Companionship

Since my last entry, there has been a lot of new movements going with Sonny's cage. Lately there has been these gray little birds that always land on the cage or stand beneath it. I wonder why? My theory is that these birds may be trying to eat some of the bird feed that is thrown on the ground by Sonny. The birds on top of the cage I really do not know what they are up to. Hopefully they are not harassing my parrot, but instead possibly making new friendships perhaps? Sonny always seems to be very interested in the presence of these birds, she tries to be as near as possible to them, which rises the suspicions that they are communicating with each other. My theory is that Sonny's chirps are very different, or considered weird to other birds, bringing them to investigate where the source of this "weird chirping" is coming from. I just hope that this chirping doesn't attract any predators!

 

Field Notes 10/10/14

 

I did some research on these mysterious birds and it turns out they are called the American Gray Flycatcher. The Gray Flycatcher is native to all of North America, and the most common habitat for them is sagebrush steppes. They thrive in shrubs or short tree branches eating insects or any seeds that can be found. For more information on this bird, please visit birdweb.org. 



 

 American Gray Flycatcher. allaboutbirds.org

 

 The presence of these birds is a great example of how much attention Sonny draws, which can be a good and bad thing. I can recall a time where a red tailed hawk attacked her cage trying to kill Sonny, and the hawk did not see the cage and rammed right into it knocking it down to the ground. Sonny was uninjured but she was frightened and the hawk was left extremely confused. Visit animals.nationalgeographic.com for information on hawks.

 

Red Tailed Hawk. birdweb.org

Hopefully no more hawks will be flying around Sonny's cage anymore. That's one of the advantages of having cockatiels as pets, you will find yourself in some pretty funny or crazy situations from time to time. In the end, it's all just good times you'll have with these birds.