Owl and Parakeet Besties Interact in Adorable Video and It’s Cuteness Overload
Sometimes I stumble across videos of unlikely animal friendships that surprise me, and this one that Natalya Shapkina posted to TikTok on Sunday, July 21st is one of them! Natalya has two pet birds: one is a parakeet, and the other is an owl. Owls are top predators on the food chain, so to see one interact so gently with a little parakeet warmed my heart.
The video starts by showing us the parakeet and owl sitting together on top of a bird cage. At first, they're just checking each other out. But soon, the parakeet starts to 'talk' to the owl and the two begin to interact. What surprised me most about the video is just how gentle the owl is with the parakeet. Make sure your sound is on because the parakeet sings beautifully!
This made me so happy! The owl is so gentle with the tiny bird, and by the way that it slowly closes its eyes it makes me think that he loves his little friend. They look like they're kissing! Most of the almost 200 comments were in Russian, but a couple were in English. The ones I could read said how cute the pair is. I'm betting most of the other comments said something similar!
Related: Owl's Funny 'Dance' While Playing with an iPad Has People Obsessed
Why Do Birds Rub Their Beaks Together?
I mentioned that when the birds were rubbing their beaks together, it looked like they were kissing. I decided to do a bit of research to see if that's what they were doing, and it turns out, there is a such thing as 'bird kissing'! Chipper Birds explains more about this social bonding, "Bird kissing refers to a behavior observed in certain bird species where two birds briefly touch or gently rub their beaks together. It is a form of social interaction and communication commonly seen among avian pairs, particularly in species that engage in courtship or have established strong social bonds." That's exactly what the owl and the pretty parakeet were doing. They must be besties!
When birds kiss, the two birds touch their beaks together as they did in the video, most often in a gentle and synchronized manner. The kiss normally lasts for just a few seconds and "occurs during courtship displays, pair bonding, or as a form of social interaction between individuals within a flock or group." Chipper Birds added that it's also a form of communication, "conveying messages such as reassurance, submission, or establishing territory boundaries within a group."
There are other forms of bird kissing, too. Birds do wing-to-wing kisses as well as head-to-head kissing. They also show affection through mutual grooming and by sharing food. After watching other videos that Natalya's posted, it's clear that her two birds love each other even though they are an unlikely pair!
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