[DoctorBeaver (OP)]

Coco the cockatiel isn't that large as far as birds go. He's certainly no Andean condor. But his whistle is incredibly loud. What is it that gives him such ear-splitting volume?

This is the guilty party...

[ukmicky]

Try feeding him and then maybe he will quieten down, also wouldnt you complain if you were locked in a cage  :-)

[DoctorBeaver (OP)]

Well, yeah, there is that to it. But he lives with a budgie (smaller) & a kakariki (larger) and they're nowhere near as loud.

[kdlynn]

the owner of the store where i work keeps cockatiels there... try hearing 8 of them all get going at once! they ARE incredibly loud...

[DoctorBeaver (OP)]

We used to have 3 but 2 of them died  [:-'(]

[DoctorBeaver (OP)]

If Coco carries on screeching from 4:30am onwards he'll be starring in a remake of the Monty Python parrot sketch!  [!]

[dentstudent]

Coco the cockatiel isn't that large as far as birds go. He's certainly no Andean condor. But his whistle is incredibly loud. What is it that gives him such ear-splitting volume?

Aren't most birds heads almost completely empty?


*pauses for wave of one-liners about girls.....*

This area is (I think) used as a resonance and amplification box. And perhaps it's also to do with the frequency of the noise - it has to travel and so should be at the pitch which won't be ready absorbed. You know sometimes a sounds has gone right through you - well, perhaps it does? And what is it about certain noises that do seem to be more piercing?

[DoctorBeaver (OP)]

I don't think it's the pitch of the sound. The kakariki makes a sort-of cark-cark noise and we all know what budgies sound like. It's the sheer volume that Coco achieves when he whistles.

[Karen W.]

They are amazingly loud!