Annoying Cockatiel…

[friendtoall]

My friend has a Cockatiel that she has had for about four months. Most times he is a vary pleasant bird. But lately he is trying to be annoying. Well it seems that way. We think it might be an attention thing but not sure. For the most part he sings the same song but every once in a while he finds these vary high pitches and calls that actually are rather disturbing. Is there a way we can teach him nice calls and songs. Would the sounds of other Cockatiel’s help?
Any Suggestions?

[Karen]

Has anything in his environment changed lately that he might be objecting to? Being as I see you are in Boston, and it has gotten bitterly cold here in the past few days, is his "spot" drafty maybe and he's objecting?

How much interaction with people does he get? And how old is he? Positive reinforcement of "nice" sounds from him cannot hurt ...

[GoldenRetrLuver]

How much interaction with people does he get? Cockatiels NEED attention. Piper (my Cockatiel) makes high pitched sounds when he hears birds outside. I guess he's trying to "call" to them. Maybe it can be annoying a times, but cockatiels can be very loud.

[friendtoall]

I am not sure of his age. I think he is around 2?
Good suggestion Karen but I believe that he has been doing this for a while and he is in a nice and warm spot…
It dose seem to be an attempt to get attention. He is alone most of the day but my friend makes a point of saying good morning. He lives in the kitchen so he gets some morning time with breakfast and he gets a bed time lullaby from my friend every night. Though most of time he song is beautiful he dose seem to be trying to get our attention by using some piercing sounds. We/she is trying positive attention methods but it can get difficult when is giving you a head ach! She is having trouble finding a roommate who can deal with his songs…

[Karen]

Poor birdie! Does she leave the radio on to at least keep him company a little while she's away during the day? That might help ... Does his cage have a cover so if he gets too annoying she can nite-nite him for a little while? Is he allowed out or trained to perch on her shoulder while she's home? Lots of toys, and distractions may help a little, or how about a friend bird to keep him company?

[friendtoall]

those are great suggestions karen. He actully loves Jazz. It gets him excited and gives him new ideas for his songs.

He truly loves to communicate...

At this point he tends to stay in his cage a great deal of the time thought that is his choice. he is never locked in and his door is allways open. He is a new addtion to the house( only for 4 months) and the two cats that have lived there all of there lives kind of have a run of the place.
So he is still a little shy and wary....

I think we'll try the radio and to just work on the positive renforcement...

thanks for all of the advice....

[friendtoall]

Well it seems that coo roo the Cockatiel is vary cultured.
He prefers Charles Mingus to almost any other kind of music and even to the sounds of other birds.
Coo is getting better at his attempts to get attention.
He has even started to find other perches in the house so he can be with others. He actually landed on me for the first time last week. He truly likes to see other people.

We also got him a xylophone, which he loves!!!
He just learning to play but he gets vary excited when we play with him. It's his favorite thing in the world!
Hopefully will have a pic of coo and his xylophone soon...
Take care,