Two on Tuesday

<-- Sagan & Sky - they love that corner of the big play cage


I’ve had birds for almost 30 years of my life—primarily hookbills, but I’ve also had and currently have many softbills as well. Hookbills are very interesting little creatures and are different from other species in many ways. If you haven’t been lucky enough to share your life with birds, here are a couple of randomly selected interesting things you may not know about them. There are so many other interesting little facts, that I may revisit this topic in another Two on Tuesday.

1. Hookbills (parrot-type birds, including cockatiels, parakeets, and love birds) naturally live in flocks but will pair-bond with one bird, usually for life. They may also pair-bond with a human or animal of another species. They generally pair-bond with bird of the opposite gender, but in many cases they will chose a bird of the same gender, even if opposite gendered partners are available. They are very choosy about their partners, but once they pair up, they are loyal and loving. They will groom, feed, set up housekeeping, and often try to mate with their partner, even if of the same gender or a different species. They frequently create and sing their own unique ‘songs’ together. They often become so distraught over their partner’s death that they waste away and die shortly after.

2. They have a poor sense of smell and use their much stronger sense of taste to compensate. Instead of sniffing you to get to know you, like dogs and cats, they will taste you. This can be intimidating and misinterpreted as trying to bite or nip (not that they don’t do that) but is actually very gentle and sweet. Their tongues are dry and remind me of little erasers. They will remember your taste and will be able to indentify you in the future based on that.