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Pet cockatiel is obsessed with singing 'September' by Earth, Wind and Fire

Kiki remembers the 21st night of September ALL. THE. TIME. and it's actually quite impressive.

Representative hoto by Saqib Iqbal Digital on Unsplash

Apparently, "September" is all the rage with cockatiels.

“Do you remember…the 21st night of September?” has been one of the most iconic song openings of the past 45 years, as the R&B hit by Earth, Wind and Fire perpetually serves as a catchy favorite for dance clubs, movie scenes and TikTok clips alike.

However, "September" has also gained wild popularity among an unlikely group—pet cockatiels.

One cockatiel in particular has taken a shining to the song to the point of obsession, to the combined delight and chagrin of his owner. You see, Kiki doesn’t just like listening to the song, he sings and dances to it. Loudly. Over and over. At uncomfortable hours of the morning.

Kiki’s owner has shared multiple examples of her pet bird reveling in his favorite song, and it’s hilarious every time.

Watch:

@kiki.tiel
Send help plz wheres the off button on parrot #fyp #foryou #bird #cockatiel #parrotsoftiktok #birdsoftiktok

"Kiki…it's 7 o'clock in the morning…" Yeah, Kiki does not care. Kiki is feelin' the groove.

This isn't just a one-off and it's also not just a random song. Here we can see that Kiki recognizes it and sings it when his owner plays it. (Just after pooing on her leg—the reality of having a bird, in case these videos make you want one).

@kiki.tiel
Babywipes handy at all hours 🫡 #bird #cockatiel #fyp #foryou #september #parrot

But Kiki doesn't even need anyone else around in order to sing his favorite song. Here he is singing and dancing all by himself when his owner left the room and left her camera running to see what he would do.

@kiki.tiel
Partying without me :( #cockatielsoftiktok #birds #fyp #for you

As cute and hilarious as this is, it surely gets old after a while, right? It's one thing to watch in a video—it's got to be entirely another to hear it all the time at home.

It's also not just a Kiki quirk. Apparently, "September" is a "thing" among cockatiels. Other cockatiels have been known to love it and sing it, though not quite as well as Kiki does.

Someone on Reddit asked why so many cockatiels love the song—one person even said it was basically the cockatiel national anthem at this point. No one knows exactly why, but this explanation by Reddit user nattiecakes is as good an explanation as any:

"Yeah, cockatiels genuinely like the song in a way they don’t universally take to many other songs. My cockatiel is 17 and early in life basically seemed to max out his harddrive space learning a little bit of La Cucaracha, The Flintstones theme, the phrase 'pretty bird,' and this horrible alarm clock sound that is similar to the hungry baby cockatiel sound. We thought we could not get him to learn anything else because they do have some limits.

Then 'September' came. Every cockatiel loved it. We decided to see if our cockatiel loved it.

I sh*t y’all not, within a DAY he whistled the first three notes, which is really all that matters. He hasn’t been able to learn more, but he loves it.

Now our African grey whistles it to him constantly. He used to reliably whistle La Cucaracha to our cockatiel when our cockatiel would get angry and upset, and our cockatiel would start singing instead and forget he’d been upset. But almost immediately our grey switched to using 'September' 90% of the time. Like, it’s so plain even to our grey that 'September' is the song to unlock a cockatiel’s better nature. I think the grey likes it a lot too, but he has many other songs he likes better.

As for why cockatiels like this song so much… all I can guess is it really resonates with their cheery vibe. I think the inside of a cockatiel’s mind is usually like a disco."

Rock on, Kiki. Just maybe not so early in the morning.

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Science

Viral post reminds us why we need to change our attitudes towards pigeons

“They love us because they were bred by us to feel that way, and yet we hate them."

@jacfalcon/X

The "rats with wings" nickname needs to stop. We should probably examine our perception of rats too, while we're at it.

Few species have been the victim of bad marketing quite like the pigeon. While its cousin, the dove (whose genetic makeup is nearly identical, mind you) is made the poster-bird for love and purity, pigeons have been dubbed as deplorable pests, aka “rats with wings.” Which, let’s be honest, sounds like the zoological equivalent of a mean racial slur.

