Read Chris Shank’s recent blog about Star’s development.
In reality, evidence of the fact that cockatoos are not any more “cuddly” or “needy” by nature than any other parrot species is all around us. She chases the children when she’s on the floor. She screams for attention if we dare to ask her to perch somewhere by herself. She becomes less and less likely to interact with enrichment. Before long, all that bird wants is to be on a shoulder, lap, or chest. And when we respond to this needy behavior by encouraging it, we create a dependent parrot who lacks living skills. Turning to the internet for information only solidifies this conviction that petting and cuddling are the correct activities.Īs McElroy concludes, by ignoring normal time frames for weaning, we produce a “needier” parrot. And those adopting these birds do not realize that this hunger for close physical contact is because of these deficient rearing conditions, rather than because cockatoos need cuddling. These babies then go into their first homes hungry for the nurturing that they missed in their abnormal breeding situations. Was rushed, but that they did not receive the close physical nurturing contact Large cockatoos like SadieĪre often sent to their new homes between four and five month of age, longīefore they should be food independent. Even when Sadie was eating well on her own, her parents would provide “comfort” feedings, if reassurance after a stressful event was needed.Ĭontrast this reality, however, with the manner in whichĬockatoos are raised in captivity for the pet trade. As the author describes it, there was a “nearly constant level of feeding and attention that parent birds lavish on their offspring.” They did not “wean” their chick until she was close to one year of age. One Moluccan father visited his chick every hour. When McElroy allowed her Moluccan Cockatoo pairs to raise their own babies, she made two critical observations.įirst, the parents were frequently in the nest box, providing physical attention, preening them, touching their beaks, and feeding them. This natural time clock to which wild cockatoos adhere for weaning is not changed when they are bred in captivity. Instead, for the first few months of his life, until fledging, the baby is dependent upon regurgitated food for his sustenance. Parent birds do not bring uneaten food into the nest cavity for their chicks. Quite obviously, this cannot occur until the baby learns to fly and can keep up with his parents on foraging expeditions. In her article “Weaning Sadie: An Observation,” published back in July of 2000 in the Pet Bird Report, now-retired companion cockatoo breeder Katy McElroy discussed the observations she had made of normal weaning time frames for cockatoo fledglings, as well as the manner in which the parents interact with their chicks.Įach parrot species has an innate time frame for becoming food independent. The advent of nest box cameras has assisted in gathering this knowledge. Information about how cockatoo species care for their young comes mainly from breeders who allow their pairs to rear their own babies through fledging and weaning.
Cockatoo parrot difference personality professional#
Her professional experiences include a degree from the Exotic Animal Training and Management Program at Moorpark College in California, an internship at Busch Gardens’ parrot show, work as a dolphin trainer at Marriott’s Great America in Santa Clara and later in Hassloch, Germany.
With her parents upbringing and care, Star will forever identify as a cockatoo with all the native and unaffected qualities nature intended.Ĭhris Shank’s love of parrots and knowledge of animal training began several decades ago. Instead, I recount them to emphasize that anyone with positive reinforcement training experience, even a little, can assist parent-reared parrots in becoming successful companion birds with strong, reliable, and enthusiastic connections to their people and, most crucially, do so without sacrificing the welfare and identity of young parrots and their parents. I am not and I have oodles of training blooper videos to prove it.
I describe my training sessions with Star not to point out that I am a great trainer of parent-raised cockatoos.
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