I had two cockatiels for several years. They were inseparable. You'd never even see them on separate perches .... I kid you not.
When Cheeky went belly-up a few weeks ago (bless him, but he was a good age) I said to my hubby, 'I bet it won't be long before Charlie pines away and dies'. The thought of that upset me somewhat, I can tell ya.
Well, Charlie is now doing somersaults on his perch and whistling all day non-stop. Prior to the demise of Cheeky, he was a very quiet bird. Hardly a chirp from him.
This has come as a big surprise. I've had many birds before, as I used to take in rescued birds. Quite often, on the loss of their companion, they'd stop eating and just fade away (well, not literally fade away, but you know what I mean).
I was a bit thrown on this initially, because I mis-read it as "two cocktails". I was trying to imagine a Pina Colada & a Brandy Alexander sat side by side on a perch....
anyway. My assumption is that Charlie & Cheeky were not so pally-wally after all. I suspect Cheeky was a bit of a secret bully - pinching & mocking Charlie when you were not around. I think he had 'something' on him - say some embarrassing secret he had discovered about Charlie, and was threatening to divulge it if Charlie didn't toe the line.
Hey sal, I would've thought that too. Except that at night they used to sleep one underneath the other's wing, if you know what I mean. And they were regularly seen preening each other. And sometimes even err ........ ooerrr, better not.
[:o)
(sqad - you forgotten to take your happy pills today?)
Hey sal, your post reminds me of an advertisement I saw in our local rag.
You can now write your own ad and submit it for print. Well, somebody was selling a pair of cockatiels, but had misspelt (have I got that spelling right?) cockatiels, and put cocktails.
So they were advertising two cocktails for sale in a cage.