And yet, a now-viral post serves as an important reminder that our attitude towards these creatures needs to change.

Coach and therapist Thaddeus Patrick shared on X, "My friend grew up in New England where they have pigeons. Apparently they also hate them. He was always saying bad things about pigeons.”

That is, until Patrick gave his friend a brief history lesson, which doubled as a lesson in empathy.

“We domesticated pigeons. They are (nearly) all over the world because HUMANS BROUGHT THEM THERE. And, they were more than pets. They carried messages. People raced them. They lived spoiled lives as honored human companions for centuries,” he wrote.

Indeed, humans have used the pigeon’s intelligence and natural homing abilities to communicate with one another since sixth century BC. Ancient Romans used them to announce winners of the Olympics. Genghis Khan had a whole flock spread across his vast empire.

via GIPHY

Among the most famous of carrier pigeons is Cher Ami, who delivered what may have been a lifesaving message to American commanders during World War I, despite a wound to his breast and a nearly severed leg. His courageous efforts got him the French military award, the Croix de Guerre With Palm.

And by the way, pigeons weren't just appreciated for their communication skills. Some were simply bred for beauty.

And yet, any contributions are all but forgotten in the modern age. Or, as Patrick put it, “then we got telephones and we threw them out like trash. Literally, we threw them away.”

But by that time, “their species had already been fully domesticated and they could not survive in the wild; they lost all their survival instincts during the centuries that they lived caged by people,” he explained. It also helps that hard concrete buildings better replicate the pigeon’s natural habitat of rocky ledges and cliffs, rather than trees and shrubs.

So, okay, we no longer had "use" for pigeons. But pigeons stayed in the city…cause, the forest life isn't for them. Okay. But why is there such universally visceral reaction towards them now?

That brings us back to marketing. Specifically a media campaign in the 60s by New York City Parks Commissioner Thomas Hoving, who had such a disdain for pigeons that he created the “rat with wings” moniker (not Woody Allen, as some might believe) along with the association to disease.

In his paper, “How Pigeons Became Rats: The Cultural-Spatial Logic of Problem Animals,” sociologist Colin Jerolmack also notes how our evolving hatred for pigeons reflects a wider disconnect between humanity and nature, sometimes referred to as “imagintaive geography.”

“In what sociologists call our ‘imaginative geography’ of cities, there’s a border that separates clean, orderly civilization and wild, uncontrolled nature. ‘That doesn’t mean there’s no nature, but ideally, the city is the place where we invite nature in in ways that we control,’” Jerolmack says. “Pigeons cross those boundaries frequently and visibly, inhabiting the spaces that we think of as our own.”

Essentially, humans created this situation for pigeons. “They don't know how to live without us, and their instincts tell us that they should trust us. So, they continue to come up to humans and beg for food, because it's the only survival skill left in their genes,” Patrick lamented.

And now, when we think of pigeons, we are more likely to think of disease-spreading vermin rather than the allies to mankind that they truly are. Even those of us that are familiar with the history of the carrier pigeon are likely to shoo them away and treat them as a nuisance more than anything else.

“They love us because they were bred by us to feel that way, and yet we hate them."

"My friend grew up in New England where they have pigeons. Apparently they also hate them. He was always saying bad things about pigeons until I pointed something out that he never thought of before:

We domesticated pigeons. They are (nearly) all over the world because HUMANS… pic.twitter.com/sMlZEJtFwA
— ☦️haddeus ⳩atrick (@jacfalcon) April 10, 2024

Luckily there is still hope for humanity, judging the comments left on Patrick’s post.

“I used to be that way, but the more I learned about pigeons, and just growing emotionally mature, I realized that no animal really deserves to be hated and have been kinder to pigeons,” one person wrote.

Another added, “We forgot they were once our friends. But they didn’t forget.”

We forgot they were once our friends. But they didn’t forget. pic.twitter.com/FShdIZ8H92
— Hernan Cortes (@CyberPunkCortes) April 10, 2024

“Wow. I never thought of it this way,” a third said.

