new feathered friend

a few months ago we lost one of our brids. poor baby. but she lived a good life and was a good little buddy.

since then however, the remaining bonnie bird, hadn't been quite the same. the once docile and almost friendly pied cockateil, became an eating, sleeping, YELLING machine. oh my god with the YELLING. if you have heard the call of a female cockatiel you would immediately commiserate with the torture that was going on here. you would also immediately wonder why we both haven't thrown ourselves over a very large cliff.

the yelling was becoming constant during all of her waking hours. she would yell so long and so loudly that briggs would sit in the living room an howl along with her. it was like the saddest country song you've ever heard. (which i totally should have video taped and uploaded for your viewing pleasure but did not- ah diss). we were dealing with it, figuring that she was still calling for her lost mate, but the CONSTANT YELLING became a serious issue when the neighbors started to comment.

first there was a comment on the dog howling song, which was actually kind of funny. it was this discussion with the neighbor that we learned that briggs does this during the middle of the day when we're not home. i always thought he was putting on a show for us. however, then there was the "hunt it down and kill it" comment. that was less funny.

i felt terrible that we were subjecting the neighborhood to the YELLING. so we made some preparations, and i talked to one of my coworkers who happen to have a lonely cockatiel as well. this weekend we welcomed charlie bird to the murphy home.

charlie bird is also a lutino cockatiel (same as baby bird) and is about as friendly as baby bird (not very) and came equipped with her own bird condo. charlie is not very fond of the camera, but she is neat and clean and quiet. we will see how this goes, but i can attest to having the quietest sunday morning we've had in weeks/months/FOREVER.

in an update since i wrote this post 2 days ago...the honeymoon is over. the YELLING has resumed full force. when will it end?