Sydney
Austrailian Cockatiel
Sydney the Australian Cockatiel came to us in July 2020. He is a companion animal to our other parrots. First, he shared the same room with Sunny in Topanga, and then Paso Robles, where he learned to mimic all the things Sunny likes to mimic even the mountain lion “rowow” sound. He especially likes to mimic kiss noises back to people while he sits on his food dish. Now that he lives next to Chief here in Coarsegold, he shares some of his bird toys with Chief. Sydney’s favorite bird toys are the rainbow-colored popsicle sticks, even as a tiny bird he shows off his destructive parrot skills and crunches the toys into tiny pieces.
Native to Australia the species became a popular pet due to it’s small size. They resemble their larger “cousins” the Cockatoo with a large crest on their head. They display their feelings about a situation with their crest being up or down.
Sydney is not fond of being held and prefers to be the one to interacted with through mimicry and grooming. He enjoys to preen people’s hair or clothing. His mimicry not only includes all that Sunny has taught him; he also loves to sing tunes. He will match someone’s whistling and sing along with music or movies on the television.