I was around for 24. My wife had him for about four years before she met me. Eventually, I took over bird chores, and he moved into my WFH office.

He was a curmudgeonly old guy, and before that a curmudgeonly young guy, but he was fun as hell and a constant presence in our lives for a long time.

We were lucky he had so many good years. Twenty is pretty common for a well cared for cockatiel, but 28 (I showed up a few years in) is a good run. If anything, you start to forget you’re on borrowed time.

Little dinosaur was a good friend, too. Liked to sing, hang out on your shoulder, and in earlier years I got him to fly across the room to me sometimes. He also played favorites with our dogs, only paying attention to a couple of them over the years.