Meet Alphonse

I kept an eye on Craigslist for the right cockatiel. Requirements were simple: not more than half an hour's drive away and not ridiculously costly. Craigslist, I discovered, is downright scary with ads like this: 5 month old blue healer lab mix hes a amazing puppy!! :) he knoes sit stay and hes potty trained he goes to the door hes great with kids and other animals he loves to play and also loves to watch tv and listen to music hes a incredable boyyy. There is a Re-homing fee of 175.00 to ensure hes safefy. How did these people graduate from high school? As for the number of people who've grown tired of their mixed breed dogs and expect to be paid, reading their ads is like watching a car wreck.

I bought Alphonse from this person: HELLO I HAVE A MALE COCKATIEL HE KNOWS HOT TO SAY PRETTY BIRD BUT WERE I BOUGHT HIM THEY SAID HE KNOWS HOW TO SAY WERES THE CAT BUT I HAVENT HERD HIM SO IF YOU HAVE A CAT HE MIGHT SAY THAT I DONT HAVE A CAT SO THAT MIGHT BE THE REASON WHY HE DOESNT SAY THAT HE IS A FANTASTIC BIRD BUT WEVE GOT TO MANY PETS.... Maybe the owner just couldn't type?

In the old days I would quarantine any new bird for at least 30 days before letting it near the flock but the whole point here was to find a companion bird quickly. Alphonse came from a one-bird household, so I wasn't worried about his carrying disease. I put the birds' cages side by side for a few hours, then gently grabbed Alphonse and popped him into Little Bee's cage. First they just sat around in the cage on the kitchen table, as in photo #1.

Then they had a little discussion about who's boss, as is typical.

 I gave them some millet, a treat cockatiels can't resist. They approached cautiously--

and finally began to eat.

I moved the cage back to the laundry room because I need the kitchen table for incidentals like eating. A & B are not perfect buddies yet. They spend most of the day in separate parts of the cage; but last night after I turned out the light and checked on them later, they were sitting on opposite sides of the same perch. Instead of spending the day calling piteously, Little Bee just sounds off every now and then. We're getting back to normal.