Cockatiel beak clicking?

[Raptor40]

Hey guys!

My tiel Chikka has started to make a clicking sound while or after singing. It’s not so much of a sound with his tongue, but the actual action of clicking his beak together. I haven’t heard any other birds make that sound and was wondering if anybody else has birds that do this and what it means?

 

[Khizz]

Hey guys!

My tiel Chikka has started to make a clicking sound while or after singing. It’s not so much of a sound with his tongue, but the actual action of clicking his beak together. I haven’t heard any other birds make that sound and was wondering if anybody else has birds that do this and what it means?

Could he be beak grinding?

Cockatiels do this when they are happy and content and also a bit sleepy! If he is beak grinding then you have a happy little tiely boy

If it's not, a video might help?

 

[Shezbug]

My bird does the beak clicking that you are talking about, it’s nothing to worry about. I keep trying to get it on film but so far I haven’t succeeded. Burt clicks as often as he grinds and a lot of the time it will be a mix of the two in the one relax session.

 

[Raptor40]

Could he be beak grinding?

Cockatiels do this when they are happy and content and also a bit sleepy! If he is beak grinding then you have a happy little tiely boy

If it's not, a video might help?

He does beak grind but the noise is definitely not beak grinding. I tried to upload a video but I could only work out how to upload photos. Maybe I’m just not that tech savvy though lol.

 

[Raptor40]

My bird does the beak clicking that you are talking about, it’s nothing to worry about. I keep trying to get it on film but so far I haven’t succeeded. Burt clicks as often as he grinds and a lot of the time it will be a mix of the two in the one relax session.

Oh that’s interesting! Must be a happy thing then. I’ve heard that cockatoos will do it as a defence thing, especially when other birds are around, and I notice that Chikka also does it when the other birds are around, but I’m not sure if that’s true for cockatiels. My other tiel Dora does seem oddly ready to fight Chikka when he makes that noise though so maybe it is a ‘come at me’ noise lol.

 

[Raptor40]

Could he be beak grinding?

Cockatiels do this when they are happy and content and also a bit sleepy! If he is beak grinding then you have a happy little tiely boy

If it's not, a video might help?

I uploaded a vid to my Twitter so I’ll see if the link works:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1310486096619294723

 

[Shezbug]

Oh that’s actually a fairly different sort of click than what Burt does so it will be interesting to see what the others with tiels have to say.

 

[Khizz]

I uploaded a vid to my Twitter so I’ll see if the link works:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1310486096619294723

Ah that is a bit different! But if you said he does it while singing sometimes, I notice that Jeff sometimes does a kind of beak chattering when he's singing sometimes. It kinda looks/sounds like when people eat food and we smack our lips Health-wise I'm not expert, but to me it looks like another part of hisvocalisations. It could even be a noise he's picked up from somewhere?

 

[Flokirocks]

Ah that is a bit different! But if you said he does it while singing sometimes, I notice that Jeff sometimes does a kind of beak chattering when he's singing sometimes. It kinda looks/sounds like when people eat food and we smack our lips Health-wise I'm not expert, but to me it looks like another part of hisvocalisations. It could even be a noise he's picked up from somewhere?

I think so too; often seeing vids of whistling tiels, some of them make this sound as a part of the tune/song.

 

[Tara81]

Yeah I think he’s just doing it to show off, silly birb. Try whistling when he does this and he may phase it out to learn your whistles more ;D

 

[LovieLuvr]

I agree with the showing off, especially if he’s mimicking a noise he hears often. I was trying to figure out a weird noise Pumpkin makes before bed. One day I realized he was mimicking the sound of his nightlight click.

Now he does it every time it’s time for bed, or when I turn the nightlight off or on.