Screaming Bird

OK, so if I had known this time in Jazzy’s life was coming, I probably would not have bought him.

Although a cockatiel reaches maturity at one year, their full peak is at two years. They want a mate, and they spend a lot of time demanding one. He started screaming last fall – late October, I think. I think I’ve mentioned before the connection my family has with animals – an ability to “feel” what they are feeling when they vocalize. There is one of Cookie’s yowls that just rips me to the core. I thought everyone was like that, but I asked the hubby once if he felt that way and he said no.

Anyway, Jazzy gets really worked up sometimes with his screaming and with both him and Cookie, I have tried to keep them as calm as possible. We were told it’s better for their health if they have a calm atmosphere. So, to quiet Jazzy, I covered his cage with a fitted cover in the hopes he would calm down. He did… for a while. Then he started screaming even while covered. And, he learned a new habit – aggression. He’d try to peck me through the cage whenever I came near. Well, that was worse than screaming and agitation. So, we haven’t used the cover since then.

The store manager where we bought Jazzy has several birds of the parrot family, one of which is a cockatiel. She informed us this is just a stage he is going through and suggested two items we should purchase to help calm him down. Neither of them worked. And she said that somewhere along the way, he has learned he gets attention if he screams. So, we have to ignore him when he screams and only give him attention when he’s not screaming. Wow! That is so tough to do! He sits in my office, and it wasn’t long before the screaming just got too much to ignore. I moved his cage into the hubby’s office and let him scream. It has been months and he still screams for at least portions of each day.

There was improvement last week. I sighed, thinking the end of this “phase” was finally in sight. But, no. I moved his cage back into my office, and within a couple of hours, he started screaming again, non-stop. He’s back in the hubby’s office. And I fear I may have to give up on bird ownership.

He really is a sweet little bird. He chatters away when he’s happy. He’s curious and intelligent, and when he snuggles up to my neck and preens my hair, the bond I have with this little creature strengthens. There are times his screams are just an “answer” to some music I am playing, or the birds chattering outside. And in all this time of listening to his displeasure, I have recognized his moods. He has a special scream for the hubby. It runs something like, “I know she’s heartless and can ignore me, but surely you’ll come an give me what I want. Please?” OK, so I have a vivid imagination. There is definitely a pleading tone to it. The hubby was going to go see him, and I yelled at him – STOP! I could see all the work I had done through the week going down the tubes by him paying attention to the little bird at the wrong time. He’s been really good about working with me on adjusting Jazzy’s behaviour.

Some changes have happened with Jazzy since this grumpy time has started. When we do pay attention to him, he isn’t as happy for as long. He also doesn’t chatter as much. He also gets aggressive more quickly, even though it’s not as often these days as it was a couple of months ago. I truly hope these are not permanent changes. I really want to keep him, but there are days when I actively imagine taking him and all his belongings back to the store and not even asking for a refund. And I realize God can use many teachable moments to help me grow in patience.

As I was writing this, Jazzy was sitting in the next room, screaming his yellow little head off. And then, he started chattering away happily. It was almost like he know I was “talking” about him. So I brought him out of his cage to sit with me for a while. Progress?

Until next time, take good care of the people and pets in your lives…