PG-17

The problem with Awii (and the reason I think, that we have no little baby cockatiels yet) is that he just gets too excited and doesn't know how to handle the ladies.

Granted, yesterday's post showing a rare moment after they had both taken a sip from my wine-glass, shows how smooth and romantic Awii can be. The problem is, as soon as Klee made any indication whatsoever that she was willing to go back to the cage with him, he gets all excited and starts doing something stupid...

I have not read anything about such mating behavior before, so the best I can figure is that it is akin to the behavior we all remember from our kindergarten days. You know... when you use insults and violent or antagonistic behavior, such as hair pulling or spit-ball shooting, to express our love (or shriek something like "eww that's weird!" when the boy tries to hold your hand -similar to Klee rejecting Awii's advances a few years ago).

In this case, awii succeeded in seducing Klee into a long (four minutes and 18 seconds!!!!) kiss. Klee was obviously hot. They began to talk dirty, as they often do -making a soft gurgling noise (more)... and then, to Klee's dismay, he started the head-butting thing you see in the photo above.

Idiot.

More cockatiel prOn from Winged Wisdom Magazine

...I think the cockatiels are the most romantic and the most entertaining.

Entertaining? Yes. Romantic? Sometimes.

When first introduced, a pair may pay no attention at all to each other.

Or, in our case, even though we specifically bought Klee for Awii, he pretty much seemed to hate her.

But, as time passes (sometimes minutes, sometimes months)...

Years for us.

...they generally become a bonded pair. Some signs of bonding are spending time next to each other on the perch, eating together, mutual preening, and the actual act of mating.

Lots of mutual preening going on, but I have never seen the act of mating between Awii and Klee. I have seen him try to mate with my hand, and I have seen other birds mating -such as a couple of love birds in the pet store a few weeks ago... amazing stamina. But I have never seen Awii and Klee mating. A year or so ago, Awii often tried to "climb on", but Klee always rejected him. Then, when she was obviously um... begging for it, he was too dumb to notice.

A female tiel wanting to mate will sit low on the perch with her tail in the air while emitting a sort of tiny peeping sound. This and hanging upside down from the perch with her tail feathers spread

She does this a lot lately. But I don't see much of the following behavior from Awii.

When a male cockatiel is interested in a female, he generally displays a combination of the following courting behaviors:

1. Beak Pounding : Tapping the beak on the cage wires, the nest-box or anything else within reach to get the female's attention. The sound is somewhat like a rowdy woodpecker.
2. The Strut: Male cockatiels tend to do a strange looking strut and dance while whistling, chattering, screaming and beak pounding. They'll hop, bow their heads quickly (possibly tapping the beak on the floor), whistle and then do it all again. It's rather comical to watch but can get disturbing to those who aren't used to the sound.
3. The Wing Thing: This describes when a male cockatiel holds the top portion of his wings away from his body to try to get the females attention. If you look at them from the back while they are doing this display, you will notice the wings take on the shape of a heart. This is generally used in conjunction with several of the other types of courting behavior.
4. Whistling: There are several cockatiel mating calls and each male also brings with this, their own compositions. One of the male mating calls can be heard by clicking HERE.
5. Checking out the nestbox: Before a female tiel will generally enter a nestbox, it has to be checked and approved as "safe" by the male. Once he jumps in and out of the box several times and whistles to her from inside (and of course bangs his beak), mating will generally occur soon.

WARNING: EXPLICITE CONTENT FOLLOWS. BY USING THE SCOROLL BAR RO SCROLL DOWN YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU ARE OVER 18 YEARS OF AGE AND DO NOT LIVE IN A COUNTRY WHERE BIRD-PORN IS ILLEAGAL

The mating occurs when the female crouches low on the perch and raises her tail feathers. The male then mounts the female's back from the side, stands on her back, tucks his tail under hers and proceeds to rub his vent against hers. He will swish his tail side to side until the act is complete. During this time, the male will most likely be very gentle, kissing, preening, and whistling to his mate.

To see the tail swishing thing, check out this video.

Before your pair reaches this point, you may want to make sure the males toenails aren't sharp or long. If they are, you'll need to clip them. The female will not tolerate a male on top of her long enough to complete copulation if the nails are hurting her.

Ahh... maybe we can use this to get Awii to voluntarily get his toenails clipped.

Copulation may occur several times a day.

Or, in the case of those lovebirds I saw the other day, once a day, but all day.

Here comes the really interesting part....

Expect your pairs to fight some but they shouldn't fight to the point that one of them gets hurt. If that should happen, remove the offending party and try starting from scratch with a new mate. The type of fights I'm referring to would be more like lovers quarrels. The male may want the female more often than the female wants the male and a quarrel ensues. The female may think the male needs to share the brooding or he may want to flirt with the female in the next cage while his mate is on eggs and a quarrel follows. Basically, they seem to act a lot like humans who are about to become, or are new parents. If you're lucky, they will both take to the mating/brooding/feeding like a pro and will get along like honeymooners.