It’s not the most uplifting story in the world, but it’s an important conversation. The way society has used and discarded these creatures reflects how it tends to treat nature as a whole. We have to be better to the beings sharing a planet with us. Granted a lot of that is out of the average person’s control, but we are completely capable of shifting our attitude towards certain species.

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Pets

Parrot can't stop kissing her babies and telling them she loves them in adorable video

"I cannot believe parrots are real and we're so nonchalant about it."

Photo by Beyzaa Yurtkuran on Pexels and Photo by Mariano Mollo on Unsplash

Bird can't stop kissing and loving on her babies in adorable video

Birds can be pretty amazing companions, many birds live a lot longer than dogs, giving you a buddy for life depending on when you buy one. Some parrots can live up to 50 years, while the longest living cockatoo lived to be 82-years-old, which is why if you get one of these amazing talking feathered friends, you should make plans to put them in your will. Literally, it's advised that you put these long living birds in your will so there's a plan in place.

But their long lifespan isn't the reason people can't get enough of these birds as pets. Just like children, these birds learn to mimic what you say and how you say it, which allows them to engage in endearing moments. In a video compilation uploaded to social media by @themothergothel, you get to see their adorable behavior play out in front of you. A blue ringneck parrot is captured loving on some brand new baby birds and it's the sweetest thing.

In the video you see the bird approach a baby bird and give it a loud smooch before saying, "want to pet the baby." Another clip shows what appears to be the same bird giving kisses to a different baby bird saying, "I love you" over and over. It's beyond adorable and repeats again with two little nearly featherless baby birds soaking up the attention. It's not clear if this is a bird rescue, someone that really loves birds or if it's different birds that look and sound strikingly similar. People's hearts melted at the interaction.

"I love that the parrot is clearly demonstrating its understanding of the expressions of endearment it has learned from you," one person writes.

"I cannot believe parrots are real and we're so nonchalant about it," someone marvels.

"The bird actually transferred the love that you gave him and repeated the act to his babe," a commenter gushes.

Parrots are indeed real and somehow we're just used to these guys flying around talking like humans. If you needed a little serotonin boost, watch the video below and you'll probably get more than enough to make you smile.

@themothergothel This melted me 🥹 #parrotsoftiktok #love ♬ original sound - 🌏💫 MG💫🌏

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Education

The heartwarming 'canary in the coal mine' historical detail most of us didn't know

They had a canary resuscitator?!?

The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Cage for reviving canary, with oxygen cylinder, made by Siebe Gorman & Co. Ltd, London.

These days the phrase "canary in the coal mine" is used to refer to any early warning sign of trouble or danger, but it's based in the real history of canaries being used in coal mining. Miners would carry the songbirds into the mine with them as a makeshift carbon monoxide alarm, as the bird's small body would be impacted by the odorless gas first, giving miners time to evacuate before it built to deadly levels.

Many if not most of us probably assume the canaries used for this purpose gave up their lives to save the coal miners. As it turns out, that was not always the case.

In fact, the man who created the canary in the coal mine system went out of his way to make sure the birds could do their job safely.

After a deadly explosion in a Welsh mine in 1896, Scottish physiologist and leading expert of respiration John Haldane was asked to investigate to find the cause. He concluded that a buildup of carbon monoxide was to blame and suggested using birds or mice—animals that would be impacted by the gas far quicker than humans—to serve as sentinel species inside the mine. Because they are more sensitive to the toxins, they'd get sick (or die) before the gas reached levels that would harm or kill humans.

Canaries were determined to be ideal for this purpose because they use an immense amount of oxygen in addition to being small and portable. Their breathing habits allow toxins in the air to circulate through their bodies more quickly, giving a very early warning for carbon monoxide gas.

But rather than carry the canary into the mine in a normal birdcage as a potential sacrifice for the greater good, Haldane created a specialized cage that would allow them to live.

