Cockatiel Sings iPhone Ringtone When Upset in This Viral Video

This is the cutest thing you’ll see today. A cockatiel named Lucky has perfected Apple’s default iPhone ringtone, performing a perfect rendition when the owner starts leaving the house. The video, uploaded Tuesday, went viral almost immediately.

“My friend’s family has a cockatiel named Lucky,” video recorder Ben Pluimer said in the upload description. “Whenever Lucky gets upset, he sings an Apple ringtone. It usually happens when they tie their shoes to get ready to leave the house. It’s adorable, and also pitch perfect.”

The cockatiel performs a perfect rendition of the “Opening” ringtone, introduced as the default tune when iOS 7 launched in 2013. It replaced the “Marimba” tone used since the original iPhone’s 2007 launch with a more upbeat melody.

The video went viral as soon after it was uploaded to Vimeo. On the “Videos” subreddit, the submission shot up to first place in the early hours of Tuesday morning, with over 75,000 upvotes 14 hours later.

Watch the video below:

Like parrots and cockatoos, cockatiels are known to mimic sounds in various situations. Researchers have discovered that certain birds even like to dance, like sulphur-crested cockatoo Eleanor who shot to fame by dancing along to the Backstreet Boys on YouTube. One theory is that these birds have evolved the ability to effectively mimic advanced sounds for social cohesion, to build bonds useful for collaborating.

“While not as adept as their larger parrot cousins at mimicry, cockatiels — especially males — are very good at recognizing some sounds and imitating them,” said Susan Parretts, a writer at The Nest. “After a while, you might find that your tiel starts to sing along with the music, especially if you sing or whistle it to him yourself. Not only will this allow you to interact with your feathered friend, but it might result in a tiel who enjoys singing all on his own.”

Although it’s not uncommon for cockatiels to sing, Lucky’s rendition has captured the hearts of social media users around the world.

“He needs another little bird friend to keep him company while you’re away,” said Reddit user chillingnipples.

“Nah, he just needs his own smartphone so he can [send] out tweets,” responded user hoikarnage.