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Cockatiels, after budgerigars, are the world's most common and popular "pet" parrot. However, in the wild in their native homeland of Australia, their lives,in many ways, are literally world's apart from their selectively crossbred captive counterparts.

Australia's Wild Cockatiels

Great article, Les. I like the idea of fast flying and dive bomb landings. It must be a sight to see.

Les, Snickers is too yellow to survive in the wild. He's a little clown bird who loves his creature comforts. His flying is amazing. He wheels around and turns quickly mid-air. It is really something to see. He's also a little tattletale. If I am in the bathroom or in my bedroom during the day, Snickie starts yelling, "Wheel, Wheel, Wheel!" He'll keep it up for hours. I think that's his name for me.

When he was a baby bird we watched Wheel of Fortune together almost every night. I would yell, "Wheel, Wheel, Wheel!" Now, he yells it AT me.

Hi Debbie, Connie and all,

Not that it's likely at all, but high on my "natural view list" would be to go to Australia and see cockatiels in the wild, especially in flight and by watering holes.

I had a cockatiel, Yoshi, who in a high ceilinged room would also spontaneously fly and do wicked quick turns, over and over again. Maria and I would then applaud him. Yet, after well less than a minute of doing that, he would land and was exhausted as his heart was almost beating out of his chest.

As opposed to ones bred and raised in captivity, what a difference it must be for cockatiels in the wild who daily fly relatively long distances for food/water, but in times of drought will fly hundreds of miles in search of water.

To illustrate how lightning fast that they can accelerate in their "flight no fight mode", one time Yoshi was on top of his cage and got startled and immediately took straight off. He crashed into a mirror that was only about 8 feet away. He fell to the dresser and was visibly dazed but was, thank goodness, ok.