Sammy lives in Hawaii and he is owned by Melissa. She said, " One evening I took the garbage out with Sammy on my head, his favorite place to perch. I thought he would be OK since his wings were clipped. He got startled and flew away.  I looked all over but couldn't find him.  The next day I found him on an electric line. I called the power company, telephone company, firemen. No one would help me. I tried for three hours begging him to come down, tempting him with food and his cage. He seemed to be afraid to move even with the mynah birds dive-bombing him. He finally flew off into the trees. I looked in that area for 2 weeks, put up flyers in pet shops, vet clinics, put an ad in the paper and notified the Humane Society. I was so depressed and sad. He is such a lovely little bird with a bright and spunky personality. There was an article in the paper about a dying man whose cockatiel was missing. After the article, the Humane Society received calls and recognized a bird that was possibly Sammy. The people found him about 10 days after he flew away and had him about a month.  I knew it was Sammy because of his tail feathers. Some of them had broken off and I had cut them. Sammy still has much of the same personality but he is more quiet and mellow now. He loves to be pet on the head, jump on people's heads, loves the dust buster and whistles loudly to it. I hope that being home will bring back more of the old Sammy. Until then I am going to give him all my love and of course a visit to the vet for a checkup. I am very lucky and happy to have him back. If you ever lose a bird, keep looking and don't give up."

This is Nicole's grandmother's bird. Her mom is letting her take care of him before she can get her own cockatiel. Nicole said, "Sammy is a male, Blue Front Amazon. He enjoys singing with me. He loves Ashlee Simpson's song, Pieces of Me, that I sing to him. He makes noises and chirps. Sammy can talk. He says, Hello Sammy and Cracker. He also says Goodnight Sammy when we turn out the lights at night and when we are leaving the house. He also makes a noise called kissy kiss. When we say this  he makes that noise.  He did say Pizza Pizza but for some reason he doesn't say it any more. Sammy  LOVES peanut butter! We put some peanut butter on our finger and he gently licks it off. He basically eats everything we do except for spicy foods and sweets.  He doesn't like playing that much but if its a treat toy he will definitely  try to get the food. Sammy loves to dance and he twirls around on the cage bars. When you say "Pretty bird Sammy" he dances. He loves to dance to the music of a  toy that I got for Christmas a long time ago and its called hip hop Santa. The Santa sings like a Hip hop Christmas Song and Sammy just bobs his head, shakes and moves his wings. Sammy is 10 years old but he  acts like a big baby. He is very bright, out going and very friendly. Just don't put your finger in his cage I wouldn't guarantee you'd get it back!"

This is Joey, Christina's bird. She said, "My mother had a cockatiel named Oscar and I grew up around him. He passed away when I was 15. Now, years later, I have a cockatiel of my own. It certainly is different being the primary caregiver and I have learned so much that I didn't know as a child. There is so much new information about cockatiels now. I don't remember there being so many recipes for different foods for cockatiels,  This year, Nilton and I decided to look for a pet, a cockatiel to be more specific. We looked through the local classifieds, probably not the best place, but it lead us to Joey! We fell in love with him as soon as we saw him! It was after that the the owners informed us that they were his 3rd owners and they only had him for a month. He was only 2 and 1/2 years old. They were selling him because they didn't have enough time to spend with him. They were also just starting him on a pellet diet. Within four hours of us bringing him home, he glided out of his cage, landed a bit awkward and broke a blood feather. It wouldn't stop bleeding so off we went to the emergency vet hospital. They had to keep him overnight. The bleeding only stopped in the middle of the night. With all of these changes, he's been very hesitant to warm up to us. With patience, persistence and great tips on this site, he has become much more calm and sociable. Joey is still very hesitant to let us pick him up, unless he flies to the floor and wants to get back up to his cage. Petting him is still out of the question. He moves away pretty quick. He has let me brush my cheek up against his a couple times, so I guess that's a good start."

Coco and Crackers are Andrea's cockatiels. Crackers, the bird on the right, recently passed away due to kidney failure.  Andrea shares these loving thoughts and said, "Crackers was a lovely bird with a very calm and friendly disposition. I was given Coco and Crackers ten years ago. They were not babies but I think they were only about a year old at the time. Over the years my family has  moved away and I now live alone since my youngest daughter left for the University three years ago. Coco and Crackers have always been there to keep me company. As soon as I put the key into the door they start to cheep and it makes me feel that I am not alone. Unfortunately Crackers became sick in August. After having many procedures they found that he had kidney failure. He fought a long battle and seemed to remain quite cheerful. He was just a little quiet and did not come out of his cage. Poor Coco was distraught when Crackers left this world.  He spent three days permanently attached to me squawking. I now have a baby pearl cockatiel called Merlin, in a separate cage. Coco is starting to calm down and they are tentatively getting to know each other. I will always remember my lovely, gentle Crackers. The pleasure he brought to me is something that will always make me smile."

This is Susan's bird, Buddy. He is 18 weeks old. Susan said, "Buddy appears to be a gray male, but I guess I will just have to wait and see! His favorite treat is millet seed. He, will sit on top of his cage and holler until someone gets him a small piece. Buddy can do the wolf whistle , but only when he wants to. He does like to play with toys but only if  they have silver chains or bells on them. He listens to TV and comments with a squeal at some commercials. Buddy does have one trick. Although he can get down from the top of his cage without help,  sometimes he will look down into cage, comes to edge of the cage and bite it. I then go over and give him a elevator ride down to his cage door on my finger. Buddy then jumps off at the right floor by himself. All and all buddy is a well behaved little bird and we love him dearly."