The "canary resuscitator" cage held the bird in a clear enclosure with a circular door that was kept open to allow air to enter through a grill that the bird from escaping. As soon as the bird showed signs of gas poisoning—swaying on its perch or collapsing—the door would be closed and a valve connected to a small oxygen tank on top of the cage would be opened. The bird would then get fresh air and the effects of the toxic gas would be reversed.

The "canary resuscitator" protected the canaries from getting too much poisonous gas.

The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Lewis Pollard, who served as an assistant curator at the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester, U.K., shared that the canary resuscitator was his favorite out of the museums more than 20,000 objects in 2018. "While I don’t advocate the use of animals in testing dangerous conditions, I am pleased that Haldane spared a thought for the canaries themselves and worked to make their job as non-lethal as possible," he wrote. "My impression from hearing about canaries in coal mines was that they were expected to die to warn people, so when I came across this object it was a huge relief."

There were "less thoughtful" cages used as well, Pollard added, but Haldane wasn't the only person wanting to prevent the birds' demise.

"I’ve even read that many miners cared deeply for their canary companions, and some disliked the advent of electronic sensors in the mid-1980s because it meant they would lose this companionship," wrote Pollard.

Clearly, it's better not to use animals to check for poisons when there are other options, but when the canary in the coal mine was the most viable way to prevent tragic mining accidents, it's nice to know it was done as ethically as possible.

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Science

An old male bald eagle who adopted a rock as an egg has just been given a real foster baby

People are totally invested in Murphy becoming a real dad after he spent weeks nurturing his "RockBaby."

World Bird Sanctuary/Facebook

Murphy meets a rescued eaglet—his new foster baby.

On March 8, 2023, a keeper at World Bird Sanctuary in St. Louis County, Missouri, noticed something odd. A male bald eagle named Murphy was guarding what appeared to be a large depression in the ground.

“The spot was sparsely but carefully decorated with leaves and branches, and featured a simple rock right in the center,” the nature preserve shared on its Facebook page.

Murphy began sitting on the rock, nudging it and becoming fiercely protective of it, as it if were an egg. People visiting the sanctuary would inquire about the bald eagle just sitting there, wondering if he was okay. The keepers finally put up a sign that read:

“If you see an eagle lying down in the back left corner under a perch, that’s Murphy! Murphy is not hurt, sick, or otherwise in distress. He has built a nest on the ground, and is very carefully incubating a rock! We wish him the best of luck!”

In case you’re wondering if this is unusual behavior for a 31-year-old male bald eagle, the answer is "not really, but…." Male bald eagles do share equally in nesting and baby-raising, so the paternal instinct part is normal. Murphy's channeling of that instinct onto a rock…maybe not so much. And at 31, he's more like a great-granddad than dad, as bald eagles usually live 20 to 30 years in the wild (though they do live longer in captivity).

Murphy takes fatherhood seriously, though. Soon he began screaming and charging at the four other eagles in the aviary if they came anywhere near RockBaby. (That's the official name the keepers gave Murphy’s…well, rock baby.) Naturally, the screaming and charging caused a fair amount of stress for all involved, so Murphy and RockBaby were moved to their own enclosure for everyone's protection.

People who saw this unfold started suggesting sanctuary staff replace Murphy’s rock with a real egg or get him a mate, but 1) Eagle eggs aren’t just lying around waiting to be given to wanna-be dads, 2) hatching a different kind of bird's egg would be potentially dangerous for it, and 3) Murphy had two females right there in the aviary, and none of them were interested in each other. Alas, the heart cannot be forced.

However, a different opportunity presented itself in late March when an aerie with two chicks in it was blown down by high winds. One chick didn’t survive the fall, but the other was brought to World Bird Sanctuary’s Wildlife Hospital.

A bit bruised, but otherwise healthy, the chick was given a good prognosis. Staff began feeding it while wearing a camouflage suit and holding an eagle stuffy to prevent the eaglet from imprinting on humans. What the baby really needed was a foster parent—an adult eagle who would feed and care for it.

