...but how could I resist?

Went to the bird fair to get more food. One person there had a three-year-old female cockatiel who had been kept in a closet for her whole life, in a cage that would be too small for a parakeet, with no toys. Her foster mother said she originally had no idea what cuttlebones or millet even were!

She's badly out of shape. I took her to the vet for just a general health checkup, but was especially concerned because flying even five feet leaves her gasping open-mouthed for breath. No apparent infection, but I'll be going in maybe next week or the week after for a follow-up.

She's a cinnamon pied yellowface. I've never seen a yellowface in real life where I live, so I wonder where she came from (and how she ended up in someone's closet). Unfortunately she's unbanded, so no idea where she was bred or who bred her. I had the vet check her for a microchip on the off chance she was chipped, but she wasn't.

Her name is Solanna.



She's shy around hands but was clearly hand-tame at one point. She's very calm, despite the myriad new experiences. I'm hoping she and Denali will be friends--they're both cautious, more shy birds so maybe they'll get along.

(I'll be giving an update on Pip and JJ's chicks soon--I was job-hunting and will be starting a new job in two weeks, so I've been super busy. They're all doing well)

She's gorgeous! I think she might be pastelface because her yellow tones look pretty muted overall. Pastelface reduces the intensity of all yellow and orange coloring, while the yellow cheek mutations don't change the intensity of the yellow but they do tone down the orange. But if the bird has other mutations and splits it makes a difference, and the pied mutation helps increase the amount of yellow on the bird. It can be hard sometimes to tell the difference between PF and YC.

Hopefully there are no health problems beyond simple lack of exercise. That's easy enough to fix!

Very pretty, and a lucky girl!

Thanks. She is stunning! Her skin is really dry (trying to entice her to take baths), but her feathers are in surprisingly good condition. She preens constantly. I'm kind of surprised she doesn't pluck, even knowing how unusual that is for cockatiels, just because all she really does is preen. She'll investigate toys but clearly doesn't know what to make of them.

The vet wants to keep tabs on her for things like liver disease, but didn't want to draw blood for a blood test at this point as she was still being settled in and there weren't clear indications that there was an internal issue.

Pretty bird..

She is beautiful! I'm in love.

If she won't bathe and you're reluctant to spray her against her will, a humidifier in the room might be helpful. Even hanging up some wet towels in the room would help put moisture in the air.

She is so beautiful and so lucky to have someone to love and care for her.

I expect to see multiple picture updates ASAP. She is completely breath taking. I wouldn't be able to resist her either. And I absolutely love her name. Very unique.

The title of the thread confused me... I thought you were thinking of getting a new parrot

Solanna, you are a gorgeous little bird! You don't know that, but you won the lottery going from a closet to cknauf's home!

Yes please can we see other pictures? I have never seen such a mutation and I am curious to see her body by every angle. That colour on her left shoulder seems a light brown, is that a very dark cinnamon or it's a lighting trick? Really beautiful, and she has such a sweet little face! (now I would like to add a heart smilie if we had one... tielfan... aehm...)

The name means Sunshine, very appropriate!