Galah anxiety and finding a mate

[Casper's 2nd best friend]

Helena has raised a subject that I was going to inquire about: predators. Do you have birds of prey in your neighborhood?I know that when we take Casper outside he is always scanning the sky for "bullying bigger birds". Maybe Mate has had a nasty experience when you weren't there to witness it.
However I am inclined to think Mate's problem might be loneliness, when he was in the house he could see and hear what the family (flock) were up to. Casper loves being in the garden as long as we are with him. A companion sounds like an excellent idea to me but I don't have the experience to suggest whether it is best to have another Galah or a different breed. If I was him I would put my selection in this order: Lady friend, Drinking buddy, a companion of a different species. But I'm not a Galah, and being Australian his first choice might be a drinking buddy*
*other racial stereotypes are available.

Its a lovely aviary but how about a bit of lawn in the bottom for him to play in/search for bugs etc. If he trashes it, just keep replacing it - he is obviously having fun.

[Matt]

Thanks once again for your suggestions. It sounds like you guys are right. Firstly, now I think about it, I guess he would be lonely. The thing is, when we first put him in the aviary, he seemed to love it a number of months. He would come out and play, he was loud at times having fun etc. I will start bringing him in each night to see how that goes.

A more enclosed area would be the go. In building the aviary, I am not sure how much he would like.

Certainly, there is every chance he could have had a traumatic experience that I am not aware of with other animals in the area (we get a lot of snakes in the area of example). The concrete looks a little cold but laid it so as predators (such as snakes, couldn't burrow beneath the aviary to get at him). Great idea with lay some grass though. There are a heap of cockatoos in the area that sit in trees near him at dawn and dusk. This didn't seem to concern him overly at the start.

Thanks again, Matt