We heard about cockatiels while in Wisconsin and when we moved to California, we decided to get one for Simon Peter. Eileen helped us pick out Wilbur in Washington State. Wilbur was gray and named after the owner of Mr.Ed the horse. (When Peter was in the hospital in La Crosse with his ankle injury, he watched a lot of TV -- especially Mr. Ed)
Wilbur was Simon's bird and he got a lot of love. He traveled with us often. One morning in 1990, he died with a lump under his wing. We found him in the bottom of his cage. The next day, we buried him on a hilltop overlooking Ft. Baker and Sausalito.
After Wilbur's death, we waited awhile. Simon picked out another cockatiel at a shop near Napa. This was a Latina (yellow) bird and Simon named him Chester.
Unfortunately, Chester wasn't with us long. One day when I went to work, I left the side door slightly ajar. A cat got into the house, got a hold of Chester and took him outside. I found him in the bushes gravely wounded. He died at the vets. It was sad and I've disliked cats since. We buried Chester next to Wilbur.