I've been curious for a long time about a behavior that one of my cockatiels does on a daily basis. Sitting on one of his perches or on a "ledge" of some sort (including human shoulders!), he will bend forward, sometimes to the point of being completely upside-down, and spread his wings. He'll hold the pose, wings wide open, for several seconds before sitting upright again. He seems to do it more often at night before bedtime for some reason, though he does it multiple times over the course of a typical day. Now about 2 years old, he does it now more often than ever before. I think it's very cute, but I have no idea what it means.

I'm not concerned since he seems perfectly content when he is in the mood to "hang"; I'm just curious if there is any explanation for this. Interestingly, though my other cockatiel halfway mimics this behavior every once in a while, he doesn't ever do it spontaneously.

Thanks for any insights you have into this behavior.

Annie

Annie:

I have a few cockatiels that do that. Mostly it is a girl thing though. Oddly enough I know. We call them "bat birds" because ususally, while hanging upside down from the ceiling of their cage they like to flap their wings too. You are right though, it is really cute. THEY are really cute <img border="0" alt="[laughing]" title="" src="graemlins/laugh[1].gif" />

The mother bird was probably frightened by a bat when she was laying the egg.
<img border="0" alt="[laughing]" title="" src="graemlins/laugh[1].gif" />

Peacehes would do that also and so does my ecclectus.

We have a male cockatiel and I've never seen him do that, interesting.

We have a male and female tiel and only the female hangs upside down like you describe.

Dan

My male Rumour does it too. I thought he was showing off how beautiful he thinks he is! LOL

I have 2 females & 1 male and they all do that. Mainly they do it when I'm misting them which they adore.

My tiels do this too. Sometimes I think they do this to ask me to mist them. They may be asking for a shower..

this is a territorial display. most of my flock has done this at one time or another, females more than males.

Well, My cockatiel (Kandy) has a bad habit,too. She always shoves her self in the corner of her cage and starts makeing a wierd whistling noise.

I just now read on a web site that cockatiels hang upside-down because they are just enjoying life, and it is also a good way for them to exercise their wings!

Mine does that too - I assumed it was because she was happy - she looks happy and acts happy
db

Mine doesn't do that, but she shoves her self in the corner of the cage and gets all happy and puffy. Does any one else's tiel do that?