Cockatiel Trucker


I'm a long haul truck driver, driving over almost every highway in the United States.

I thought the craziest thing I'd ever seen on a truck was a cat until the day my sister convinced me to take a cockatiel with me. She thought I needed company.

I left NM with a bird cage on the passenger seat, belted down with two bungee straps.
A few hours later, I looked over to see this poor little bird with drooping eyes, clinging onto the backside of the cage for dear life. Oh boy, was I feeling sorry for what I was putting him through. He clung to the back of the cage for the remainder of the day.

The next morning, I started out on my day's work and noticed that now the bird was clinging to the front of the cage instead of the back. He seemed to be liking this new life style. His eyes wide and staring at everything that went by, he would screech when a bird flew across our path.

Now, the problem with this bird was that he had never been hand tamed and in fact, had been pretty much neglected for quite some time. He was about as cooperative as a toad. Like an idiot, I decided that somehow we were going to be friends, rocky ride and all.

He soon learned to take his naps even when the truck was rolling and I decided one day, that it would be safe to open his cage door and let him roam around.

That worked out just fine until the day he decided to try flying while the truck was moving. He lost control and landed under the clutch pedal. Now that might have been disaster enough but add to that the fact that I was driving through rush hour traffic through the Chicago area and we're talking 'sweaty upper lip' time.

Before long that bird turned out to be a veteran of the highway. For me, the most interesting part was the way he climbed all over the passenger window to get a better look at the driver of another truck, I might be passing. I'd say, right off hand, this is one cockatiel whose horizons were definitely broadened.

If you've ever had one of these birds, you'll understand what a handicap it was that I can't whistle. He kept trying to tempt me but all I could do was pretend and that wasn't good enough for him.

One day, while crossing Nevada, another truck driver passed me by and gave a holler on the CB radio. “Is that a cockatiel, I just saw in your truck?” Sure enough, he was an old hand with cockatiels and he started to whistle over the radio. After weeks of dealing with a human who couldn't speak his language, this old bird was overly excited. He flitted all over the cab and even jumped onto the dash, trying to see the other driver. It was instant love.

Truck drivers get really bored and evidently this was a welcomed diversion for this other driver, as he spent the next couple of hours slowing down to make me pass him, so that he could wave at the bird. The bird, in turn, sat on the window ledge turning his eye toward the other driver to check him out. Back and forth it went, me passing the other driver and the other driver then passing me, while he whistled at the bird and the bird screeched in my ear.

I was happy the bird had found a new friend until the next day when he jumped up to the window every time I passed another truck, only to be disappointed.

I had one nutty traveling buddy. After a year on the road, I decided the best thing for him was to leave him with my daughter and grandson. Now that turkey is busy screeching at them instead of me and playing 'fort' in the lower cabinets.

I'm not sure but I think I'd be better off with a cat.

Judy Sims

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