single male cockatiel displays nesting behaviour?

Question
I have an 8year old, single cinnamon cockatiel. We have had him since he was small, he usually has time outside his cage and he sits on shoulders and hands. During the day his cage is wheeled onto the verandah while we are out. (we live in tropical north queensland and it is currently out summer). In the last week he has begun to show aggressive behaviour whenever anyone goes near the cage, Sqawking and displaying his wings, and he is spending a great amount of his time sitting in a tray at the bottom as if sitting on a nest. I placed an egg sized white pebble into the tray yesterday and he has now begun to sit on it as if it was an egg.
Is this somethign that is normal? Should we consider getting him a mate? and how might he adapt to this given his age and never having had a mate?

Answer
Hello Sari,

For a bird to go into reproductive mode, their hormones and reproductive organs must be activated by the environment. The strongest signal would be too much light. Other signals would be abundance of food, a nest site and a mate. These signals tell a bird it is time to breed, it is not really a choice the bird makes. In reality - since the human controls a pet bird's environment this is a choice the human makes for the bird. He's telling you that he has more than enough light, food, a nest, and a mate.

I would only recommend a "mate" if you are well educated and experience in understanding breeding birds - that includes hormonal aspects, normal aggressive behavior, how his raising would affect acceptance of a new bird etc. In addition, you would have to be prepared to take on the lifetime responsibility of two birds may not get along. Since you are new to learning about hormones, I do not believe you are yet ready to take on breeding.

Here are some past answers of mine to help you learn more about the birds and hormones.

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Birds-General-2349/Cockateil-Behaviuor.htm

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Parrots-1638/Moody-Cockatiel-1.htm

Also - I'm wondering if you have had your bird DNA sexed? This behavior sounds very female to me.

Jennifer
www.feathersandscales.com