Photo by Ursula Gamez on Unsplash

If you share your home with a cockatiel, that little crest is basically a mood ring. 🦜 Once you learn to read it, your bird gets a lot easier to understand:

⬆️ Straight up: curious, excited, or startled by something new.
↗️ Relaxed and tilted slightly back: calm and content – all is well.
⬇️ Flattened tight against the head, often with hissing or an open beak: scared or annoyed. Time to back off and give some space.

The crest is only part of the picture, so watch posture, feathers and sounds too. Knowing the signals tells you when your bird is up for play and when they'd rather be left alone 💛

Do you have a cockatiel at home? Which “crest mode” do you see the most? 👇

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