“Murphy’s dad instincts were already in high gear,” the sanctuary wrote on April 11, “but at 31 years old, he had never raised a chick before. It’s definitely a gamble, but also the chick’s best chance.”

Introducing an eaglet to an adult eagle isn’t as simple as dropping it in the enclosure. First, the eaglet is put into what the sanctuary refers to as a “baby jail," which is a heated, comfy cage made of wood and wire that protects the eaglet but still allows some interaction between the birds so they can get used to one another. Once the desired bonding behavior is observed, then they try out some direct one-on-one interaction without the cage.

On April 12, World Bird Sanctuary announced, "IT'S HAPPENING!!!!"

The eaglet (referred to as Bald Eaglet 23-126—they don't name foster babies at the sanctuary for superstitious reasons) was released from baby jail, and after an hour or so Murphy approached it with curiosity. Was he wondering if his RockBaby had hatched? Maybe. Would he be the nurturing dad everyone hoped he would be? It appears so.

As the sanctuary shared:

"This morning, Murphy got his chance to be a full parent as 23-126 left the nest to go be closer to Murphy. The food is being dropped through a blind drop tube into the nest and baby appears unable to be able to get over the lip to get back into the nest to get the chopped food. When we checked back, we found that baby was still out of the nest and all the chopped food was still in the nest. However, Murphy’s whole fish had been removed from the nest and baby had a full crop. 23-126 is not yet old enough to tear food which means MURPHY FED THE BABY!!!!"

The comments on the update, of course, are pure gold as people have become fully invested in this story:

"I can’t believe I’m crying over eagles!"

"Murphy’s going to be giving a TedTalk: Manifest The Eaglet You Need In Your Life."

"So happy for Murphy & eaglet Dwayne (the rock Johnson)."

"'Rock, I am your Father.'"

"Omg I’m crying! Murphy never gave up on his rock and now has a baby of his very ownThe wonders of nature never cease. Ty, WBS, for making this possible. These two are saving each other."

Many people have lamented that there is not a live cam so we can all watch this pair as their relationship develops, but staff reminded everyone that the sanctuary is out in the middle of the woods and they don't have a strong enough signal for a live stream.

But WBS staff has been posting updates on social media and will share the story as it continues to unfold. Follow World Bird Sanctuary on Facebook here. And if you feel compelled to donate to help feed little Dwayne or 23-126 or whatever you'd like to call Murphy's new baby—who apparently eats a ridiculous amount—you can donate here or check out their Amazon baby registry (yes, seriously!) here.

Congratulations, Papa Murphy!

This article originally appeared on 4.14.23

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Woman in disbelief after wild bird talks to her in English

Where did it learn to speak?

via Ryan Magsino/Unsplash and TheDarkSuperman/TikTok

Where did that crow learn to say "hello"?

Lisa Sandoval was walking near the waterfront in the small town of North Rustico on Prince Edward Island in Canada when she thought someone called out to her. “I heard someone call out to me, ‘Hello! Hello!” Sandoval told The Dodo. “I turned around and no one was there. Then I heard the voice again. ‘Hello! Hello!’ I got a little scared, then thought to myself, ‘Am I hearing things?’”

Then she realized the only living thing around her was a crow high atop its perch.

“I stopped and said, ‘Hello?’” Sandoval continued. “And to my shock, he answered me back. ‘Hello! Hello!’”

She later learned that others in town had encountered the bird. The rumor is that it was taught to speak by an older man who cared for it when it was injured as a baby. When the crow got better, the man set it free.

Months later, Sandoval came in contact with the crow again and filmed their interaction.

Talking Crow From Canada !!! Hello Hello🤔🤔🤔

@thedarksuperman
Talking Crow From Canada !!! Hello Hello🤔🤔🤔

When most people think about talking birds, parrots come to mind. However, according to bird expert Patrick O’Donnell at Bordzilla, crows are highly intelligent and can also replicate human speech. “It is possible to teach a crow to say words but not actually to talk,” O’Donnell wrote at Birdzilla. “No bird can really talk with human speech, even ones with a wide vocabulary. However, crows can be taught to mimic a number of words and the process is similar to the ways in which Parrots are taught words.”

