On a warm September day, a friend named Carlos stopped by our house. It was a few days prior to my partner Steven’s birthday and Carlos said he had a present for him. He walked into our house carrying a fluffy pink towel, holding it in front of him with both hands which I found a little odd. He opened up the towel to reveal a very young, very frightened yellow and grey pied cockatiel. The little bird chirped nervously, flapping its wings in a frantic manner. It was terrified. I felt awful for the poor thing, but this? This was not the way anyone wanted to receive a new pet. Plus, we already had two cockatiels. We weren’t prepared to accept another.
Carlos said he found the bird alone on Echo Park Boulevard in Los Angeles and was unable to locate the owner. He did not want to take it to the shelter because L.A. Animal Services euthanized unwanted pets. At home he had a large pit bull, a cat and two rambunctious kids, so he was unable to take care of the bird himself. He didn’t know what else to do.
I took a look at the trembling little bird sitting pitifully in the towel. It stared up at me with fear in its eyes but I recognized a look of familiarity. I put my finger down slowly and carefully. The bird was hesitant but stumbled towards me. Clumsily, it climbed onto my finger. It was tame.
It took a few minutes before the bird finally settled down and started to preen its feathers, a sign it was becoming more comfortable. It looked up at me again with big, dark green eyes. My heart melted. Steven and I glanced at each other and I nodded.
“Ok,” he told Carlos. “We can take him.”
We quickly found a cage and made a vet appointment. We put the cage in the bedroom for quarantine from our other cockatiels, Maddie, a pearl female and Conrad, a male normal grey. Immediately, they knew something was going on and began calling to each other. This went on for the full thirty days of quarantine.
Our vet gave the bird a clean bill of health. Other than being a little dehydrated and malnourished, the bird was fine. She thought it was a male and about six months old. Because of his well-developed chest muscles at such a young age, she thought he could have been outside for some time. The thought made me sad.
As the bird got comfortable with us, his personality began to shine. He was very affectionate and enjoyed cuddling with us. He became quite fond of a Beanie Baby bird we had and loved to snuggle up next to it. He still made baby cockatiel begging noises, which confirmed the vet’s opinion on his age and soon he started singing, which confirmed her opinion that he was a male. We noticed that he liked to do a little display, spinning around with ‘heart wings’ as he sang. It reminded me of a ballerina’s pirouette. Because of this we named him Misha, after the Russian ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov.
Misha was very sweet as a baby. He loved Maddie and Conrad and he would let anybody hold and cuddle him. He was friendly with everyone, bird or human. We learned that he was quite intelligent. He would vocalize whenever Steven or I spoke to him. His vocalizations sounded different from the regular chirps and squawks of most birds. It was as if he were speaking full paragraphs with near-human inflections. He’d listen quietly as we spoke to him, focusing on us, then once we finished a sentence, he’d start ‘talking’. When he was done, we would ask him a question and again he’d listen. Once we stopped talking, as if on cue, he’d start again, going on and on as if he were having a conversation. Sometimes it sounded like he was complaining. We would listen and let him vent about whatever it was that was bothering him.
One day we found out just how smart Misha was. We came back home from running some errands and found him sitting on top of his cage. He was less than a year old at the time.
“You didn’t put him away when we left?” I asked.
“I did put him away,” Steven insisted.
“Well, how did he get out?”
“I don’t know,” he said.
I was irritated. How could he forget to put the bird back in his cage?
Later that evening, we returned Misha to his cage to eat. The door to the cage was closed. Shortly after we began watching a movie, we heard some banging noises. We turned to look and Misha was in the process of sliding under the door. Had he figured out how to open it himself? Thinking it was a fluke, I put him back inside the cage. Then we watched in amazement as he lifted the door with his beak, slipped his head underneath, and slowly squeezed through. Our new bird was a little escape artist! It was clear he was too smart for his own good. We quickly remedied the problem by using plastic bread-bag clips to ensure the door remained closed while he was inside. We still refer to them as “Misha locks.”
Misha began to change as the months went by. He didn’t want Steven to hold him or even touch him. He began to bite and became aggressive. Soon he wouldn’t let anyone near him aside from me. We wondered what happened to our sweet baby. The answer was obvious. Puberty.
We had male cockatiels before and had not experienced such a drastic change in behavior with them. Conrad never acted like this. If anything, he was calmer now than as a baby and he was two years older than Misha. We thought it might be because of our female cockatiel, Maddie, but Misha never once showed any interest in her aside from wanting to play with her the same way he did with Conrad. We thought his behavior would get better. Sadly, it didn’t. To this day, I’m the only human he allows to hold him or touch him.
Misha’s behavior toward the other birds stayed consistent. There were no squabbles or trouble between them. Maddie was the oldest and was extremely independent. The most dominant of the three, she was eleven years old when we got Conrad. Conrad quickly became attached to her and followed her everywhere, like a little duckling. They had a mother/child type relationship.
Misha had a great friendship with both of them. He would preen Maddie and the three would play together quietly, or they would sit peacefully on their play gym, enjoying one another’s company. Although his aggression toward humans continued, he was quite well-adjusted with the other birds.
Things soon changed. Maddie had been battling health problems for years. She was a chronic-egg layer and it was taking a toll on her physically. Our veterinarian finally had to intervene and performed a partial hysterectomy to stop the egg-laying. A few years later, we found out that Maddie had ovarian cancer. In order to save her, she would need surgery again, this time to remove tumors. We were very fortunate to have a wonderful and experienced avian vet. If it weren’t for her we would have lost Maddie for certain. Unfortunately, Maddie developed chronic liver problems and required constant veterinary care. She would need medication and treatment for the rest of her life.
On a spring day in April, Maddie finally passed away. One by one, her organs shut down. She crossed the Rainbow Bridge on our way back to the vet’s office. It was devastating. She had been in our lives for 20 years and in Conrad’s life since he was 12 weeks old. We were really worried about him because birds form strong social bonds and grieve the loss of flock members, just like people do. He started to call for her and look for her. It was painful to witness. We didn’t know what to do for him other than try to show him extra love and affection. Then something remarkable happened. Misha began to comfort Conrad. He started to preen his head feathers, something he had only done with Maddie. He began initiating play, offering his toys. He wouldn’t leave Conrad’s side. Conrad responded positively. Soon they insisted on sharing a cage, sleeping next to one another at night. I realized that it wasn’t just Misha comforting Conrad, but the two of them comforting one another. In turn, they were both comforting us.
To this day, they are brothers and best friends. They do everything together. If one walks one way, the other follows. I thank the universe each day for bringing Misha to us, not only because we love him so much but because he saved Conrad from what surely would have been a deep depression after losing Maddie. I could not imagine our lives without little Misha, even with his aggression and hormonal issues. He is a very special bird. We love him so much.
