Today I noticed Winter (f. budgie) turning her head so it was almost upside down, with her beak open. I never saw her do that before. Then I noticed Piper was there, and I thought she was probably asking him to feed her. I never saw her do that before.

I don't remember whether I have seen Emma (f. cockatiel) engaged in a behavior like that.

Do you think I am right, and do cockatiel males feed the females as part of bonding for creating chicks?

Cockatiels don't usually do courtship feeding, although there are some tiels that do it. They're members of the cockatoo family, which has a different child-care pattern than most other parrots. With most parrots, the female takes care of the eggs and babies and depends on the male to bring her food. So the male delivers food as part of the courtship ritual, to show that he knows what his job is. With cockatiels, both parents take care of the chicks and each one gets their own food. There's no requirement for the male to feed the female, so it doesn't usually happen.

Thank you. It's very interesting. Winter has been with me for about sixteen months. I think she's about 1-1/2 years old.

She's definitely old enough to breed, and might be expressing her interest in it!

She is a really cute bird. She is an acrobat, she puffs herself and chatters more than I expected in a female budgie. She and piper were dancing circles around each other on top of the flight cage for a l o n g time this afternoon. Piper was definitely more aggressive about it, but she wasn't flying away, which she could have if she wasn't enjoying it.

Bubu is often feeding Rocky... Well, he tries but Rocky is moody so most of the time he'll push Bubu away. They are the most peculiar couple I had in my house lol, forever getting into trouble with one thing or another

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Wow! Piper and Winter finally mated--first time today!

Good for them! I hope Piper has realized that going with budgie hens is more productive than pursuing tiel hens.

Are you planning on breeding?

No, B, I don't plan to breed.
I'm just so interested in the behavior of each of them.
They looked very cute. Winter had her back nicely arched for him. I hope it doesn't lead to eggs.