Ever since one of my mom's finches died, the other one has been kinda quiet. It still chirps from time to time but she seems sad without her mate. However she seems to have found a way to make up for it.

When walking past the cage with her and my diamond dove Joey, I glanced at them to see what might be the cutest thing. The two of them were snuggled up together on the same perch, with absolutely no space in between.

I honestly didn't expect the two to end up snuggling like that. When one of the finches were alive, one of the two would always pester Joey and chase him away. It could be likely that was the one that died, or now that he has no one else, the finch decided that Joey would do.

Doves and finches are both birds that do better when they're with others of their own kind, and don't like being alone. Given that both of these birds are without a partner, I guess they both decided that each other would do.

Would've gotten pictures, but as soon as they realized someone was watching they separated. Guess they wanted to keep it a secret.

How sweet!

In a similar situation, I noticed Lucy asking to be preened by Alex. However Alex doesn't seem to understand what she wants, so it doesn't end well.

Still don't think Alex understands completely that she's a bird yet. She's starting to seem a little more bird-like but I think she probably still thinks she's a person.

Alex may be a special case, but sometimes they know what's wanted but just don't want to do it. I think Elvis and Priscilla are starting to slowly fall in love, and I frequently see them with their heads pressed together, squeaking at each other to start preening but not willing to do any preening themselves.

Alex doesn't really understand how to ask for scritches like a cockatiel typically does either. He presses his head against my hand but doesn't necessarily lower it. It's possible she only knows that my hand means scritches. Unless if Lucy decides to try and do the preening, I don't think Alex may know how to preen another bird, given she hasn't experienced what it feels like to be preened by a bird.

Also the funny thing about Joey and the finch is that they're not as close together in the day as they are at night, as opposed to how the finch was with her passed mate, where they were always snuggled up together. Also their roosting perch goes across the entire cage so they could sleep as far away from each other as they could if they want to.

And then today, I heard Joey doing the courting coo. It's much different from their typical call/answer coo that Joey does to try and call other doves.


By the time I looked up he was done, though the finch didn't seem too impressed.

Awe that sounds so cute.

I like the move that goes with it. At first I thought he fell on his face!