- Joined
- 2/22/17
- Messages
- 1,780
I thought I would start another post about my interactions with cockatoos. We won't be adding the Triton to our flock so there seems no reason to add unrelated things to that conversation.
As I mentioned in the other post, cockatoos have been one of the few birds that make me nervous. I don't know their body language well enough to be able to read them and they seem consistently inconsistent to me. I don't own one myself, but they are beautiful and fascinating creatures. We've had some really sweet ones at the store, and some absolute monsters.
One crazy guy we have at the store is Kiwi, the Umbrella Cockatoo. He belongs to the store owner and travels back and forth with her each day. We have a running joke that you aren't truly an employee until you've been bitten by Kiwi. It's a right of passage. He has his own tree with a rope that stretches to the ceiling, and no other bird is allowed on that tree. There is a bit sign on it that says he does not like children and he bites. Now it's behind a fence so it's not like customers can just walk up to him, but he's capable of getting down if he really wants to. He doesn't like sandals or other open-toe shoes, and we keep an eye out for children wearing sandals because that's his prime target if he's down on the floor. We don't have any proof, but we think at some point a child beat him with a sandal or something along those lines and he's never forgotten or forgiven. Two years ago we had an employee that purposefully messed with Kiwi. He tied his shoe on his stand or something along those lines. I wasn't there the day it happened, but Kiwi took major offense to it. After that Kiwi would get down and hide under a counter waiting for this guy to walk by and then he would run out and bite him on the back of his leg. While not really funny we each shared a look over it because he earned it. Eventually, the guy left and Kiwi had no reason to do a sneak attack again. Since this guy and I have similar names and build I have gone out of my way to make friends with Kiwi. Prior to that, he was always hands-off to me. I would talk to him when I walked by, but never made any attempt to touch him. I started giving him treats and a scratch on the head when I walk by. Now I take him out of his carrier in the morning and makes sure he has food and water if it hasn't already been done yet. My plan has been successful, and it has backfired. Kiwi is now very friendly and sweet to me. When he gets fired up I'll go talk to him, offer a treat, and a scratch on his head. It always soothes him. He will sometimes make an attempt to jump down and I'll point at him and tell him he bad netter not. He changes his mind and in return, I give him a treat. If he sees his momma sitting down in the grooming area he will jump down and come over to her. Usually, someone yells that Kiwi is down and they all scatter to get away from him. Now if I sit in the grooming area for a few minutes, he will get down and come towards me. A few days ago he was on the counter playing with a quick link. He likes to unscrew them and then hide the connector in his feathers. He was doing that for a while and then he came over to me and started tapping his beak on my hand. I looked up at the owner and she said that's when he does before he starts to get dirty with your hand. So my plan to make nice with Kiwi just to keep him from biting me when I walk past has turned into me being the object of Kiwi's affection.
One of the things he does that cracks me up is that he screams profanities when he's outside. I always discourage people from teaching their bird to swear, but this is part of Kiwi's baggage so I just take it as it comes. He absolutely loves our toy vendor and she will put him on her shoulder and then go to her car to get things for us. As soon as he goes outside he screams WHAT THE heck! and F YOU! The toy vendor came back inside with him one day and she was laughing so hard she couldn't speak. She had parked behind the building and Kiwi had been screaming so loud that one of the guys from the tire shop next door to us came over to check on her. It was so clear and so loud that he could hear it from the tire shop and had to make sure she was alright.
Does anyone else have crazy stories about their cockatoos?
As I mentioned in the other post, cockatoos have been one of the few birds that make me nervous. I don't know their body language well enough to be able to read them and they seem consistently inconsistent to me. I don't own one myself, but they are beautiful and fascinating creatures. We've had some really sweet ones at the store, and some absolute monsters.
One crazy guy we have at the store is Kiwi, the Umbrella Cockatoo. He belongs to the store owner and travels back and forth with her each day. We have a running joke that you aren't truly an employee until you've been bitten by Kiwi. It's a right of passage. He has his own tree with a rope that stretches to the ceiling, and no other bird is allowed on that tree. There is a bit sign on it that says he does not like children and he bites. Now it's behind a fence so it's not like customers can just walk up to him, but he's capable of getting down if he really wants to. He doesn't like sandals or other open-toe shoes, and we keep an eye out for children wearing sandals because that's his prime target if he's down on the floor. We don't have any proof, but we think at some point a child beat him with a sandal or something along those lines and he's never forgotten or forgiven. Two years ago we had an employee that purposefully messed with Kiwi. He tied his shoe on his stand or something along those lines. I wasn't there the day it happened, but Kiwi took major offense to it. After that Kiwi would get down and hide under a counter waiting for this guy to walk by and then he would run out and bite him on the back of his leg. While not really funny we each shared a look over it because he earned it. Eventually, the guy left and Kiwi had no reason to do a sneak attack again. Since this guy and I have similar names and build I have gone out of my way to make friends with Kiwi. Prior to that, he was always hands-off to me. I would talk to him when I walked by, but never made any attempt to touch him. I started giving him treats and a scratch on the head when I walk by. Now I take him out of his carrier in the morning and makes sure he has food and water if it hasn't already been done yet. My plan has been successful, and it has backfired. Kiwi is now very friendly and sweet to me. When he gets fired up I'll go talk to him, offer a treat, and a scratch on his head. It always soothes him. He will sometimes make an attempt to jump down and I'll point at him and tell him he bad netter not. He changes his mind and in return, I give him a treat. If he sees his momma sitting down in the grooming area he will jump down and come over to her. Usually, someone yells that Kiwi is down and they all scatter to get away from him. Now if I sit in the grooming area for a few minutes, he will get down and come towards me. A few days ago he was on the counter playing with a quick link. He likes to unscrew them and then hide the connector in his feathers. He was doing that for a while and then he came over to me and started tapping his beak on my hand. I looked up at the owner and she said that's when he does before he starts to get dirty with your hand. So my plan to make nice with Kiwi just to keep him from biting me when I walk past has turned into me being the object of Kiwi's affection.
One of the things he does that cracks me up is that he screams profanities when he's outside. I always discourage people from teaching their bird to swear, but this is part of Kiwi's baggage so I just take it as it comes. He absolutely loves our toy vendor and she will put him on her shoulder and then go to her car to get things for us. As soon as he goes outside he screams WHAT THE heck! and F YOU! The toy vendor came back inside with him one day and she was laughing so hard she couldn't speak. She had parked behind the building and Kiwi had been screaming so loud that one of the guys from the tire shop next door to us came over to check on her. It was so clear and so loud that he could hear it from the tire shop and had to make sure she was alright.
Does anyone else have crazy stories about their cockatoos?