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Human befriends hummingbird, names him Hector and brings wholesome joy to millions

"Hector the nectar collector" flies right up to the open window and drinks from Julian's hand.

@birdperson666/TikTok

Hector the hummingbird visits his human friend Julian in Oakland.

Hummingbirds are fascinating to watch, so people often put hummingbird feeders in their yards during the summer. But one special hummingbird and his human friend have taken that fascination to another extremely wholesome level.

Julian, better known as @birdperson666 on TikTok and Instagram, has gained over 2 million followers with videos of a neighborhood hummingbird named Hector's visits. Julian told ABC7 that it only took about five days for "Hector the nectar collector" to start eating from his hand and that Hector sometimes visits several times a day. The combination of Julian's deep, resonant voice and Hector's adorable, iridescent self makes for surprisingly addictive content.

Hummingbirds are quite a unique species, after all. Their wings beat around 70 times per second and up to 200 times per second during a dive. They are the only bird that can fly forward, backward and sideways and hover in the air. They're wicked fast—the Anna's hummingbird flies faster proportionally for its body size than a fighter jet. And they're wicked hungry, too, with a metabolism that requires them to consume twice their body weight in food each day.It's no wonder that Hector has regularly shown up at Julian's window for a snack for the past couple of years.

Julian's videos of Hector's visits started going viral early in the COVID-19 pandemic and most of them are delightfully similar. "Yo, Hectorrrrr," Julian calls from his open window while holding out a small feeder filled with sugar water. And Hector, bless his tiny little needle beak, dutifully flies over to say hi and take some sips.

@birdperson666
Take a load off! 😋

Sometimes Hector even lands on Julian's finger while he eats. Hummingbirds have sharp memories and recognize humans and their voices, so it's not just a coincidence that Hector routinely shows up to see Julian.

@birdperson666
take a chill 😋

Sometimes Hector will disappear for weeks or months and then return to Julian's window. (Hector belongs to a species that is non-migratory, so he has a permanent home nearby.)

Julian told ABC7 that he uses the Audubon Society's recipe for hummingbird nectar, which is four parts water to one part white granulated sugar, because that recipe is the closest in chemical makeup to natural flower nectar.

See on Instagram

Much to their followers' chagrin, Julian moved to a new apartment in early 2023 and had to say goodbye to Hector. But thankfully, a little female hummingbird has already picked up where Hector left off, landing right on Julian's hand and offering hope for continued hummingbird joy.

@birdperson666
Maybe she’s born with it…

Thanks for sharing Hector and a love of hummingbirds with the world, Julian!

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birds

Pet cockatiel is obsessed with singing 'September' by Earth, Wind and Fire

Kiki remembers the 21st night of September ALL. THE. TIME. and it's actually quite impressive.

Viral post reminds us why we need to change our attitudes towards pigeons

“They love us because they were bred by us to feel that way, and yet we hate them."

Parrot can't stop kissing her babies and telling them she loves them in adorable video

"I cannot believe parrots are real and we're so nonchalant about it."

The heartwarming 'canary in the coal mine' historical detail most of us didn't know

They had a canary resuscitator?!?

An old male bald eagle who adopted a rock as an egg has just been given a real foster baby

People are totally invested in Murphy becoming a real dad after he spent weeks nurturing his "RockBaby."

Woman in disbelief after wild bird talks to her in English

Where did it learn to speak?

Talking Crow From Canada !!! Hello Hello🤔🤔🤔

Human befriends hummingbird, names him Hector and brings wholesome joy to millions

"Hector the nectar collector" flies right up to the open window and drinks from Julian's hand.

'90s kid shares the 10 lies that everyone's parent told them

Boomer dad plays song to comfort his daughter going through divorce and it's simply perfect

Steve Martin has the best response to hearing that his book was banned in Florida

Woman fights to give her baby a name that her husband says is 'abusive'

What will Earth look like if all its land ice melts? Here's your answer.

Women were asked if they'd rather be trapped in the woods with a bear or a man