About 6 months ago I was approached by an elderly relative with the request to take care of his cockatiel.
Although he enjoyed the companionship that the bird gave him, the bird was looked after by his recently deceased wife, and he was struggling to give the bird the attention and care that it deserved.
I had no hesitation and an answered yes immediately and told him I would find it a good home.
He returned with a grey male cockatiel.
It was an adult plumage that appeared to be about one year old.
When asked, I found out that the bird was bought from a pet shop about 18 months previous.
It was in good condition, but seemed a little weary in the cage.
The moment I set eyes on the bird's cage I knew that his owner understood little about making a caged bird happy.
The cage was much too small - suitable only for a budgerigar.
There was a perch at one end at the top, the other end being occupied by a large swing that the cockatiel never used.
This meant it could not jump from perch to perch.
The cage contained a ladder, toys, mirror and a large piece of cuttlefish bone.
There was not a lot of room for the cockatiel to move about and he preferred to cling to the bars.
Food and water containers were not an integral part of the cage so hands had to enter it to replenish them.
The water container was a plastic hook-on of a violent violet shade - the sort of colour that a sensitive bird owner would not purchase.
A millet spray was hanging in front of a gravity feeder and obscuring the contents.
This did not matter as it was obvious the contents would not be touched by any self-respecting cockatiel.
It was a parakeet mixture that contained colourful small pellets.
As the pellets were heavier than the small seeds they dropped into the accessible part of the feeder, obscuring the small seeds that the cockatiel would have eaten if he was adventurous enough to throw out the pellets.
Another food container held panicum millet and this, together with the millet spray, was his sole diet.
It occurred to me that all over the country there must be thousands of budgerigars and cockatiels living in small cages like this one, furnished with alien objects made of plastic or acrylic (toys) and shiny objects (mirrors) that are of no interest to them and just get in their way.
Tame birds love their toys - but they are a different story.
I applaud the bird's owner in wanting to find a new home for him and not leaving him in the spare bedroom to which he had been temporarily consigned.
But I could not help wondering why the bird had been bought in the first place.
Why am I relating this story? Simply because many readers must come across pets in similar situations.
I believe that they should not be afraid of gently pointing out how the quality of life of a bird could be improved with just a little thought and effort.
The bird's diet could have been improved with the addition of some chickweed and seeding grasses that were probably growing in his owner's garden or nearby.
The strange seed mixture could have been replaced with a more realistic parakeet or cockatiel mixture containing a good proportion of canary seed as well as mixed millets and a proportion of other small seeds.
The biggest improvement to his life, short of the aviary in which he now resides, would have been a large cage in which he could stretch his wings.
It would contain twiggy apple branches, with fresh bark on which to nibble, not smooth plastic perches.
The cage design would include food and water containers and a pull-out tray on the floor to prevent the intrusive action of a hand entering the cage.
All too often, an inexpensive cage is purchased for an inexpensive bird.