What cockatiels go through when they molt

Falling feathers can mean only one thing: fortifying delicacies. Made special by Grandma for her grandbird. 🍽💕🦜 .... Cockatiels, like all avians, rely on their extensive collection of highly specialized feathers for just about everything. Flight. Warmth. Waterproofing. Protection. Survival (of the individual and, at mate selection time, the species). 💕🥚🐣 .... Each feather has a specific job to do, too. Some are for flying. Some are for insulating. Some are for cleaning. Some are for beautification (or what this proud mama likes to call “cuteness”). All of which means each feather has a useful life. And when that useful life is over, guess what happens to that feather? 🤔 .... As a cockatiel mommy, it can be intensely disconcerting the first time - or any time - you start to see a big pile o’ feathers gathering underneath your pint-sized parrot. But here’s the thing. The parrot in question can’t just drop ‘em all at once. Because then....naked parrot. And you can’t drop all your flight feathers at the same time. Only one or two can be gone at a time or....no flying for you. 😳 .... So the feathers have to molt out in stages. I don’t think anyone’s ever tried to set the molting cycles of the average avian to music, but on any given day there’s a full-blown symphony going on up in there. 🥁🎻🎷🎹🎼 .... And it takes a lot of energy to compose and conduct a symphony, which is basically what the molting parrot is doing while you’re watching each feather drifting down, down, down. And so....grandma’s cooking. Pampering. Spoiling. Feel better fast food. And love. Always so much love. 💕💕💕🦜 .... #pearl #parrot #cockatiel #avian #bird #molt #molting #feathers #bulkup #bulking #grandma #grandbird