In 2011, I decided to get a cockatiel for my birthday. We had bird-sat a friend's cockatiel and had grown very fond of it. Having heard that a new clutch of cockatiels were being raised at the bird store, we stopped down and took a look. I believe Tintin was one of the only ones still left, the others had already been spoken for. He was a standard looking cockatiel, not at all unique in appearance, and I spent some time with him that day which ended up with him falling asleep under my hand. I was so taken by him that I put money down on him.

A few days later, I had second thoughts, I should have waited for a more interesting or unique colored cockatiel. Before I withdrew from the purchase, I decided to spend some more time with him as it was still a week or so before he was allowed to come home. Once again he impressed me as the sweetest bird I had ever met and any thought of backing out left me

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Tintin has become an integral part of our family and spends almost all his time outside the cage interacting with the family. He loves us, loves being with us and is more sweet and loving than you'd think a bird could be.