When cockatiels ask each other for preening at the same time, they'll often press their heads together. Which is pretty funny to watch, especially when they pull their heads apart, look at each other, and then put their heads together again. Everybody wants to be the preened one not the preener.

When just one is asking another for it, they sometimes put their head against the other's breast. Head pressing seems to be one way for a cockatiel to say "please preen me". She's liking it, in any case!

Lucy must just be weird then, if she kept preening my hair at first, and didn't want to be preened. Either that, or my hair literally looked like a toy for her.

I'm glad she's enjoying it though. She doesn't really ask for it, but she's quite accepting of it. Now that I'm better understanding her, she seems to be getting more patient with me, as if we're slowly starting to understand each other, more.

It can be hard for us humans to understand the bird's perspective and work with that to develop a relationship that's rewarding for everybody. But it sounds like you're doing it!

That's always something I've seemed to have a knack for. Mainly with mammals (especially dogs), but once I've been able to see the animal in a comfortable environment, I'm able to start seeing things in the animal's perspective. I've done it many times with dogs, though other animals, I'm not exactly experience. Especially since Lucy's the first cockatiel I've had in forever

Today, I decided to let Lucy stay on my shoulder, while I go to a few other rooms in the house. I want her to get used to the house as a whole, and since she's become most comfortable on my shoulder, I decided to let her hang out. I've only done two rooms, today. The living room, and the family/dining room. I let her look through the family/dining room windows, since that leads to our backyard, as opposed to my bedroom window, that leads to the front. She was definitely fascinated, as she always is when she gets to look out to the front yard. I think she just enjoys watching the world around her.

I thought of letting her perch on my mom's orchids, to see if she'll just hang out and look out the window. Also thought it would look nice, photographically. Of course, silly me forgets the cockatiel's instinct to chew. She was chewing on the stem she was standing on, so I had to get her off before she chewed through it and fall. I mean, yeah she has wings, but I'm pretty sure having what you're using as a perch, break from under you, would definitely freak you out, as a bird.

Lucy also seems to share her mother's taste in flowers. I tried putting her on the stem with the flowers, for a good photo, and instead of stepping off my hand, she just chewed one of the flowers until it came completely off, then started eating it. She doesn't seem interested in the pedals though. Just the stems, for whatever reason. I didn't let her eat too much of it, because I'm not exactly sure if Orchids are poisonous to birds.

Note to self: Make sure plant is fake, before putting a cockatiel on it.....

Wait, scratch that. They'll probably chew up the fake plant, for the sake of chewing on something.

The internet disagrees on whether orchids are toxic or not. The ones that say "not" seem to be a bit more reliable but I haven't looked into it deeply. It might depend on the orchid species. I wouldn't worry about it too much but I'd keep her away from the orchids until you find out more about this particular species. Your mother probably wouldn't appreciate having her plants destroyed by cockatiels anyway!

Birds have a different psychology than dogs and cats so the way we relate to them has to be different too. This article talks about it: http://www.littlefeatheredbuddies.com/i ... ology.html

Every species and every individual is different of course, but the effort that you're making to understand Lucy's needs and relate to her on her terms will carry over and be helpful with every bird you have in the future too. That's a nice bonus!

The kinds of orchids my mom has are called moth orchids, and according to several sources, they're apparently pet safe (including birds in the mix of pets). Though I should still keep her away. My mom definitely wouldn't appreciate it.

But you gotta admit, her face is priceless! It's like she's saying: "I'm totally not going to eat these delicious flowers, here." lol

"Who, me??? It was Dudley who ate the orchids, I swear. Or the dog. Yeah, that's it. It was the dog that did it."

Ironically, that was taken before she decided that they were treats. It's like she's trying to act all innocent, waiting for me to turn my head.

We need more Dudley pictures. I love pi.

I will try to get them. I was hoping for getting some when I teach him to step up, since right now, the majority of pictures will be of him in his cage.

Training's a slow process for him especially, because of his age.