to get a picture so you know what I'm talking about).
The thing is with Alex is that she is VERY pushy when it comes to scritches. If I stop petting her and my hand is still within reach, she'll start to lightly peck at it. She started doing this to Lucy when Lucy didn't preen her, and it turned into a short dispute where Lucy pecked back, and they'd spend a couple seconds just kinda hissing at each other. Then they'll both ask to be preened again, rinse and repeat.
This went on for a minute before they both gave up and went their separate ways.
Watching these two interact sometimes is hilarious.
But hey, it appears Alex is starting to learn that she's a bird, given she's understanding that birds are supposed to preen each other.
Now if Lucy would start by preening Alex, maybe Alex will learn how to preen another bird, since I'm not sure she knows how to do that yet.
Is it normal for two cockatiels of the same sex wanting to preen or be preened by each other, or is this some kind of budding romance? Do I have two lesbian cockatiels now?