Parakeet, sick dog and a cockatiel!

[Falconerwa]

...all in a morning that i really didnt feel up too

Ok, i gotta start this story out properly...

Woke up at 9ish, rolled over, saw my dog asleep with 4 paws facing skyward. sat up, looked across my room, and on the ground was a pill container, broken open, and pills everywhere.... great!!

so called my mom, she works at the washington state poison center... and apparently, if he had less than one of the pills, he can die! ... great!!

so im throwing on pants, running downstairs, getting some stuff to make him throw up, and feeding it to him... get him outside, and i hear this sound... im on the fone with my girlfriend and i said aloud "ok... that dont sound like Gyr..." so im walking over, and i turn the corner of my mew, and there before me... is this beautiful, cockatiel!

so i told Aurelia this, and she goes "well pick him up" so i walk over to him, and say "up!" and low and behold... he stepped onto my hand... well, after having him in the house, while trying to watch a dog that can throw up, and finding the bird in odd places... like the living room... climbing the stairs...etc.. i put him in my mew! basically, a 8x8x9 foot aviary...

so the dog ended up being fine, and im going around, asking the nieghbors if anyone lost a cockatiel... after talking to some people, realizing that my neighborhood is quite boring...

i ran into a neighbor that used to raise cockatiels and she was telling me that she has been hearing one since FRIDAY. in a tree in her backyard...

well... im thinking we woulda seen "LOST" signs... nope!! so i called my mom, and she said i can keep him... let me get to why..

this bird has a wing clip that from what i understand, is not good. its on wing, and it had its primaries clipped...

it does NOT have a band at all...

im thinking its a captive bred in someones household... and they A) lost it and dont care or B) let it go....

well, i dont feel comfortable calling animal control... god knows what they will do... and they may just get him a brand new home....

so... heres some pics... can anyone tell how old he is? hes growing in new feathers on the top of his head...

hes really quite tame, he walks towards me, and walks up my arm onto my shoulder....

heres the pics:





sorry about the boxers in that last picture... lol i woke up and just threw pants on!!

[tielfan]

Judging by the spots under the wing feathers, this bird is either a female or a juvenile male. The bars on the tail feather may be telling the same story, but this bird is a pearl and I'm not familiar with the tail feathers of male pearls.

If the bird is male, when he grows in new wing feathers they won't have spots on the bottom. He may lose the pearl pattern on his body feathers too; female pearls keep the pearling but males tend to lose it.

You can sometimes tell the gender of a young tiel by how far the under-wing spots extend. If they go all across the bottom of the wing there's a good chance the bird is female. If they're only on the flight feathers and the part close to the body is a solid color there's a good chance the bird is male. However, I'm not sure how applicable this is to pearls since I don't know whether the pearl pattern continues under the wings. If it does, it would complicate the process of spot-checking.

Looking at all the quills in the crest, this bird is either a youngster who's just feathering out or an older bird who's just been through a heavy molt or is replacing feathers that it lost in some kind of accident. Does the bird seem to be eating competently on its own? If it's a baby it might not be fully weaned yet, in which case some handfeeding might be needed.

Does this bird vocalize much? If it produces a series of different notes in a clear whistling tone, it's probably male. If the vocalizing is more monotonous and squawky, it's probably female.

[ROYJOY]

sooooo... what happened to the parakeet.

[Falconerwa]

oh, parakeets fine... just i know have 2 parrots lol...

the cockatiel eats fine, and from my hand... he is vocal... thats the only reason i found him!

[Monica]

I'd say it's probably a female or a young male! Hard to say without being able to hear "it". After trying to visually sex a tiel, supposedly the wing markings do not hold true... and it probably doesn't in pearls...

In the least, if the cockatiel is quiet, then it's probably a female. If it's very vocal (best to be able to know what a male & female cockatiel sounds like before comparing) then it's a male and will loose it's pearls and appear like a normal male tiel...

[tielmama]

What a sweet looking and beautiful bird. I want to do my famous gender guess. I am guessing female. I hope "she" doesn't ruin my running streak of right guesses. I think I have guessed two correctly.
Do you have a cage for "her"? I'm glad you found her before something bad happened. Good luck with "her".

[Falconerwa]

my buddy has a 3x3x2 or some odd foot cage she is gonna give me!

[catschair]

What a beauty! Sounds like someone was meant to find you (but keep looking for the owner, just in case). Glad your puppy is okay too! What a scare.

[itchysquid]

What a crazy, crazy morning! I'm so glad your doggy is ok! I think you were meant to find that little cutie!

[sowilu]

My Maxy has the same marking so it could be a she. Yet again it could be a juvenile male.